Throughout its eight-season run on HBO, Game of Thrones accrued a sprawling cast of characters. By season 8, over forty different actors received main cast billing for their work on the show.
With such a huge cast, Game of Thrones actors rarely played multiple characters. With the exceptions of Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar), whose characters can change their faces at will, most of the main actors stick to one role throughout their time on the show.
However, before joining the main cast, one prominent Game of Thrones star began his time in Westeros as a completely different character before coming back to portray someone new. While this recasting may have just been a fluke, or the casting department remembering a small but great performance from earlier on in the show, it emphasizes a key plot point throughout the series.
Martyn Lannister, we hardly knew ye
In season 3, the forces of Robb Stark (Richard Madden) capture two young Lannister cousins, Willem (Timothy Gibbons) and Martyn (Dean-Charles Chapman). The two are kept prisoner, with Robb's wife Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin) tending to their wounds.
However, Willem and Martyn don't last long on Game of Thrones. In their second appearance, Richard Karstark (John Stahl) leads a band of men to murder the helpless prisoners to take vengeance on the Lannisters for the death of his sons. This causes Robb to execute Rickard, leading to the loss of the Karstark forces in the war, causing Robb to reach out to the Freys in order to re-forge an alliance. As A Song of Ice and Fire fans know far too well, this does not go well for Robb.
The Return of Dean-Charles Chapman
By the time of season 4, the character of Tommen Baratheon, previously played by Callum Wharry, needed to be recast to show how much the young prince had aged. Additionally, this new Tommen would spend more time in the spotlight than Wharry as, with the impending death of his brother, King Joffrey (Jack Gleason), Tommen would soon sit the Iron Throne himself.
Actor Dean-Charles Chapman, who previously played Martyn Lannister, took on the role of Tommen starting with season 4 Episode 2, "The Lion and the Rose). Chapman played the character in seasons 4, 5, and 6, receiving main cast billing starting with season 5. His tenure as Tommen began with playing him as Joffrey's meek princeling brother, continued on as he became King of the Seven Kingdoms, and ended with his death by suicide in season 6 Episode 10, "The Winds of Winter," after witnessing his beloved wife Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) die in the fiery explosion of the Sept of Baelor.
While Martyn Lannister is not the most recognizable character in Game of Thrones, eagle-eyed audience members may still have recognized Chapman from his brief season 3 role before he became such a prominent figure in the show. This also makes Chapman one of very few actors to play two entirely different characters on Game of Thrones.
Tommen Baratheon and the Lannister look
As all Game of Thrones fans know, Tommen Baratheon and his older siblings, Joffrey and Myrcella (first played by Aimee Richardson before Nell Tiger Free took over the role), are not biologically Baratheons at all. Instead of being the children of Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), their true father is Cersei's twin brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
Ned Stark (Sean Bean) discovers this secret by looking back at the Baratheon family history and learning that the family typically sports dark hair, and Joffrey's "golden crown," or lighter hair color, reflects the truth behind his parentage. However, after confronting Cersei about this, Ned is imprisoned, and later executed for treason.
To emphasize the importance of the Lannisters' hair color, the entire family is portrayed with lighter hair throughout Game of Thrones. Jaime and Cersei both wear a bright blonde color, especially in the earlier seasons, as does their younger brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), cousin Lancel (Eugene Simon), and their children, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen.
Additionally, the two Lannister cousins briefly seen in season 3, Willem and Martyn, have slightly darker but still unmistakably Lannister hair coloring. Chapman's Martyn looks very much like his Tommen. As such, Chapman's dual roles reemphasize the prominence of the "Lannister look" throughout Game of Thrones. Tommen's hair, as well as overall physical appearance, reminds audiences that, despite his Baratheon surname, House Lannister remains in control, and it's their son sitting on the Iron Throne.
For more from the world of Westeros, make sure to tune into A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, airing on Sunday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.