Game of Thrones is casting a pair of new characters for season 8

At this point, HBO is deep into the filming of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, but there’s still work to be done. Case in point: fansite Watchers on the Wall reports that the production is looking for three actors to fill two new roles. Does that sound odd? We’ll explain.

First up, Game of Thrones wants someone to play a young mother, aged 25 to 30. She’s poor, and is in “a survival situation.” The casting department wants someone who knows how to improvise, which isn’t something you normally think of on a carefully scripted show like this.

Next up, the production is looking for identical twin girls to play the daughter of the young mother. The girls should be aged 5-8. Casting twins to play young children is a common tactic on film sets; think of the Olsen twins on Full House, or Baby Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen from “The Winds of Winter.” Child labor laws prohibit children from working long hours, so this is a workaround.

In any case, the daughter character will only appear in one episode, although she’ll be in multiple scenes. The twins will shoot their material on four days: May 4, May 9, June 19 and June 26. Those dates fall within the time frame quoted by Lena Headey, who said filming on season 8 will run through the end of June.

As for who these characters are and where we’ll see them, that’s harder to guess. The casting notes do not request a specific accent, so they could be from anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms. But whether they’re being accosted by White Walkers at Winterfell or by dragons in King’s Landing, there are plenty of opportunities for them to be in “a survival situation.”

Next: Season 8 filming: Game of Thrones adds a wall to the enormous King’s Landing set

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