Game of Thrones casting czar Nina Gold talks young actors, recasting, and diversity

From the very beginning, Game of Thrones has had impeccable casting. Casting director Nina Gold has filled these roles so well many viewers don’t think about it, but how different would the show have been if someone other than Maisie Williams played Arya Stark? Or if Iwan Rheon played Jon Snow instead of Ramsay Bolton? (He auditioned for both parts.) Whether fans stop to consider it or not, the show’s success owes a lot to Gold and her talents.

Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair conducted an interview with Gold where the Emmy-winning casting czar talked about working with young actors, recasting parts, and other quirks of her craft. For example, she touched on the fact that the while the show started out working with mostly unknowns (give or take Sean Bean), it added bigger names as it went along, including Jonathan Pryce (the High Sparrow), Max von Sydow (the Three-Eyed Raven), Ian McShane (Septon Ray), and Jim Broadbent (a maester in season 7). “We’ve got to the place where it doesn’t unbalance it,” Gold said. “[T]he other actors have become stars in their own right—and we haven’t overdone it.

"It’s quite a subtle smattering. We’re not casting them because they’re names or they’re not names, we’ve just been casting them because they seem like they’d be really great in the part. And when you say, ‘What about Max von Sydow?’ and [showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] really respond to it, once you start thinking about it, it’s just kind of irresistible."

Before heavy-hitters like von Sydow came along, the only actors who got cast without an audition were Sean Bean (Ned Stark) and Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister.) “We did have a nice lunch with Sean Bean,” Gold said.

Recasting the role of Ned Stark in season 6 proved trickier. “You do find yourself staring at ancient pictures of Sean Bean, from when he was 17,” Gold said. “Then closing your eyes and wondering if you’re imagining the resemblance.” The part of young Ned Stark eventually went to Robert Aramayo, and the part of really young Ned Stark to Sebastian Croft.  Although they both looked enough like Bean, Gold doesn’t think that’s what’s most important.

"It’s definitely more of a quality and a kind of spirit that makes it work, more than an exact look-alike. Look-alikes can do as well, if you can find it. But it’s a quality, isn’t it, that you’re looking for."

As for other notable recasting decisions, Gold names “availability problems” as the reason the Mountain was recast twice. (He’s currently played by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who has left his mark on the role in a way I think we can assume means he won’t be recast again.) Meanwhile, it sounds like she recast the parts of Tommen (Callum Wharry to Dean-Charles Chapman) and Myrcella (Aimee Richardson to Nell Tiger Free) mostly because it was possible. “Tommen and Myrcella, they were so young in this first incarnation. We thought we could get away with it, and I think we more or less did.” And Sam Coleman, the actor who played Young Hodor in season 6, simply “walked through the door. And you thought, my God, this is the most lucky day of all time.”

Other recasting choices were more difficult. For example, in the original pilot for Game of Thrones, the parts of Catelyn Stark and Daenerys Targaryen were played by Jennifer Ehle and Tamzin Merchant respectively, but were recast after the pilot failed to impress. “It’s terrible to disappoint,” Gold said. “[I]t’s difficult to let down . . . that’s hard. It’s tough, but you’ve got to get it right, ultimately. Jennifer Ehle is really brilliant, but I guess things changed about the way everybody saw it.”

But for every difficult decision, there’s a moment like Emilia Clarke doing the funky chicken during audition that makes it worth it. “It’s fun, and sort of a welcome relief when something like that happens,” Gold said. “There’s so much heavy stuff in Game of Thrones that sometimes it’s quite nice to laugh for a moment.”

Gold also addressed the idea of racial diversity in Game of Thrones, of which there isn’t a ton. “Even though these are fantasy worlds, there are tribes, families, and dynasties,” Gold said. “Once you’ve put one mark on the catalyst for the Targaryens or the Starks, you really owe it to…the authenticity of trying to make them a family somehow.

"In the books, the Targaryens are these white, white people with silver hair and violet eyes. The Starks are kind of rough, like Northern English people. The Lannisters are golden, aren’t they? We really believed we were doing it like the books, basically.I guess I don’t know what to really say about it, because it’s not like there’s no diversity in the casting in Game of Thrones. We’ve turned Grey Worm and Missandei into really deep characters …I really do believe in diversity in casting, and always have done. I don’t feel I have to defend it, really."

Finally, Gold addressed casting Game of Thrones at a time where everybody wants to know everything they can about it. Whereas before, actors would audition with, y’know, scenes from the show, now they use scenes written expressly for the audition and never intended to air, all to prevent leaks from getting out. (Robert Aramayo, for example, never even knew he was auditioning to play Young Ned Stark.) “Everything comes with a password and special, secret names,” according to Gold. “You have to really have your wits about you to figure it out, even if you’ve been doing it for eight years.”

Next: Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss discuss writing season 8

Other notes:

• Iwan Rheon wasn’t the only almost-cast that ever happened. “It is funny to think of it now,” Gold said, “but at the time, a lot of the young men actors auditioned for all the different young man roles. Richard Madden (Robb Stark), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), and Gethin Anthony (Renly Baratheon) all read for multiple parts. Thankfully, it all worked out for the best for all of them.”
• When casting the part of Hodor, Gold remembered actor Kristian Nairn from his audition for Hot Fuzz.  He didn’t get that part, but coincidentally, Rory McCann (the Hound) did.
• “Oh my God, don’t you just totally love Pedro Pascal so much?” Gold said at one point. Yes. Yes we do.

You can read the rest of interview here!