A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin's epic series of fantasy novels, is filled to the brim with complex, well-developed, and iconic characters. Sadly, many of them couldn't fit into the books' TV adaptation, Game of Thrones, and were left behind in Martin's pages.
However, traces of a few cut characters from the books still remain in the show. Several important characters' subplots ended up recycled and folded into figures who already existed in Game of Thrones, ultimately condensing the plot and reducing the number of cast members.
While this list won't include characters who simply had their name changed for the adaptation, such as Asha Greyjoy becoming Yara (Gemma Whelan), or original show characters designed to fully stand in for specific people from the books, like Jeyne Westerling being fully replaced by Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin), these five book characters found elements of their storylines given to someone else for Game of Thrones.
Jon Connington and Jorah Mormont
In the fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) sails across the Royne on a ship called the Shy Maid. He meets the ship's crew, including a man known as "Griff," who readers later learn is actually Jon Connington, the former Hand of the King, who is protecting a mysterious boy claiming to be Aegon Targaryen, the son of Prince Rhaegar. Later, in his own point-of-view chapters, Connington reveals that he's contracted the deadly disease Greyscale.
However, in the show, both Connington and the entire Shy Maid crew are completely left out. Instead, Varys (Conleth Hill) accompanies Tyrion on his travels to Meereen, before Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) kidnaps him. However, the show retains Connington's bout with Greyscale, instead giving Jorah the death sentence. Luckily, Jorah is cured relatively easily by Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) at the Citadel of Oldtown. Hopefully Connington will find a cure too, but knowing Martin, it may be an uphill battle for him.
Lady Stoneheart and Beric Dondarrion
No Game of Thrones fan will ever fully shake off the brutality of Catelyn Stark's (Michelle Fairley) death at the infamous Red Wedding. However, in the novels, her story does not end there. When Catelyn's corpse is found by the Brotherhood Without Banners, their leader, Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer), sacrifices his life to bring Catelyn back. Now, the terrifying, mute, hellbent on revenge Lady Stoneheart leads the Brotherhood.
However, in the show, Catelyn never returns after the Red Wedding. Instead, Beric continues to lead the Brotherhood. While Beric's priorities differ from Lady Stoneheart's, with Arya (Maisie Williams) eventually taking revenge on the Freys for the Red Wedding, he still steers the Brotherhood in her place until his death in season 8.
Arianne Martell and Ellaria Sand
Most A Song of Ice and Fire fans agree that the books' Dorne storyline blows the show's out of the water. Martin's fourth novel in the series, A Feast for Crows, introduces Arianne Martell's plot to place Myrcella Baratheon (Nell Tiger Free) on the Iron Throne. She enlists the help of several co-conspirators, including the bastard daughters of the late Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal), Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes), Nymeria (Jessica Henwick), and Tyene Sand (Rosabell Laurenti Seller), collectively known as the Sand Snakes.
Sadly, Arianne is left out of Game of Thrones, and the Dornish plotline is simplified for the small screen. Instead, the existing character Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) takes center stage, leading the show's version of the Sand Snakes in a plot to get revenge on the Lannisters for Oberyn's demise. Ironically, Arianne's show replacement ends up killing Myrcella, instead of scheming on her behalf.
Maester Pylos and Shireen Baratheon
Maester Pylos isn't the most prominent character in A Song of Ice and Fire, but he helps Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), the newly appointed, low-born Hand to King Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), learn to read. Davos' education helps him prepare to serve Stannis, and the realm, as best he can.
However, the show leaves Maester Pylos out entirely, and many fans most likely didn't even bat an eye. Instead, Stannis' daughter, Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram), takes charge of teaching Davos. Shireen's amplified role, and strong relationship with Davos, ultimately proved to benefit the show, as their friendship becomes one of the most endearing, and eventually heartbreaking relationships in the entire series.
Jeyne Poole and Sansa Stark
Poor Jeyne Poole's storyline takes a dark turn in the books. The childhood best friend of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) finds herself married off to the psychotic Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon), passed off as Arya Stark, in order to strengthen the Boltons' hold over Winterfell.
While Jeyne technically appears in the first episode of Game of Thrones, "Winter is Coming," she is played by an uncredited extra, has no speaking lines, never reappears, and is only named as Jeyne in the DVD commentary, so for all intents and purposes, Jeyne is left out of the show altogether. As such, Sansa takes Jeyne's plotline, and Ramsay ends up marrying an actual Stark. Sadly, Sansa's scenes with Ramsay are just as hard to watch as Jeyne's are to read.
For more from the world of Westeros, make sure to stream A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 on HBO Max.
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