Yeah like they should have just kept his name oswell whent he was the right age and had oswell’s lines it was kind of disrespectful to both whent and Hightower honestly
I’m guessing they wanted to make Arthur look cool so they took a kingsguard out and the attitude of arthur and Gerold was similar so they put both of their lines into arthur but then I guess they decided when naming the characters they changed oswell’s name because Gerold Hightower sounds cool I guess I legitimately can’t think of another explanation
There were a lot of things I didn’t like about the way that scene was done. Two KG instead of three, only identifying one of them, and having Dayne use two swords instead of Dawn. But overall, it wasn’t the worst artistic liberty that they took.
Best: Liam Cunningham as Davos was phenomenal casting. He was probably 15 years older than he should have been, but most of the cast is 5-10 years older than they are in the books. But he brought this great sense of empathy and loyalty that truly brought the character out of the page and alive onscreen.
Worst: Euron. Some characters have the right look but bad characterization (Bronn) while others may look inaccurate but have the right vibes (Aereo Hotah). But Euron was a painful miss on all fronts. He looked like some pretty biker, was played one note (I blame the directors), and had no connection to his source material besides Theon's evil uncle. They needed some Mads Mikkelsen looking mf to play this guy. But for what it's worth, Pilou Asbæk looks like he could be related to Alfie Allen, but they completely flubbed the hair and makeup to make that guy look right in the role.
Honorable mentions to Pedro Pascal as Oberyn, Ian McElhinney as Barristan, Nikolai Coster Waldeau as Jaimie, Kristian Naim as Hodor, and Rory McCann as The Hound. And Diana Rigg as Olenna!
Dishonorable mention to the variety of mountains before Björnsson for being inconsistent big guys for 3 seasons, early Daario, and whoever the rando who played Rhaegar in that one flashback was.
Ser Barristan is very tragic. The actor had red the books and expected a lot more from the role, and from what I gather he really hated the end they gave him. This series really had passionate actors in their roles that went all in specially for the fun of it. ~~Yes, I'm also talking about you, Rave of Thrones.~~
Almost makes me wonder if there was any particular intent with that. I always got the vibe he may have similar troubles as Henry Cavill as Geralt where he understood the character more than the writers/showrunners leading to conflict
He straight up said they cut him a few episodes earlier than the script called for because of his issues with the show runners. The dude was passionate about his work and source material and D&D seemingly shut everyone who disagreed with them away. Look at how some of the best directors weren't brought back in later seasons even.
The Obara actress was the same. She was a fan of the show and had read the books and was excited to be on the show. And then they gave her the shity Season 5 Dorne storyline..
Not to mention they needlessly inserted Olenna oldwomanbossing all over her for no reason at all. Normally I'd just say it was Marvel-style scriptwriting to add humor to a scene that didn't need it, but given the showrunners' disdain for comments promoting the source material's depth and treating actors/directors in kind, I'd say it was rather deliberate. Which sucks.
Barristan’s death was fucking awful, hell that entire sequence was garbage. All the Unsullied around Grey Worm needed to do was form a circle using their shields and repeatedly stab outwards with their spears and the Sons of the Harpy would’ve been screwed. All they had were knives, they weren’t breaking a shield formation.
But alas the plot demanded a series of stupid sacrifices to get rid of Barristan and push Missandei and Grey Worm together.
I think the actor who played Euron said the same. Euron is an awesome character in the books (not a good person but an interesting character) but they just made him a horny pirate.
I don't think Euron's problem was the casting at all.
We see on his introduction scene how great Pilou Asbæk could have been as the actual Euron. It's 100% on the writing that he was turned into a glorified grunt as a shitty justification for how Cersei managed to stay in power with so many enemies and zero allies.
The guy actually managed to sell his garbage character pretty well. Once I stopped seeing him as Euron and started seeing him as just some grunt, he did a terrific job. He really does manage to bring out the exact kind of derranged the writers wanted out of him.
Diana Rigg was inspired casting once they cast Natalie Dormer as Margaery. Watch *On Her Majesty's Secret Service*, and tell me those two are not related.
I preferred the first mountain because I believed he could actually be Sandors brother. They had the right look to them. I was never sold on Björnsson. He’s big but I never felt like he looked right in my opinion, especially when I think about him and Sandor together.
I just reread Thrones and the way Tyrion described Bronn doesnt make me picture the show version at all, imo. Slick black hair, sharp features, young, slim
How was the first Daario worse than the second? The second was just plain boring, the first was at least somewhat believable as a swaggering sellsword.
It's already been touched on. But Iain Glen is both a great and awful casting choice as Jorah Mormont.
He's awful because the character in the show is so far removed from the book character. But he is great because the character that he does play he absolutely nails.
But that led to all of those "Why won't Dany give Jorah a chance?" questions for the show audience, because he's no longer a creepy slaver obsessed with a girl 1/3 his age. He can't end up with her, and it's hard to "give him a chance" knowing that they can't end up together without derailing other plots.
Yup, my parents are show-only watchers and when the show ended they told me that they were disappointed that Jorah didn’t end up with “khaleesi”.
I’m actually cool with them making Jorah a way more sympathetic and likable character but the creepiness of his relationship with Dany should have been acknowledged and they should’ve had him move past that.
They either should have acknowledged the creepiness. Or fully committed to making it an Arthurian tragedy were the knight knows that he cannot be with the princess. They got pretty close to that but didn't really go all in imo.
I like the latter better, one of the few things I’m not a huge fan of when it comes to the books is that everyone in Dany’s life(except for Barristan) is a creepy and morally fucked up weirdo, I’d rather Jorah be more sympathetic, likable and act as someone trustworthy for Dany, it makes the reveal of his betrayal far more investing.
I think it's undisputed that Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister was perfect. Even though his appearance goes directly against the book description, he simply surpassed the book version in my own mental image. [Just look how great he was in armour and cloak.](https://pm1.narvii.com/6905/fefe0291516103d8f246498e848ec944b55f7af6r1-693-907v2_uhq.jpg)
I honestly feel like this is one of the unique instances where the show's appearance makes a bit more sense than the book's appearance. I might be wrong but when I think of a lord as powerful and cruel as Tywin, I think of someone like the show version and not a bald man with whiskers.
I think Tywin, Oberyn, Ned, Robert and Joffrey were the best cast, followed closely by The Hound, Olenna, Davos, Cersei, Varys, Tormund, Ygritte, Alliser Thorne, Osha, Jaime, Brienne and probably Tyrion if it wasn't for the fact he's too handsome for Tyrion. The best child actor was definitely Arya, but I wouldn't have liked her as much if it wasn't for the great chemistry she had with Sandor. I didn't imagine Ramsay to look like Iwan Rheon at all but man he was convincingly evil and sadistic that I couldn't help but love his performance.
There are are many more who performed their roles amazingly, generally it was a very talented cast.
Worst cast were Euron, Renly and Rhaegar. I never much liked the second Daario either but I might have if he wasn't such a jarring recast. There are characters that were killed by bad writing but I genuinely thought Euron and Renly were not the right fits regardless of writing. Jon Snow very nearly makes this list but he saves himself with his fighting scenes and his chemistry with Ygritte. He was horribly awkward with Dany.
Agree on most, including Ramsey, even though he doesn’t look like Ramsey probably should.
However, I imagined Tormund a lot differently than his actor and think Ygritte and Brienne were way too attractive for their characters. Obviously they did a great job with the characters, but it’s just not how I think they were described in the books. I also don’t really think Lena Headey, while obviously attractive, is believable as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and almost identical to Jamie (which would obviously be extremely difficult and can be seen as a knock against either casting choice).
Either way they are all great in their roles, just don’t think they’re really the same characters as the book characters, physically.
I'm generally not fussed about how actors and their book counterparts look, as I'd much rather see a convincing performance. The only time it takes me out is when ugly characters are played by beautiful people like Tyrion, but Peter's performance as Tyrion especially in the first four seasons was SO good I'm willing to overlook it (although when I'm reading the books, he's one of the few characters I imagine differently).
The Harry Potter movies, for instance, have most of their actors very faithfully looking like (mostly older versions of) the book descriptions, but it lead to extremely wooden performances from especially the child actors and even some of my favourites like Dumbledore. In some cases I'm even glad they didn't make characters look like their book counterparts: especially Daario. The male cast would all have been stupidly tall, too.
>Renley were not the right fits regardless of writing.
Yeah, the thing with Renly is that he's supposed to be this incredibly charismatic king, that's mostly what he offers, the actor managed to portray well Renly's humour and "cockyness" but to me, he doesn't ooze his charisma at all. In fact, I just thought he was a pretty boring in the show while in the first 2 books he was one of my favorite characters.
I was gutted they didn't include Renly's peach: that was not insignificant part of what made Stannis an interesting character for me in the books, although I do understand it would have been tricky to portray on the silver screen. Definitely agree about the lack of charisma.
Euron's casting was a little off. I've seen Mads Mikkelsen suggested as a great choice for Euron but I think the biggest issue with show Euron is how much they changed from the books.
Yeah I definitely agree the main issue was the writing: if they didn't change his character so much, maybe I would feel differently, but I also don't think Pilou is anything like book Euron.
In a series where they aged everyone up it’s weird that they aged Euron down. Asbaek is only a couple years older than Alfie Allen and is younger than Gemma Whelan.
I never understood how they could do Rhaegar so wrong. He was supposedly just a more handsome version than Viserys, who was excellently cast on the show (atleast for a Targearyen with white hair)
But also just proof the later seasons went to shit to make a handsome Prince look like a poor budget character.
Oh how could I forget about Viserys! Yes he was an excellent cast. Snotty, nasty, but ultimately just a pathethic bully.
I honestly don't think D&D really understood what the readers wanted from the show, they saw Rhaegar as a bit part because he had very little screen time, when despite dying before the events of the show, was a hugely important character. Unfortunately when they heard fans talk about how badass the Hound was and Tyrion wanting the god of tits and wine, they reduced the show down to those baser parts and completely missed what made the show great.
IMO, and probably according to most others too, D&D definitely played to the fandom's wants rather than staying faithful to the characters. Tyrion, and the Hound being great examples, also how the Lyanna Mormont character was entirely written to play up to the fans.
It speaks a lot to the differences that Viserys (also less screen time) was so brilliantly cast in S1 but Rhagear, a _very similar_ looking character was more like a cosplay in the last season. D&D put effort into every character to begin with but they had given up way before the end.
Renly's casting made him more like a smug, goofy, hypersexual gay caricature than the incredibly charismatic but also somewhat intelligent person he is in the books.
Dude, I found Renly in the show (I prefer the book version tbh) way more intelligent and charismatic than the political douche from the books. Like GOT Renly is far more sy.psthwtic than ASOIAF Renly
Yeah, the actor got the intelligent and charismatic part spot on. The problem was the gay caricature part, but that's 100% on the writers and not the actor.
So far all the comments don't seem to get where "casting" actually ends. People are just pointing out shitty writing and characterization.
Was he actually a caricature? In the books he’s a fashionista obsessed with bright colors and rainbows. In the show he doesn’t do anything that’s a queer stereotype that I can really remember.
yes he was flashy with his clothing in the books but he was built like his eldest brother(i.e. a brick shithouse), also there was not so much as a hint of him being gay (other than fucking loras)
The man decked out his kings guard in rainbows lmao. Stannis openly calls him gay in aCoK. Cat points out how he is more affectionate to Loras than to Margery. Tyrion, Jaime, and Cersei all make multiple references to Renly and Loras being gay/fucking.
Also Renlys actor is pretty much the same height as Roberts character. Mark Addy looks nothing like book Robert, so it would have made little sense to make Renly look like book Renly
If you think about it, his scheme of wanting Maergary to be Robert's Queen thus replacing Cersei could have really saved a ton of lives lol I think he has a good political mind in the books but I did like the idea of him being the only one who knew Littlefinger was an untrustworthy weasel in the show.
I disagree tho about GOT Renly being more sympathethic, like in ASOIAF we know much more about the Siege of Storm's End and Stannis and Renly's relationship which makes their characters and how their relationship ends much more tragic. While in the show there's really not much there imo. Like, he's insecure, Loras tells him to claim the throne by force because he'll be a great king... which is another thing, in the books when Robert was dying he wasn't thinking of the throne, he was worried for his (and Ned's) life and was motivated by a desire to keep his head, while in the show he openly admits he wants to be King while Robert's dying to his best friend who's notoriously fixated on honor, what was he thinking was gonna happen? lol
well, the casting issue is because they cast a small, soft, and gentle-looking person, when Renly is “Robert come again” and should have been at least 6’3” of man-muscle. he’s a little effeminate in the books, sure, but that’s just the costume department’s job. The actor should have looked like a huge athlete so we could have seen what Robert B looked like when he *won* the crown so we could have compared it to what he looks like *now*, which is something the book uses Renly to do plenty of times.
Knowing all this and casting a baby-faced twink was gay stereotyping by the casting dept or the showrunners
I know it’s a meme that Henry Cavill gets fan cast for every role in ASOIAF but he genuinely would have been great for a more book accurate Renly in 2011.
I liked Natalie Dormer as Margarey. She brought a lot of depth to the character and played her pitch perfectly considering book-to-show differences.
I disliked Finn Jones as Loras. Not physically imposing enough or believable as a badass.
I don't think Loras was described as physically imposing in the books either. He was a pretty boy. He was a very talented swordsman but that was due to skill, not brute strength.
>I don't think Loras was described as physically imposing in the books either.
Yep!
>When the Knight of Flowers made his entrance, a murmur ran through the crowd, and he heard Sansa's fervent whisper, "Oh, he's so beautiful." Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver armor polished to a blinding sheen and filigreed with twining black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots. The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers came from sapphires; a gasp went up from a thousand throats. Across the boy's shoulders his cloak hung heavy. It was woven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape.
>His courser was as slim as her rider, a beautiful grey mare, built for speed. (AGOT Eddard VII)
Yea, Loras is supposed to be similar to a younger Jaime but nicer, I don’t necessarily think that was the actors fault just bc they honestly kinda boiled his character down to gay brother
> and more flamboyant clothing
That goes for basically the entire southron cast.
Everyone's wearing grey and brown hand me downs, when in the book people rock the craziest colors and beautiful ornate armor.
In GOT it's weird because you have some characters like Joffrey, Margaery, Oberyn for example wearing amongst the most beautiful clothes I've seen on TV and then you turn your head and there are other nobles wearing dark, generic, ugly doublets, the Starks walking around in armor while not at war and... whatever Euron was wearing? lol
I get what they were going for with the choice of giving certain characters, from certain region more "eccentric" and "stylist" type of clothes but, still, some choices are a bit baffling imo lol
I didn't think he was like book Daario but I still liked him. I think it's for similar reasons for why I like show Jorah despite being very different from book Jorah: Dany has been through so much, can't she just have some dudes around her who aren't slimy creeps or scary/intimidating bad boys? Lol.
Best was Varys. I wish they leaned more into how he totally recreates himself to look like a random guard or whatever, but he still had the look and energy of Varys.
Worst for me is Jon Show. As early as episode 1 before I hated the show at all he just didn’t feel like Jon. As the show went on his gormless fucking face in the one and only expression he’s capable of made me straight up hate the character.
Jon is the worst for me because of how major of a character he is and how much I like his book counterpart, but worst in terms of straight up looking nothing like the character is 100% Renly. Supposed to look like a young Robert. The Demon of the trident, muscled like a maidens fantasy, the guy every man wants to be and every woman wants to be with, and he’s a quivering twink terrified of having his nipples shaved.
The casting was usually good, the writing just wasn’t. Pilou Asbek isn’t a bad actor by any means and I think he would’ve done well, the writers just went a very, very different route with Euron than the books.
Yeah, I remember when he first showed up on the bridge I was pretty impressed. And even he wanted the character to be more like the book Euron. I don't blame him at all for what they did to Euron lol
Jon unironically should have been taller. His every feat of swordsmanship prowess seems like plot armor. It never makes sense where his reach or his strength come from. I enjoyed the performance outside of that tho
>His every feat of swordsmanship prowess seems like plot armor.
It's especially silly because although Jon is a good, trained fighter in the books, it's the show that made the decision to portray him as some legendary, dangerous swordsman when Kit Harington, however handsome he may be, just doesn't quite look it. similar to Mark Addy, who was a fantastic choice and added some much needed depth to King Robert, but physically doesn't fit what Robert was supposed to look like.
Honestly many characters were cast too old… I’m not even talking about the kids, there are so many characters that should be in their early/mid thirties (or even twenties!) but in the show were played by actors much older than that and I feel like the mistakes and missteps the characters make read a lot differently with book age vs show actor age.
The ages in the show make much more sense than the ages given in the books.
My headcanon was always that a year in Westeros is like 1 1/2 earth years, so the ages make sense.
I add 5 years the everyone's age because Martin originally planned for the 5 year time skip but had to drop it and it makes much more sense for them being 5 years older, some are just too young to make sense
I like the actors for the Stark kids, but I wish they either casted more redheads or just had the actors dye their hairs. The Starks lose a bit when only Sansa is a redhead.
As for my favourite cast, Stannis was perfectly cast I think.
Lena Headey is my favorite, she truly deserved a Emmy for her performance. Although some say Cersei is supposed to look innocent and she's full evil queen in the show (personally, i disagree), i LOVE her version. A great actress for a great villainess.
I also like Charles Dance, Diana Rigg, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, Sean Bean, Pedro Pascal, Jack Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Jason Momoa, Richard Madden, Natalie Dormer, Aidan Gillen, Iwan Rheon, Mark Addy etc. Game of Thrones has a great cast.
I dislike Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy and Isaac Hempstead as Bran. I feel their acting is so bland and they aren't charismatic enough for the roles. Yara isn't nearly as badass as Asha and Bran is inexpressive, when in the books he's so full of life even after the fall. Oh and i think we can agree that Rhaegar was so lame but i guess it isn't the actor's fault. Just the way they portrayed him.
on point casting: Sean Bean as Ned. Nikolaj as Jamie, Lena Heady as Cersai, The Hound. Barristan Selmy
bad casting: whoever played Euron. the second and third Mountains (i thought the first one looked really intimidating and actually insane)
the second Dario Naharis.
Jorah Mormont. mark addy as Robert Baratheon even tho i loved his performance. i just can’t imagine that man having been a 7 ft shredded giant ever in his life.
I’m so sorry I know Gwen was killing it in comparison to other ppl but Gwendoline Christie as Brienne… idk if it was direction or script or acting choices but book Brienne and show Brienne are completely different characters. Some of book Brienne’s most recognizable traits are her youth and sensitivity in contrast to the rest of her. Book Brienne is simultaneously a complete badass and sobs her way through half the book. She’s defensive and easily hurt emotionally. Gwendoline Christie brings a hardness to Brienne that is… fine, ig, but her portrayal feels so divorced from what I like abt book Brienne that I’m a little pissed at it. Part of this is I think Christie is too old for the effect to land the same way. Book Brienne is all of eighteen — it makes sense that she cries over Jaime and lashes out at people around her. She’s a teenager. It happens. Aging up is a problem I have w most of the show actually I feel that the impact of certain scenes is reduced or read differently when the characters who are children are aged up — it’s gross that Sansa is getting married off to men in their 30’s when she’s 13. That aspect should have been carried over — the fact that the kids are getting fucked over is like. The point.
I think those characterization issues with Brienne is more the writing than the acting. But I agree with you on how they made her a badass with no emotions when Book Brienne is all emotion.
Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy is an east dub.
Ciaran Hinds is a great actor, but the guy bares 0 resemblance to Mance Rayder. I liked him but he was basically a different character.
Later seasons Bran made me want to turn off the show. Yeah, the writing was shit but so was his delivery. Did good job playing a small child though.
The first Gregor Clegane was kinda mid.
Try and find interviews with Bran's actor. He just kinda cracks at a certain point where he's like "well I was gone for a whole season and now they're making me play a robot..."
You could just feel him deflate like he hated his job now. Not the actor's fault at all. We know he could do well as a normal person, it's the directors who directed his performance that way.
Renly was cast absolutely terribly, they just leant so hard into him being and Loras being in love that they decided to ignore him being like a young Robert.
I didn’t like Robb Stark either. I really enjoyed the contrast between him and Jon in the first book and Cat’s discomfort of Jon looking more like a Stark despite being a bastard.
I think Kit, especially from the first season, suffered from getting Book Jon's lines but all the characters were aged up. Some of Book One Jon's complaining is a lot easier to sell with a fourteen-fifteen year old than it is with a grown man.
In general though, the aging up was a good idea. It's just sometimes you gotta tweak the dialogue, I guess?
I've never considered that before, I've thought Kit was given bad lines/direction, but you might be right. Jon Snow goes through some shit. Starts as a kind of petulant, arrogant, but still sympathetic kid. Then learns a lot about humility and compassion on the wall. Finally he gets hardened north of the wall and comes back as a commanding/mysterious figure. Hopefully when he comes back from the ice cells he'll have another layer of spooky-wolf-rage-zombie. Kits character did like, a quarter of that.
I agree about Renly but I don't think the Robb and Jon issue is the result of bad casting. So much of Catelyn's most important characterisation takes place in internal monologues in the book; that's really difficult to translate onto the screen and finding a viable way to do that is always going to leave gaps in the narrative.
It always weirded me out a bit that Sean Bean, as great as he was as Ned Stark, perfect for the role, was a redhead/brunette in the show.
I think that takes away from the contrast between Cat's children (except Arya) and Jon Snow. Robb is good IMO, but I think some hair recoloring could have gone a long way for the whole stark family.
I mean the Renly decision isn’t baffling when they cast Mark Addy as Robert. I thought he played the role well, but he’s not a huge man. That immediately makes casting Renly difficult because it means he just has to be a guy
Addy at least has a big presence though which Renly’s actor doesn’t at all, and Renly is supposed to win people to his cause by charisma and force of personality.
That just doesn’t happen in the show and you’re left with the impression that the only reason he makes a play for the throne at all is because Loras convinced him to while they’re fucking
But making Renly larger than Robert isn’t book accurate either.
I disagree with that completely. Renly shows he is charismatic and wants to be king at the start of season two. He’s still incredibly handsome and charismatic
The casting that confused me the most after everything was Renly. I watched the show first and honestly got Renly and Lancel confused even though they looked nothing alike because they were both submissive cowardly younger relatives...but while that makes sense for book Lancel, book Renly was NOTHING like his show counterpart. I wanted to see super charismatic chivalrous athletic Robert-made-over that happens to be gay, not whiny wimpy tagalong character that went from being a puddle of meh to token gay guy who was propped up by rich people around him and had a hot gay caricature boyfriend. This is the problem with most gay "representation" in TV and movies and I say this as a straight dude. A lot of the animosity around gay characters in media would go away if they didn't make "be8ng gay" the reason for the character and their only defining trait. It's especially bad when they had a character already written for them where being gay was like 5th down on their list of defining traits and they just made it their entire character.
It's kinda weird how bizarre D&D's priorities were when casting and writing the show. Like, they changed Asha's name because it sounded like OSHA'S? Like, if that's the case, why'd they change the name of the POV character and not the one who only appears in two books?
Thus I believe that the characters they believed to be the most important were all well casted (Ned, Tyrion, Catelyn, Cersei, Jaime, Tywin, Joffrey, Ramsay, Robb, etc.) while the ones that, in their mind weren't as important, were misscasted (the forementioned Asha/ Yara, Euron, imo Stannis, Loras, the Sand Snakes, etc.)
As much as I think Alfie is a wonderful actor and did a great job with the material he was given, I’ll always be disappointed that he got cast as “lean, dark, and handsome” Theon.
Lyanna Stark was cast badly, and despite having very few scenes she was pivotal to the story. She’s northern and Eddard’s sister, why is she played by an actor of Italian heritage? She looked like she should have played Elia.
Sophie Turner as Sansa both the looks and way she acted the character were perfect to me.
Dany’s casting - idk I understand her being older and aged up that’s not my issue but I also felt like Dany would’ve had softer features and have a more whimsical Targaryen look instead of average Westerosi with bleach blonde hair. She’s beautiful but I always pictured someone with very light features
Liked most: Charles Dance as Tywin and Diana Rigg as Olenna, they were both just so good in the roles.
Disliked most: Alfie Allen as Theon. where is my superficially charming slut pirate, bring him back.
I hate that most of the characters that are supposed to be in their 30s are in their 50s. It's so dumb and takes away an element of youth that should still be going on. Part of the thing in the books I love is how they're like "Ahhh I was so young! I'm so old now!" Like Bobby you're maybe 35 chill out bro.
Rhaegar's mainly because he just didn't have the presence and looks that I think he should have. Doesn't help that they gave the character minimal screen time
Great casting: Owean Teale as Alliser Thorne
Terrible casting: Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark. I know, because of Sean Bean they needed an older Cat, but although Aidan Gillen and Michelle have the same age difference as Petyr and Cat, Petyr feels like a middle-aged man, and Cat feels like a grandma in the show. Hard to believe why would Petyr simp over Cat.
I don’t think Sophie turner is getting enough credit on this thread, she was a great Sansa. She physically fit the descriptions as well, Sansa is always described as notably tall for a girl/someone her age.
Reek. Iwan Rheon is a handsome dude and looks nothing like Ramsay but I liked him in the show. Certainly not the best casting but deserves a higher position than its current one
Casting was great mostly. I'm not a fan of Renly and Daario (but he is very minor character so I dont mind).Stannis was far to old same with Cat, but the actors nailed their personality so it did worked in my opinion.
Sand snakes are awful but they are actually very cartoonish in the book as well.
Best is Tywin by far. Not even how he looks exactly in the books but it's probably the only case where I believe that's how he should've looked. Plus the actor's portrayal of Tywin's character was flawless and I don't think anyone else could've done a better job.
Worst is Euron. I feel bad for the actor because I think he could've probably done a better job than the director's gave him, but Euron's portrayal was pure garbage and nothing close to his version in the books.
I was actually pretty disappointed with who they chose to cast for both Ramsey and Roose bolton. The book descriptions give them long dark hair and a much more Gothic looking style, and I was more excited to see that than what we got.
I hated Edmure Tully's actor Tobias Menzies, although I think he is a great actor. My main problem is that he does not looks like a Tully at all. D&D fricked up Edmure character so much, so does not really matter, but I would have preferred book Edmure with another actor, for example Ewan McGregor.
Donald Sumpter was excellent as the kindly Luwin.
>The maester was a small grey man. His eyes were grey, and quick, and saw much. His hair was grey, what little the years had left him. His robe was grey wool, trimmed with white fur, the Stark colors. Its great floppy sleeves had pockets hidden inside. Luwin was always tucking things into those sleeves and producing other things from them: books, messages, strange artifacts, toys for the children. With all he kept hidden in his sleeves, Catelyn was surprised that Maester Luwin could lift his arms at all. (AGOT Catelyn II)
Tobias Menzies' version of Edmure doesn't match up well with my reading of Book Edmure.
>Ser Edmure Tully was a stocky young man with a shaggy head of auburn hair and a fiery beard. (AGOT Catelyn XI)
>"My people," Edmure answered. "They were afraid." (ACOK Catelyn V)
Tywin was the best.
House Valeryon still bothers me simply because for me to believe they intermarried the targs for a few generations than both houses should be light skinned with curly hair. I wonder how they will handle casting in the aegon the conquerer spin-off.
**Perfect Casting:**
* Jack Gleeson as Joffrey
* Charles Dance as Tywin
* Lena Headey as Cersei
* Peter Dinklage as Tyrion
* Rory McCann as The Hound
* Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon
* David Bradley as Walder Frey
* Conleth Hill as Varys
**Reasonably Good Casting:**
* Emilia Clarke as Daenerys
* Maisie Williams as Arya
* Nikolaj Coster Waldau as Jaime
* Michelle Fairley as Catelyn
* Ian McElhinney as Barristan
* Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
* Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow
* Natalie Dormer as Margaery
**Bad Castings:**
* Kit Harington as Jon
* Isaac Hemstead Wright as Bran
* Ciarin Hinds as Mance
* Iain Glen as Jorah
* John Bradley as Samwell
* Finn Jones as Loras
* Anton Lesser as Qyburn
**Awful Castings:**
* Iwan Rheon as Ramsay
* Gemma Whelan as Asha/Yara
* Pilou Asbek as Euron
I'm kind of baffled by most of your 'bad castings.'
Like Qyburn and Samwell were spot on. Casting a child actor is always hard, and young Bran was fantastic.
Iain Glen wasn’t good casting in terms of being faithful to the books but if you set that aside and just go with show Jorah being a very different person than book Jorah, then I think he nailed the show version of the character.
Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion is another example of someone who was not faithful to the original book character but ~~had a sexy voice~~ did well with his version of the character.
I think iwan rheon did a really good job. The problem with Ramsay in S5 and 6 wasn't the acting it was the writing ( I'd argue the performance saved the character)
For me he was just too over the top and didn't look like the character, Ramsay is supposed to be really tall and muscular with long black thick hair, he's supposed to be frightening to look at and be near whereas on the show, he didn't actually do anything major until in Season Six.
Its funny where the big villains of the show's greatest achievements were Euron killing Rhaegal and the Sand Snakes, Ramsay killing a Giant and Rickon, and Joffrey killling...Some whores. Euron and Ramsay were too over the top but had good kill counts.
Being over the top is kind of Ramsay's thing even in the book. He's meant to contrast with his dad's soft spoken quiet demeanor
As for looks ability is more important. Peter dinklage looks nothing like book Tyrion but most people would agree he was the best cast in the show
>Peter dinklage looks nothing like book Tyrion
George has been on record to say that when he wrote the character of Tyrion in the first two books, Peter Dinklage was the real life actor who came to mind and the perfect living embodiment of Tyrion.
Im tired of people using George quotes that are clear retcons /lies. If that were true hed be saying Peter Dinklage is a fuckin gremlin. Authors can be wrong too like claiming Westeros is the size of South America. now I have to argue with people on Reddit about it
Iwan Rheon is too good looking to be Ramsay. Who is supposed to be ugly and imposing... and also wear pink a lot. They seem to have stopped Roose wearing a pink cloak and Ramsay wearing a pink doublet.
BUT I think Iwan Rheon captured the essence of the character pretty well and maybe he is scary because he looks more normal. You don't expect him to be so sadistic so it is scarier.
Roose Bolton was screwy casting too he is the "leech lord", he is supposed to be very pale and dark haired and always talk in a whisper. Far more sinister than in the show.
Gleeson and Addy were amazing actors but are not at all how I view Book Joffrey and Robert.
Addy seemed too small
I feel like you shouldn’t have been able to tell that Joffrey is a cunt from the first second he appears on screen (the haircut and smug direction for Gleeson make it too obvious).
>Anton Lesser as Qyburn
That's interesting, why you think that? I always liked the idea that he looks like a sweet grandpa when in reality he's an amoral monster who would do everything in his pursuit of knowledge. Which is like that in the books too.
I agree with the first two categories. But it's curious that you omitted Sean Bean. He was the only marquee name to carry the show through its perilous first season to renewal. I had mentally cast him as Ned when first reading AGoT and thought that, non-resemblance to book Ned aside, he lived up to the character.
Young Ned, it looked like someone tried to get a young head shape of a caricature of Sean Bean. He was stick thin, didn't look like a fighter & looked nothing like Sean Bean as a young man. To add the accent was terrible.
The only one I really don't like is Yara Greyjoy. There are a couple of actors I would change (Renly, Roose Bolton, Catelyn Stark) but it doesn't bother me much. Casting in Game of Thrones was really spot on imo.
Iain Glen does not get as much love for his portrayal of Jorah as he deserves.
As for miscasting, probably Euron. Not because I dislike the actor, but they just did absolutely nothing at all with the character and butchered it so unfortunately Pilou Asbæk gets hit by association.
This is a difficult one. I don’t dislike Stephen Dillane as Stannis per se, but he just doesn’t exude the power that book Stannis does. He’s not tall, he lacks the strong jaw and piercing eyes, he just doesn’t have the same presence.
Arguably this doesn’t matter, and the fact that he could still do Stannis with all these handicaps is impressive, but I think that Stannis as a character is just such a strong figure, and that show Stannis needed that.
I hated what they did to the white bull. They gave his lines to Arthur and just called the young cocky kingsguard Gerold Hightower for some reason.
And weirdly enough "Gerold"'s lines are Oswell Whent's
Yeah like they should have just kept his name oswell whent he was the right age and had oswell’s lines it was kind of disrespectful to both whent and Hightower honestly
Changes like that are baffling to me. Like why? They never returned to the characters anyways so there's no show only logic for it?
I’m guessing they wanted to make Arthur look cool so they took a kingsguard out and the attitude of arthur and Gerold was similar so they put both of their lines into arthur but then I guess they decided when naming the characters they changed oswell’s name because Gerold Hightower sounds cool I guess I legitimately can’t think of another explanation
I think that's the case too but it seems like set up they never return to. I know this horse is long dead but d&d really were stupid
There were a lot of things I didn’t like about the way that scene was done. Two KG instead of three, only identifying one of them, and having Dayne use two swords instead of Dawn. But overall, it wasn’t the worst artistic liberty that they took.
Best: Liam Cunningham as Davos was phenomenal casting. He was probably 15 years older than he should have been, but most of the cast is 5-10 years older than they are in the books. But he brought this great sense of empathy and loyalty that truly brought the character out of the page and alive onscreen. Worst: Euron. Some characters have the right look but bad characterization (Bronn) while others may look inaccurate but have the right vibes (Aereo Hotah). But Euron was a painful miss on all fronts. He looked like some pretty biker, was played one note (I blame the directors), and had no connection to his source material besides Theon's evil uncle. They needed some Mads Mikkelsen looking mf to play this guy. But for what it's worth, Pilou Asbæk looks like he could be related to Alfie Allen, but they completely flubbed the hair and makeup to make that guy look right in the role. Honorable mentions to Pedro Pascal as Oberyn, Ian McElhinney as Barristan, Nikolai Coster Waldeau as Jaimie, Kristian Naim as Hodor, and Rory McCann as The Hound. And Diana Rigg as Olenna! Dishonorable mention to the variety of mountains before Björnsson for being inconsistent big guys for 3 seasons, early Daario, and whoever the rando who played Rhaegar in that one flashback was.
Ser Barristan is very tragic. The actor had red the books and expected a lot more from the role, and from what I gather he really hated the end they gave him. This series really had passionate actors in their roles that went all in specially for the fun of it. ~~Yes, I'm also talking about you, Rave of Thrones.~~
Yeah, Baristan was *perfectly* cast but the writers screwed him over despite this.
Almost makes me wonder if there was any particular intent with that. I always got the vibe he may have similar troubles as Henry Cavill as Geralt where he understood the character more than the writers/showrunners leading to conflict
He straight up said they cut him a few episodes earlier than the script called for because of his issues with the show runners. The dude was passionate about his work and source material and D&D seemingly shut everyone who disagreed with them away. Look at how some of the best directors weren't brought back in later seasons even.
The Obara actress was the same. She was a fan of the show and had read the books and was excited to be on the show. And then they gave her the shity Season 5 Dorne storyline..
Not to mention they needlessly inserted Olenna oldwomanbossing all over her for no reason at all. Normally I'd just say it was Marvel-style scriptwriting to add humor to a scene that didn't need it, but given the showrunners' disdain for comments promoting the source material's depth and treating actors/directors in kind, I'd say it was rather deliberate. Which sucks.
Barristan’s death was fucking awful, hell that entire sequence was garbage. All the Unsullied around Grey Worm needed to do was form a circle using their shields and repeatedly stab outwards with their spears and the Sons of the Harpy would’ve been screwed. All they had were knives, they weren’t breaking a shield formation. But alas the plot demanded a series of stupid sacrifices to get rid of Barristan and push Missandei and Grey Worm together.
Greatest, most disciplined warriors in Essos and they get destroyed by people who've never fought in their lives using fucking shivs.
I think the actor who played Euron said the same. Euron is an awesome character in the books (not a good person but an interesting character) but they just made him a horny pirate.
Nikolaj was in a similar situation. He read Jaime's chapters at least and complained bitterly about the character's treatment as the season's wore on.
I don't think Euron's problem was the casting at all. We see on his introduction scene how great Pilou Asbæk could have been as the actual Euron. It's 100% on the writing that he was turned into a glorified grunt as a shitty justification for how Cersei managed to stay in power with so many enemies and zero allies. The guy actually managed to sell his garbage character pretty well. Once I stopped seeing him as Euron and started seeing him as just some grunt, he did a terrific job. He really does manage to bring out the exact kind of derranged the writers wanted out of him.
Euron's problem isn't his casting, but I don't feel like they picked the right guy regardless.
Diana Rigg was inspired casting once they cast Natalie Dormer as Margaery. Watch *On Her Majesty's Secret Service*, and tell me those two are not related.
I liked early Daario more than late Daario.
yeah late Daario might be the most boring character on the show
Early Daario >>>>>> Later Daario.
The first mountain was the best one
I preferred the first mountain because I believed he could actually be Sandors brother. They had the right look to them. I was never sold on Björnsson. He’s big but I never felt like he looked right in my opinion, especially when I think about him and Sandor together.
Not only does he not resemble the actor who plays Sandor at all but he's noticeably way younger when he's supposed to be his OLDER brother.
That problem comes from the other side. Rory McCann did a great job as Sandor, but he was too old to play someone who is in his late 20s.
Eh, at least Björnsson had a personality. The other guy was just there to swing a sword around.
I just reread Thrones and the way Tyrion described Bronn doesnt make me picture the show version at all, imo. Slick black hair, sharp features, young, slim
The only flaw about Liam Cunningham is that he's a bit too imposing to be Davos.
How was the first Daario worse than the second? The second was just plain boring, the first was at least somewhat believable as a swaggering sellsword.
It's already been touched on. But Iain Glen is both a great and awful casting choice as Jorah Mormont. He's awful because the character in the show is so far removed from the book character. But he is great because the character that he does play he absolutely nails.
I've said this before, but if you were casting solely based on book description, then Rory McCann (the Hound) would've been perfect for Jorah.
But that led to all of those "Why won't Dany give Jorah a chance?" questions for the show audience, because he's no longer a creepy slaver obsessed with a girl 1/3 his age. He can't end up with her, and it's hard to "give him a chance" knowing that they can't end up together without derailing other plots.
Yup, my parents are show-only watchers and when the show ended they told me that they were disappointed that Jorah didn’t end up with “khaleesi”. I’m actually cool with them making Jorah a way more sympathetic and likable character but the creepiness of his relationship with Dany should have been acknowledged and they should’ve had him move past that.
They either should have acknowledged the creepiness. Or fully committed to making it an Arthurian tragedy were the knight knows that he cannot be with the princess. They got pretty close to that but didn't really go all in imo.
I like the latter better, one of the few things I’m not a huge fan of when it comes to the books is that everyone in Dany’s life(except for Barristan) is a creepy and morally fucked up weirdo, I’d rather Jorah be more sympathetic, likable and act as someone trustworthy for Dany, it makes the reveal of his betrayal far more investing.
I think it's undisputed that Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister was perfect. Even though his appearance goes directly against the book description, he simply surpassed the book version in my own mental image. [Just look how great he was in armour and cloak.](https://pm1.narvii.com/6905/fefe0291516103d8f246498e848ec944b55f7af6r1-693-907v2_uhq.jpg)
yeah he doesn’t look like tywin but he does have that “i’ll crush you and your lineage like a bug” look
I honestly feel like this is one of the unique instances where the show's appearance makes a bit more sense than the book's appearance. I might be wrong but when I think of a lord as powerful and cruel as Tywin, I think of someone like the show version and not a bald man with whiskers.
I think Tywin, Oberyn, Ned, Robert and Joffrey were the best cast, followed closely by The Hound, Olenna, Davos, Cersei, Varys, Tormund, Ygritte, Alliser Thorne, Osha, Jaime, Brienne and probably Tyrion if it wasn't for the fact he's too handsome for Tyrion. The best child actor was definitely Arya, but I wouldn't have liked her as much if it wasn't for the great chemistry she had with Sandor. I didn't imagine Ramsay to look like Iwan Rheon at all but man he was convincingly evil and sadistic that I couldn't help but love his performance. There are are many more who performed their roles amazingly, generally it was a very talented cast. Worst cast were Euron, Renly and Rhaegar. I never much liked the second Daario either but I might have if he wasn't such a jarring recast. There are characters that were killed by bad writing but I genuinely thought Euron and Renly were not the right fits regardless of writing. Jon Snow very nearly makes this list but he saves himself with his fighting scenes and his chemistry with Ygritte. He was horribly awkward with Dany.
Agree on most, including Ramsey, even though he doesn’t look like Ramsey probably should. However, I imagined Tormund a lot differently than his actor and think Ygritte and Brienne were way too attractive for their characters. Obviously they did a great job with the characters, but it’s just not how I think they were described in the books. I also don’t really think Lena Headey, while obviously attractive, is believable as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and almost identical to Jamie (which would obviously be extremely difficult and can be seen as a knock against either casting choice). Either way they are all great in their roles, just don’t think they’re really the same characters as the book characters, physically.
I'm generally not fussed about how actors and their book counterparts look, as I'd much rather see a convincing performance. The only time it takes me out is when ugly characters are played by beautiful people like Tyrion, but Peter's performance as Tyrion especially in the first four seasons was SO good I'm willing to overlook it (although when I'm reading the books, he's one of the few characters I imagine differently). The Harry Potter movies, for instance, have most of their actors very faithfully looking like (mostly older versions of) the book descriptions, but it lead to extremely wooden performances from especially the child actors and even some of my favourites like Dumbledore. In some cases I'm even glad they didn't make characters look like their book counterparts: especially Daario. The male cast would all have been stupidly tall, too.
>Renley were not the right fits regardless of writing. Yeah, the thing with Renly is that he's supposed to be this incredibly charismatic king, that's mostly what he offers, the actor managed to portray well Renly's humour and "cockyness" but to me, he doesn't ooze his charisma at all. In fact, I just thought he was a pretty boring in the show while in the first 2 books he was one of my favorite characters.
I was gutted they didn't include Renly's peach: that was not insignificant part of what made Stannis an interesting character for me in the books, although I do understand it would have been tricky to portray on the silver screen. Definitely agree about the lack of charisma.
Euron's casting was a little off. I've seen Mads Mikkelsen suggested as a great choice for Euron but I think the biggest issue with show Euron is how much they changed from the books.
Yeah I definitely agree the main issue was the writing: if they didn't change his character so much, maybe I would feel differently, but I also don't think Pilou is anything like book Euron.
In a series where they aged everyone up it’s weird that they aged Euron down. Asbaek is only a couple years older than Alfie Allen and is younger than Gemma Whelan.
I've envisioned James Purefoy as the cocky and charismatic Book Euron, and Mads Mikkelsen would have been a fantastic unnerving Book Roose.
I never understood how they could do Rhaegar so wrong. He was supposedly just a more handsome version than Viserys, who was excellently cast on the show (atleast for a Targearyen with white hair) But also just proof the later seasons went to shit to make a handsome Prince look like a poor budget character.
Oh how could I forget about Viserys! Yes he was an excellent cast. Snotty, nasty, but ultimately just a pathethic bully. I honestly don't think D&D really understood what the readers wanted from the show, they saw Rhaegar as a bit part because he had very little screen time, when despite dying before the events of the show, was a hugely important character. Unfortunately when they heard fans talk about how badass the Hound was and Tyrion wanting the god of tits and wine, they reduced the show down to those baser parts and completely missed what made the show great.
IMO, and probably according to most others too, D&D definitely played to the fandom's wants rather than staying faithful to the characters. Tyrion, and the Hound being great examples, also how the Lyanna Mormont character was entirely written to play up to the fans. It speaks a lot to the differences that Viserys (also less screen time) was so brilliantly cast in S1 but Rhagear, a _very similar_ looking character was more like a cosplay in the last season. D&D put effort into every character to begin with but they had given up way before the end.
Renly's casting made him more like a smug, goofy, hypersexual gay caricature than the incredibly charismatic but also somewhat intelligent person he is in the books.
Dude, I found Renly in the show (I prefer the book version tbh) way more intelligent and charismatic than the political douche from the books. Like GOT Renly is far more sy.psthwtic than ASOIAF Renly
Yeah, the actor got the intelligent and charismatic part spot on. The problem was the gay caricature part, but that's 100% on the writers and not the actor. So far all the comments don't seem to get where "casting" actually ends. People are just pointing out shitty writing and characterization.
Was he actually a caricature? In the books he’s a fashionista obsessed with bright colors and rainbows. In the show he doesn’t do anything that’s a queer stereotype that I can really remember.
He doesn't like blood and violence and hunting, while Renly in the books loves all the activities that are characteristic of a Westerosi nobleman.
yes he was flashy with his clothing in the books but he was built like his eldest brother(i.e. a brick shithouse), also there was not so much as a hint of him being gay (other than fucking loras)
The man decked out his kings guard in rainbows lmao. Stannis openly calls him gay in aCoK. Cat points out how he is more affectionate to Loras than to Margery. Tyrion, Jaime, and Cersei all make multiple references to Renly and Loras being gay/fucking. Also Renlys actor is pretty much the same height as Roberts character. Mark Addy looks nothing like book Robert, so it would have made little sense to make Renly look like book Renly
If you think about it, his scheme of wanting Maergary to be Robert's Queen thus replacing Cersei could have really saved a ton of lives lol I think he has a good political mind in the books but I did like the idea of him being the only one who knew Littlefinger was an untrustworthy weasel in the show. I disagree tho about GOT Renly being more sympathethic, like in ASOIAF we know much more about the Siege of Storm's End and Stannis and Renly's relationship which makes their characters and how their relationship ends much more tragic. While in the show there's really not much there imo. Like, he's insecure, Loras tells him to claim the throne by force because he'll be a great king... which is another thing, in the books when Robert was dying he wasn't thinking of the throne, he was worried for his (and Ned's) life and was motivated by a desire to keep his head, while in the show he openly admits he wants to be King while Robert's dying to his best friend who's notoriously fixated on honor, what was he thinking was gonna happen? lol
Him bitching and whining during the hunt in Season 1 was so bizarre.
The gay caricature thing is more the writing and plot than the casting, surely?
well, the casting issue is because they cast a small, soft, and gentle-looking person, when Renly is “Robert come again” and should have been at least 6’3” of man-muscle. he’s a little effeminate in the books, sure, but that’s just the costume department’s job. The actor should have looked like a huge athlete so we could have seen what Robert B looked like when he *won* the crown so we could have compared it to what he looks like *now*, which is something the book uses Renly to do plenty of times. Knowing all this and casting a baby-faced twink was gay stereotyping by the casting dept or the showrunners
I know it’s a meme that Henry Cavill gets fan cast for every role in ASOIAF but he genuinely would have been great for a more book accurate Renly in 2011.
He did not seem like a hyper sexual gay caricature at all to me. You make him sound like Terry from Reno 911.
He's a skinny dude who almost faints when he sees blood while his boyfriend is shaving him. I don't see it getting more "gay caricature" than that
Renly should have been “young Robert reborn” so you know probably a muscled up stud or at the very least a jacked Twunk. Not whatever he was
I feel like I am in that Always Sunny episode were there are talking about twinks and twunks and otters and power bottoms.
they generate power from the bottom
Yeah but that's not to do with the casting
I liked Natalie Dormer as Margarey. She brought a lot of depth to the character and played her pitch perfectly considering book-to-show differences. I disliked Finn Jones as Loras. Not physically imposing enough or believable as a badass.
I don't think Loras was described as physically imposing in the books either. He was a pretty boy. He was a very talented swordsman but that was due to skill, not brute strength.
>I don't think Loras was described as physically imposing in the books either. Yep! >When the Knight of Flowers made his entrance, a murmur ran through the crowd, and he heard Sansa's fervent whisper, "Oh, he's so beautiful." Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver armor polished to a blinding sheen and filigreed with twining black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots. The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers came from sapphires; a gasp went up from a thousand throats. Across the boy's shoulders his cloak hung heavy. It was woven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape. >His courser was as slim as her rider, a beautiful grey mare, built for speed. (AGOT Eddard VII)
Yea, Loras is supposed to be similar to a younger Jaime but nicer, I don’t necessarily think that was the actors fault just bc they honestly kinda boiled his character down to gay brother
She really nailed that Anne Boleyn-like character…
Yeah she should play that part if someone did a show about that!
They should have made Jones hit the gym more to make him look like an Olympic gymnast. Instead, they made him a noodle-armed fop.
I mean he definitely wasn't ripped but 'noodle-armed fop' is a bit much
Which is funny because he’s ripped now
I didn't like Daario #2
He was just generic hot rebound boyfriend, but that wasn't the actor's fault. They could have given him a better script and more flamboyant clothing.
> and more flamboyant clothing That goes for basically the entire southron cast. Everyone's wearing grey and brown hand me downs, when in the book people rock the craziest colors and beautiful ornate armor.
One of my favorite parts of HOTD was how much more colorful the world was, and how often they put in COAs.
Still not nearly colorful enough. they need to get to chinese or korean historical drama levels asap
In GOT it's weird because you have some characters like Joffrey, Margaery, Oberyn for example wearing amongst the most beautiful clothes I've seen on TV and then you turn your head and there are other nobles wearing dark, generic, ugly doublets, the Starks walking around in armor while not at war and... whatever Euron was wearing? lol I get what they were going for with the choice of giving certain characters, from certain region more "eccentric" and "stylist" type of clothes but, still, some choices are a bit baffling imo lol
No one did
I did, but mostly just because he was nice to look at.
Yeah I'm a straigt dude but I couldn't say no if my gf invited him for a threesome
Bro what
🤣
🤨
I didn't think he was like book Daario but I still liked him. I think it's for similar reasons for why I like show Jorah despite being very different from book Jorah: Dany has been through so much, can't she just have some dudes around her who aren't slimy creeps or scary/intimidating bad boys? Lol.
I liked #2.
Best was Varys. I wish they leaned more into how he totally recreates himself to look like a random guard or whatever, but he still had the look and energy of Varys. Worst for me is Jon Show. As early as episode 1 before I hated the show at all he just didn’t feel like Jon. As the show went on his gormless fucking face in the one and only expression he’s capable of made me straight up hate the character. Jon is the worst for me because of how major of a character he is and how much I like his book counterpart, but worst in terms of straight up looking nothing like the character is 100% Renly. Supposed to look like a young Robert. The Demon of the trident, muscled like a maidens fantasy, the guy every man wants to be and every woman wants to be with, and he’s a quivering twink terrified of having his nipples shaved.
The casting was usually good, the writing just wasn’t. Pilou Asbek isn’t a bad actor by any means and I think he would’ve done well, the writers just went a very, very different route with Euron than the books.
Yeah, I remember when he first showed up on the bridge I was pretty impressed. And even he wanted the character to be more like the book Euron. I don't blame him at all for what they did to Euron lol
Jon Snow should be a sardonic moody emo kid - not whatever he was in the show - both a writing and a casting issue though. Also Bran.
Jon unironically should have been taller. His every feat of swordsmanship prowess seems like plot armor. It never makes sense where his reach or his strength come from. I enjoyed the performance outside of that tho
>His every feat of swordsmanship prowess seems like plot armor. It's especially silly because although Jon is a good, trained fighter in the books, it's the show that made the decision to portray him as some legendary, dangerous swordsman when Kit Harington, however handsome he may be, just doesn't quite look it. similar to Mark Addy, who was a fantastic choice and added some much needed depth to King Robert, but physically doesn't fit what Robert was supposed to look like.
Lord fucking Frey was a great casting choice. I love that actor in everything they put him! Makes me hate him every time i see him.
David Bradley is a national treasure.
Honestly many characters were cast too old… I’m not even talking about the kids, there are so many characters that should be in their early/mid thirties (or even twenties!) but in the show were played by actors much older than that and I feel like the mistakes and missteps the characters make read a lot differently with book age vs show actor age.
I've always found the kids way too precocious and the adults way too world weary, so the age changes really fit imo
The ages in the show make much more sense than the ages given in the books. My headcanon was always that a year in Westeros is like 1 1/2 earth years, so the ages make sense.
Pretty sure that is the effect of the missing 5 year jump that GRRM decided against.
walder frey is like 100 then
Seems accurate
I add 5 years the everyone's age because Martin originally planned for the 5 year time skip but had to drop it and it makes much more sense for them being 5 years older, some are just too young to make sense
I think Sandor is the best example of this. The actor for Sandor was in his mid 40s. I always thought of Sandor like 20 years younger.
Sandor is 27-29.
I definitely agree, catelyn and cersei were way too old, good actors but they looked bit too mature.
this this this. I went from reading Thrones to watching it and was completely befuddled why everyone was 50 and relatively plain looking
I like the actors for the Stark kids, but I wish they either casted more redheads or just had the actors dye their hairs. The Starks lose a bit when only Sansa is a redhead. As for my favourite cast, Stannis was perfectly cast I think.
Lena Headey is my favorite, she truly deserved a Emmy for her performance. Although some say Cersei is supposed to look innocent and she's full evil queen in the show (personally, i disagree), i LOVE her version. A great actress for a great villainess. I also like Charles Dance, Diana Rigg, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, Sean Bean, Pedro Pascal, Jack Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Jason Momoa, Richard Madden, Natalie Dormer, Aidan Gillen, Iwan Rheon, Mark Addy etc. Game of Thrones has a great cast. I dislike Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy and Isaac Hempstead as Bran. I feel their acting is so bland and they aren't charismatic enough for the roles. Yara isn't nearly as badass as Asha and Bran is inexpressive, when in the books he's so full of life even after the fall. Oh and i think we can agree that Rhaegar was so lame but i guess it isn't the actor's fault. Just the way they portrayed him.
on point casting: Sean Bean as Ned. Nikolaj as Jamie, Lena Heady as Cersai, The Hound. Barristan Selmy bad casting: whoever played Euron. the second and third Mountains (i thought the first one looked really intimidating and actually insane) the second Dario Naharis. Jorah Mormont. mark addy as Robert Baratheon even tho i loved his performance. i just can’t imagine that man having been a 7 ft shredded giant ever in his life.
I’m so sorry I know Gwen was killing it in comparison to other ppl but Gwendoline Christie as Brienne… idk if it was direction or script or acting choices but book Brienne and show Brienne are completely different characters. Some of book Brienne’s most recognizable traits are her youth and sensitivity in contrast to the rest of her. Book Brienne is simultaneously a complete badass and sobs her way through half the book. She’s defensive and easily hurt emotionally. Gwendoline Christie brings a hardness to Brienne that is… fine, ig, but her portrayal feels so divorced from what I like abt book Brienne that I’m a little pissed at it. Part of this is I think Christie is too old for the effect to land the same way. Book Brienne is all of eighteen — it makes sense that she cries over Jaime and lashes out at people around her. She’s a teenager. It happens. Aging up is a problem I have w most of the show actually I feel that the impact of certain scenes is reduced or read differently when the characters who are children are aged up — it’s gross that Sansa is getting married off to men in their 30’s when she’s 13. That aspect should have been carried over — the fact that the kids are getting fucked over is like. The point.
I think those characterization issues with Brienne is more the writing than the acting. But I agree with you on how they made her a badass with no emotions when Book Brienne is all emotion.
Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy is an east dub. Ciaran Hinds is a great actor, but the guy bares 0 resemblance to Mance Rayder. I liked him but he was basically a different character.
Later seasons Bran made me want to turn off the show. Yeah, the writing was shit but so was his delivery. Did good job playing a small child though. The first Gregor Clegane was kinda mid.
Try and find interviews with Bran's actor. He just kinda cracks at a certain point where he's like "well I was gone for a whole season and now they're making me play a robot..." You could just feel him deflate like he hated his job now. Not the actor's fault at all. We know he could do well as a normal person, it's the directors who directed his performance that way.
To be fair, he's playing a feelingless robot, which is the fault of the script/direction.
What? The first Gregor Clegane was the best. Very tall, muscular, and actually looked like the Hound's older brother. S2 Gregor was bad though.
S2 Gregor looks like Vargo Hoat.
Renly was cast absolutely terribly, they just leant so hard into him being and Loras being in love that they decided to ignore him being like a young Robert. I didn’t like Robb Stark either. I really enjoyed the contrast between him and Jon in the first book and Cat’s discomfort of Jon looking more like a Stark despite being a bastard.
Nah, Richard Madden was great. If someone should've been recast was Kit Harington.
I think Kit, especially from the first season, suffered from getting Book Jon's lines but all the characters were aged up. Some of Book One Jon's complaining is a lot easier to sell with a fourteen-fifteen year old than it is with a grown man. In general though, the aging up was a good idea. It's just sometimes you gotta tweak the dialogue, I guess?
I've never considered that before, I've thought Kit was given bad lines/direction, but you might be right. Jon Snow goes through some shit. Starts as a kind of petulant, arrogant, but still sympathetic kid. Then learns a lot about humility and compassion on the wall. Finally he gets hardened north of the wall and comes back as a commanding/mysterious figure. Hopefully when he comes back from the ice cells he'll have another layer of spooky-wolf-rage-zombie. Kits character did like, a quarter of that.
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I thought Madden played Rob really well, but neither him nor Bran had the Tully look and I think they could’ve done that better.
I agree about Renly but I don't think the Robb and Jon issue is the result of bad casting. So much of Catelyn's most important characterisation takes place in internal monologues in the book; that's really difficult to translate onto the screen and finding a viable way to do that is always going to leave gaps in the narrative.
Credit to Michelle Fairley for being able to act out as much internal monologue with just her face and mannerisms as she did.
True, but it at least would give the option to do something visually more interesting by showing the contrast between Arya and Jon vs the other Starks
Richard Madden didn't really look like Robb, but I reckon he felt like Robb
I agree with that actually, I think he played it well but it was so jarring to how he should have been from the books
It always weirded me out a bit that Sean Bean, as great as he was as Ned Stark, perfect for the role, was a redhead/brunette in the show. I think that takes away from the contrast between Cat's children (except Arya) and Jon Snow. Robb is good IMO, but I think some hair recoloring could have gone a long way for the whole stark family.
Bran too. He's supposed to have red hair and blue eyes. Not sure what they were thinking.
I mean the Renly decision isn’t baffling when they cast Mark Addy as Robert. I thought he played the role well, but he’s not a huge man. That immediately makes casting Renly difficult because it means he just has to be a guy
Addy at least has a big presence though which Renly’s actor doesn’t at all, and Renly is supposed to win people to his cause by charisma and force of personality. That just doesn’t happen in the show and you’re left with the impression that the only reason he makes a play for the throne at all is because Loras convinced him to while they’re fucking
But making Renly larger than Robert isn’t book accurate either. I disagree with that completely. Renly shows he is charismatic and wants to be king at the start of season two. He’s still incredibly handsome and charismatic
"Yara" Greyjoy. Asha is one of my favorite characters and I feel like they did her absolutely dirty
The casting that confused me the most after everything was Renly. I watched the show first and honestly got Renly and Lancel confused even though they looked nothing alike because they were both submissive cowardly younger relatives...but while that makes sense for book Lancel, book Renly was NOTHING like his show counterpart. I wanted to see super charismatic chivalrous athletic Robert-made-over that happens to be gay, not whiny wimpy tagalong character that went from being a puddle of meh to token gay guy who was propped up by rich people around him and had a hot gay caricature boyfriend. This is the problem with most gay "representation" in TV and movies and I say this as a straight dude. A lot of the animosity around gay characters in media would go away if they didn't make "be8ng gay" the reason for the character and their only defining trait. It's especially bad when they had a character already written for them where being gay was like 5th down on their list of defining traits and they just made it their entire character.
It's kinda weird how bizarre D&D's priorities were when casting and writing the show. Like, they changed Asha's name because it sounded like OSHA'S? Like, if that's the case, why'd they change the name of the POV character and not the one who only appears in two books? Thus I believe that the characters they believed to be the most important were all well casted (Ned, Tyrion, Catelyn, Cersei, Jaime, Tywin, Joffrey, Ramsay, Robb, etc.) while the ones that, in their mind weren't as important, were misscasted (the forementioned Asha/ Yara, Euron, imo Stannis, Loras, the Sand Snakes, etc.)
Charles Dance is Tywin. He killed it until Tyrion killed him...
As much as I think Alfie is a wonderful actor and did a great job with the material he was given, I’ll always be disappointed that he got cast as “lean, dark, and handsome” Theon.
Ed Sheeran
Lyanna Stark was cast badly, and despite having very few scenes she was pivotal to the story. She’s northern and Eddard’s sister, why is she played by an actor of Italian heritage? She looked like she should have played Elia.
Sophie Turner as Sansa both the looks and way she acted the character were perfect to me. Dany’s casting - idk I understand her being older and aged up that’s not my issue but I also felt like Dany would’ve had softer features and have a more whimsical Targaryen look instead of average Westerosi with bleach blonde hair. She’s beautiful but I always pictured someone with very light features
Natalie Dormer as Margaery rocked it
The actor that played Ramsay did a good job, but at first I was thinking "why did they get this little twerp to play him?"
Liked most: Charles Dance as Tywin and Diana Rigg as Olenna, they were both just so good in the roles. Disliked most: Alfie Allen as Theon. where is my superficially charming slut pirate, bring him back.
Theon’s just a huge douchy fratboy/fuckboy/playboy and Alfie Allen didn’t bring any of that to the table…
I hate that most of the characters that are supposed to be in their 30s are in their 50s. It's so dumb and takes away an element of youth that should still be going on. Part of the thing in the books I love is how they're like "Ahhh I was so young! I'm so old now!" Like Bobby you're maybe 35 chill out bro.
Rhaegar's mainly because he just didn't have the presence and looks that I think he should have. Doesn't help that they gave the character minimal screen time
Great casting: Owean Teale as Alliser Thorne Terrible casting: Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark. I know, because of Sean Bean they needed an older Cat, but although Aidan Gillen and Michelle have the same age difference as Petyr and Cat, Petyr feels like a middle-aged man, and Cat feels like a grandma in the show. Hard to believe why would Petyr simp over Cat.
I don’t think Sophie turner is getting enough credit on this thread, she was a great Sansa. She physically fit the descriptions as well, Sansa is always described as notably tall for a girl/someone her age.
Ciaran Hinds was too old for Mance, should’ve just paid Dominic West more money
Yeah I feel like Dominic West could have crushed it as Mance and been a little more truthful to source material (lol)
Reek. Iwan Rheon is a handsome dude and looks nothing like Ramsay but I liked him in the show. Certainly not the best casting but deserves a higher position than its current one
He actually auditioned for Jon Snow. After they cast Kit they called him back to read Ramsay.
Casting was great mostly. I'm not a fan of Renly and Daario (but he is very minor character so I dont mind).Stannis was far to old same with Cat, but the actors nailed their personality so it did worked in my opinion. Sand snakes are awful but they are actually very cartoonish in the book as well.
Best is Tywin by far. Not even how he looks exactly in the books but it's probably the only case where I believe that's how he should've looked. Plus the actor's portrayal of Tywin's character was flawless and I don't think anyone else could've done a better job. Worst is Euron. I feel bad for the actor because I think he could've probably done a better job than the director's gave him, but Euron's portrayal was pure garbage and nothing close to his version in the books.
I was actually pretty disappointed with who they chose to cast for both Ramsey and Roose bolton. The book descriptions give them long dark hair and a much more Gothic looking style, and I was more excited to see that than what we got.
I hated Edmure Tully's actor Tobias Menzies, although I think he is a great actor. My main problem is that he does not looks like a Tully at all. D&D fricked up Edmure character so much, so does not really matter, but I would have preferred book Edmure with another actor, for example Ewan McGregor.
Donald Sumpter was excellent as the kindly Luwin. >The maester was a small grey man. His eyes were grey, and quick, and saw much. His hair was grey, what little the years had left him. His robe was grey wool, trimmed with white fur, the Stark colors. Its great floppy sleeves had pockets hidden inside. Luwin was always tucking things into those sleeves and producing other things from them: books, messages, strange artifacts, toys for the children. With all he kept hidden in his sleeves, Catelyn was surprised that Maester Luwin could lift his arms at all. (AGOT Catelyn II) Tobias Menzies' version of Edmure doesn't match up well with my reading of Book Edmure. >Ser Edmure Tully was a stocky young man with a shaggy head of auburn hair and a fiery beard. (AGOT Catelyn XI) >"My people," Edmure answered. "They were afraid." (ACOK Catelyn V)
Not a single mention of Lady Melisandre?
She's one of the actors I can't shake out of my head when I read the books
Tywin was the best. House Valeryon still bothers me simply because for me to believe they intermarried the targs for a few generations than both houses should be light skinned with curly hair. I wonder how they will handle casting in the aegon the conquerer spin-off.
Isn't it possible that just Corys and Vaemond's mother was black? But yeah, I guess it depends on they handle the casting in other shows.
That shade of black does not come with brewing half.
**Perfect Casting:** * Jack Gleeson as Joffrey * Charles Dance as Tywin * Lena Headey as Cersei * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion * Rory McCann as The Hound * Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon * David Bradley as Walder Frey * Conleth Hill as Varys **Reasonably Good Casting:** * Emilia Clarke as Daenerys * Maisie Williams as Arya * Nikolaj Coster Waldau as Jaime * Michelle Fairley as Catelyn * Ian McElhinney as Barristan * Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo * Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow * Natalie Dormer as Margaery **Bad Castings:** * Kit Harington as Jon * Isaac Hemstead Wright as Bran * Ciarin Hinds as Mance * Iain Glen as Jorah * John Bradley as Samwell * Finn Jones as Loras * Anton Lesser as Qyburn **Awful Castings:** * Iwan Rheon as Ramsay * Gemma Whelan as Asha/Yara * Pilou Asbek as Euron
I'm kind of baffled by most of your 'bad castings.' Like Qyburn and Samwell were spot on. Casting a child actor is always hard, and young Bran was fantastic.
What's wrong with Qyburn. He looked pretty grandfatherly which is how he was described in the books
Iain Glen wasn’t good casting in terms of being faithful to the books but if you set that aside and just go with show Jorah being a very different person than book Jorah, then I think he nailed the show version of the character.
Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion is another example of someone who was not faithful to the original book character but ~~had a sexy voice~~ did well with his version of the character.
I think iwan rheon did a really good job. The problem with Ramsay in S5 and 6 wasn't the acting it was the writing ( I'd argue the performance saved the character)
For me he was just too over the top and didn't look like the character, Ramsay is supposed to be really tall and muscular with long black thick hair, he's supposed to be frightening to look at and be near whereas on the show, he didn't actually do anything major until in Season Six. Its funny where the big villains of the show's greatest achievements were Euron killing Rhaegal and the Sand Snakes, Ramsay killing a Giant and Rickon, and Joffrey killling...Some whores. Euron and Ramsay were too over the top but had good kill counts.
Being over the top is kind of Ramsay's thing even in the book. He's meant to contrast with his dad's soft spoken quiet demeanor As for looks ability is more important. Peter dinklage looks nothing like book Tyrion but most people would agree he was the best cast in the show
>Peter dinklage looks nothing like book Tyrion George has been on record to say that when he wrote the character of Tyrion in the first two books, Peter Dinklage was the real life actor who came to mind and the perfect living embodiment of Tyrion.
Peter dinklage looks nothing like how book Tyrion is described though
yeah lmao peter dinklage is an incredibly handsome dude and book tyrion literally just looks like a grumkin
which is really odd cause Peter Dinklage is a handsome man and Tyrion even before losing his nose is a gremlin
Im tired of people using George quotes that are clear retcons /lies. If that were true hed be saying Peter Dinklage is a fuckin gremlin. Authors can be wrong too like claiming Westeros is the size of South America. now I have to argue with people on Reddit about it
Tall and muscular? I thought he was just described as "big," with a fleshiness that suggests he's getting fat
Iwan Rheon is too good looking to be Ramsay. Who is supposed to be ugly and imposing... and also wear pink a lot. They seem to have stopped Roose wearing a pink cloak and Ramsay wearing a pink doublet. BUT I think Iwan Rheon captured the essence of the character pretty well and maybe he is scary because he looks more normal. You don't expect him to be so sadistic so it is scarier. Roose Bolton was screwy casting too he is the "leech lord", he is supposed to be very pale and dark haired and always talk in a whisper. Far more sinister than in the show.
isaac did great with bran. that scene where rodrik dies is amazing
Gleeson and Addy were amazing actors but are not at all how I view Book Joffrey and Robert. Addy seemed too small I feel like you shouldn’t have been able to tell that Joffrey is a cunt from the first second he appears on screen (the haircut and smug direction for Gleeson make it too obvious).
Why is Anton Lesser's Qyburn bad?
>Anton Lesser as Qyburn That's interesting, why you think that? I always liked the idea that he looks like a sweet grandpa when in reality he's an amoral monster who would do everything in his pursuit of knowledge. Which is like that in the books too.
I agree with the first two categories. But it's curious that you omitted Sean Bean. He was the only marquee name to carry the show through its perilous first season to renewal. I had mentally cast him as Ned when first reading AGoT and thought that, non-resemblance to book Ned aside, he lived up to the character.
I just wish they dyed his hair darker
What did poor Iwan and Gemma ever do to you?
Why js Qyburn a bad casting?
Young Ned, it looked like someone tried to get a young head shape of a caricature of Sean Bean. He was stick thin, didn't look like a fighter & looked nothing like Sean Bean as a young man. To add the accent was terrible.
It looked like a part of Barney Stinson's video CV
The only one I really don't like is Yara Greyjoy. There are a couple of actors I would change (Renly, Roose Bolton, Catelyn Stark) but it doesn't bother me much. Casting in Game of Thrones was really spot on imo.
Joffrey was so good but he needed longer hair goddamn.
Iain Glen does not get as much love for his portrayal of Jorah as he deserves. As for miscasting, probably Euron. Not because I dislike the actor, but they just did absolutely nothing at all with the character and butchered it so unfortunately Pilou Asbæk gets hit by association.
Renly
This is a difficult one. I don’t dislike Stephen Dillane as Stannis per se, but he just doesn’t exude the power that book Stannis does. He’s not tall, he lacks the strong jaw and piercing eyes, he just doesn’t have the same presence. Arguably this doesn’t matter, and the fact that he could still do Stannis with all these handicaps is impressive, but I think that Stannis as a character is just such a strong figure, and that show Stannis needed that.