If you could recast one Game of Thrones cast member, who would you choose? Fans sound off

Last week, we grappled with a hypothetical question: if we had to recast one cast member from Game of Thrones, who would we choose and why? It was a fun discussion, and you guys had plenty of great choices of your own. Let’s walk through the comments, starting with Nataliz Kuzmina, who wanted to go back to the source:

"Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark, as it was initially intended. It would make an absolutely different character, deeper and shriller."

Jennifer Ehle is an American actress perhaps best known for playing Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC’s 1995 miniseries adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. She was cast as Catelyn Stark in the show’s pilot, but was replaced by Michelle Fairley in reshoots. What might have been…

Jennifer Elder, meanwhile, had an idea for Joffrey Baratheon: Tom Felton, the guy who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.

I think we can all assume Felton would have done a fine job as the bratty boy king, but Serif doesn’t think the original actor needs replacing: “As much as I like Tom Felton, Jack Gleeson played Joffrey *perfectly*. I can’t imagine the series without him.”

Littlefinger was a popular topic of discussion. Alex Johnson agreed with our own Sarah Weymes that Tom Hollander (Pirates of the Caribbean, In the Loop) would be a good replacement:

"Tom Hollander actually would’ve been a perfect Littlefinger. Because in the martial world of Westeros, he would be such an obvious little pint sized nobody. Who would suspect this guy is actually orchestrating a massive civil war? Plus, there wouldn’t be any weird sexual chemistry with him and Sansa. It would be flat out obvious that the guy is a creeper."

Not everyone is a huge fan of Gillen’s work as Littlefinger. For example, Sean_C said that Gillen plays the character as “cartoonishly villainous, delivering every single line like a threat.” Petyr’s Lady has thoughts on that:

"It’s funny how all the characters say they know they shouldn’t trust Littlefinger, but at some point, many of them inevitably do when they need him… He’s ambiguous, just conniving enough that people don’t want to be associated with him, but just likable enough that when they are desperate, he’s the one they go to in secret. I couldn’t disagree more that he’s played as a ‘cartoonish’ villain – he’s incredibly multi dimensional."

I💜lemoncakes was in Gillen’s corner, too: “I absolutely love Aiden as Petyr. He fits sneaky up to no good quite well lol. They couldn’t have chosen a better actor to play him IMO.”

I💜lemoncakes also sounded off about Michael McElhatton’s portrayal of Roose Bolton.

"I have to go with Roose Bolton. I just couldn’t see the connection with his character to Ramsay’s eccentric twisted mania. I feel an actor like John Malkovich would have “nailed that persona” and made your skin crawl."

While I’m sure Malkovich would have brought the creepy, I personally think McElhatton did a splendid job bringing a quiet sort of menace to the character. Maybe in the remake.

Priscila had great takes on several cast members, starting with the two actors to have played Daario Naharis: Ed Skrein (season 3) and Michiel Huisman (seasons 4-6):

"Michiel is the better actor, but Ed is the better Daario, not only in terms of how the chacater was supposed to look, but also because Dany´s fuck buddy should be a one note jerk. Michiel, somehow, looks too smart.If I may add, I think that Pilou Asbæk was well cast as Euron and his first scene was well played. But the Kingsmoot was a mess. I do hope that season 7 we see more of his twisted mind and that he comes back season 8 to show his true colours. I am counting on that.If Euron is only a lackluster shitty pirate that dies by season 7, than I would agree Pilou was miscast and would suggest some more tongue-in-cheek actor like Bruce Campbell."

Indeed, Euron Greyjoy was another popular topic of conversation. Gutter Punk wanted to see Tom Hiddleston in the role, “and give him his damn eyepatch and blue lips.” Zandru agreed that that a change was in order, although there was a silver lining:

"Euron was totally different from the menacing monster the books portray, although his resemblance to his nephew Theon was eerie."

I think it’s a little early to make final judgments about Asbæk’s performance as Euron. Like Priscila, I’m waiting to see what season 7 brings.

Let’s check back in with Alex Johnson, who thought the show had miscast a certain king:

"My big recasting would be for Renly. Find someone more classically beautiful that could embody the casual charisma that Renly is supposed to have. After all, we need to believe that this guy is actually the most popular lord in Westeros. Like Alex Pettyfer or someone. Doesn’t need to be brilliant, just handsome and likable, two things I felt Gethin Anthony wasn’t."

Alex Pettyfer

Average Joe, meanwhile, had an issue with two of the main cast members:

"I know I will catch all manner of hell for this, but I would have to go with Cersei or Jaime. Not that either actor has not done a good job but, I never bought them as twins. Siblings, yes. Twins, no."

Yeah, they don’t look like identical twins. But what were the odds that HBO would ever find two actors who could both handle the roles AND looked exactly alike? I gotten used to accepting them as fraternal twins so far as the show is concerned.

And the Promise wasn’t bowled over by King Beyond the Wall:

"By far the character I was always the most disappointed with was Mance Rayder. Ciaran Hinds is a fine actor but he is not Mance. You could chalk this up to the way the character ended up being written for the show, but to me he never embodied the presence of book Mance, his incredible history aside. I was never convinced that Ciaran Hind’s Mance spent 20 years convincing Wildlings to join together. Now, like Rhaegar or Victarion or any other character who warrants too unique of an imagination, I’m not sure what actor could fill that spot. But since we are all dreaming here, let’s say Daniel Day-Lewis."

I enjoyed the grizzled demeanor Hinds brought to Mance, but then again, there’s no casting choice so perfect Daniel Day-Lewis couldn’t improve it.

Finally, a few commenters had a back and forth about who Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road):

"a57se: “No one wanted to recast Kit Harington? I think Tom Hardy would have made a good Jon Snow though age would have needed to be addressed as well.”cafelucia: “I thought Tom Hardy would have made a good Ramsey Snow or Dolorus Edd.”Emilia Stark: “Character-wise I think Tom Hardy would’ve made an excellent Euron Greyjoy. But Pilou does look like Alfie…”"

Let’s give the last word to Leslie.Lannister, who has perhaps the most sensible opinion of all:

"I wouldn’t change a god damn thing!"

Thanks, everybody!