HBO casting babies and children from Spain for Game of Thrones Season 6
By Dan Selcke
Filming for Game of Thrones Season 6 gets underway in Spain very soon. Shooting will start in Girona late next week before spreading all over the country, and HBO will need plenty of men, women, and children to stand in for the citizens of Westeros and Essos.
Modexpor Internacional, the company that’s been hiring extras for HBO during the network’s stay in Spain, put up two new casting notices on its Facebook page earlier today. One of them calls for “Young people from 16 years (girls with long hair and guys with short hair and a maximum height of 167 cm).” That tells us almost nothing—whether it’s King’s Landing, Oldtown, Meereen, Braavos, or anywhere else, cities have children in them, and the production will need to hire young people to fill out the backgrounds of the outdoor scenes. It’s possible Modexpor wants the children for a more specific purpose, but it’s hard to know from this casting call.
The second call is a little more interesting.
"To shoot at canet de mar on 16 and 18 SeptemberWe are looking for:Babies from 9 to 12 months fair-haired."
The Canet de Mar is a town in northeastern Spain, in Catalonia. Importantly, the town is home to the Castell de Santa Florentina, a beautiful medieval castle that’s already been confirmed as a Season 6 filming location. The production is scheduled to shoot there from September 9-22, which encompasses the dates Modexpor mentions in its call. Whatever HBO needs a baby for, he or she will probably be filming in the Castell de Santa Florentina.
And what might HBO need a baby for? The description of the baby as fair-haired makes it sound like the network is going to recast the role of Little Sam, Gilly’s baby, who simply refuses to grow into toddlerhood despite being on the show for a few years now. Fans have theorized that the Castell de Santa Florentina will stand in for somewhere in the Reach on account of how wooded and bucolic it is. If Gilly’s baby is going to film scenes there, perhaps the Castell de Santa Florentina will stand in for the Tarly estate? After all, Sam does mention wanting to drop Gilly and the baby off with his family in A Feast for Crows.
Of course, this is all conjecture. Other theories are welcome. Also, it’s worth noting that Modexpor put out a call for a different infant a few weeks back. The company wanted that one to be on set in Peñiscola from October 2 to 6, and it wasn’t specific as to hair color. It’s unclear whether these two casting calls are looking to cast the same role, or if Season 6 will just be awash in baby characters.