5 characters Henry Cavill could play in the Game of Thrones universe

Henry Cavill as…Robert Baratheon

When we meet Robert Baratheon on Game of Thrones, he’s a middle-aged man who has long since stopped warring and taken to whoring, drinking, and eating instead. The guy is way past his prime, the Westerosi equivalent of a high school football jock who got older but still spends most of his time thinking about his glory days on the gridiron.

But when he was younger and at the forefront of a war to overthrow the Targaryens, Robert was a legend: a fierce warrior, a charismatic leader, and not someone you wanted to upset on account of how big and intimidating he looked, a theme that’s recurred on this list. Henry Cavill is a big, intimidating-looking guy, so we’re finding characters to match.

Of course, since he’s pushing 40, Henry Cavill is closer to the age that Robert Baratheon was on Game of Thrones rather than the age he was when he was knocking out Rhaegar Targaryen’s teeth on the Trident. But whatever, if Matt Smith can play Daemon Targaryen over the course of 20 years on House of the Dragon then Henry Cavill can play a younger Robert Baratheon for the span of a season of TV or so.

And a season or so is about what it would take the tell the story of Robert’s Rebellion, should HBO ever choose to show us these events. That would be fun, because it involves younger versions of a lot of characters we remember from Game of Thrones. Robert and Stannis Baratheon; Ned and Catelyn Stark; Tywin, Cersei and Jaime Lannister…all of them and more show up and play important roles.