Some of the most familiar faces in Westeros
have changed a lot during the course of Game
of Thrones' run on HBO. Over the course of
the series, several of the show’s key actors
have ended up being replaced - leading fans
to wonder just what really happened.
Throughout the entire series, Emilia Clarke
has shined as Daenerys Targaryen. From a mild
young bride to the fierce and ruthless warrior
she is today, Daenerys has been through one
of the show's most exciting arcs, and without
Clarke's portrayal, far fewer viewers would
have fallen in love with the character the
way that they have. Hailed as a feminist icon,
fans have been gripped by Daenerys' finest
moments, and Clarke herself has achieved international
recognition for the role - as well as nominations
for several awards.
“I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m
going to break the wheel.”
With that in mind, it might seem difficult
to believe that anyone else could ever have
played Daenerys, but in the initially troubled
pilot for Game of Thrones, Daenerys was originally
played by Tamzin Merchant - best known for
her role as Henry VIII's fifth wife Catherine
Howard on The Tudors. Creators David Benioff
and D. B. Weiss have been open about their
disdain for the original pilot, but neither
the two showrunners nor casting director Nina
Gould have fully discussed the reason for
Merchant's exit. Today, fans are left to wonder
just how different the series might have been
with a different Daenerys riding those dragons.
Game of Thrones' third season introduced a
new potential love interest for Daenerys in
the form of Daario Naharis, played by Ed Skrein.
This clever, long-haired mercenary was obviously
interested in Daenerys from day one, and when
he betrayed his own men to join her side,
it became clear that Daario’s machinations
would make him an even bigger player in the
seasons to come.
After a three-episode arc in the third season,
however, Skrein was unceremoniously replaced
by Michiel Huisman. As it turned out, Skrein
had run into a scheduling issue, as he was
set to appear in the new Transporter film.
The actor has since admitted that it wasn't
the easiest decision, but that he had no regrets
in leaving Game of Thrones. Luckily for Huisman,
he quickly became yet another one of the show's
beloved key players, and his romance with
Daenerys left many wondering where he might
end up as the show concludes.
In the early seasons of Game of Thrones, viewers
discovered that Cersei Lannister’s three
children, all of whom were supposedly of Baratheon
blood, were actually bastards borne of her
incestuous affair with her twin brother, Jaime.
However, nobody paid much attention to any
of the children besides Joffrey, Cersei's
eldest and most wicked child, who eventually
ascended to the throne and wreaked a significant
amount of havoc on King's Landing and Westeros
as a whole. As a result, the other two supposed
Baratheon children were often shunted to the
side, making it easy for them to be recast
as required - a frequent reality when dealing
with young actors whose growth easily put
them out of sync with the show's pacing.
Because of these age issues, Tommen Baratheon
was recast in the show's fourth season, and
when it was time for him to take the crown
from Joffrey, Callum Wharry was replaced by
Dean-Charles Chapman. Chapman went on to handle
many of the mild King Tommen's more difficult
scenes, including a love scene with his new
wife Margaery Tyrell, as well as his death
at the end of the sixth season. However, many
fans might have recognized Chapman's face
from somewhere - since he had actually appeared
in the show's third season, playing a young
Lannister squire who was held hostage by the
Starks and eventually killed by Rickard Karstark.
This actually gives Chapman the rare distinction
of having played two separate roles during
the show's run - and having died twice, too.
Much like Tommen, Cersei Lannister's middle
child, Myrcella, went largely overlooked until
later seasons of Thrones. Myrcella was essentially
left out of the plot entirely until the second
season, when her uncle Tyrion decided to send
her to Dorne, creating a permanent rift between
Tyrion and Cersei. In the fifth season, she
re-appeared as a lovestruck teenager engaged
to Trystane Martell, the young prince of Dorne.
Thanks to an ongoing battle between the Lannister
and Martell families, she ended up murdered
at the hands of Ellaria Sand, shortly after
she discovered her true parentage.
Though Myrcella was played by the young actress
Aimee Richardson during her appearances in
the earlier seasons, when she returned, she
was played by the dynamic Nell Tiger Free.
Much like Tommen's strategic recasting, this
can likely be chalked up to discrepancies
between the growth of the actor and her character.
As the older of the much-feared Clegane brothers,
the Mountain is one of Westeros' most terrifying
warriors. And although he has kinda managed
to make it through the entire series so far,
he has nonetheless undergone a significant
transformation along the way. Once a formidable
fighter known for his penchant for committing
war crimes on behalf of the Lannisters, the
Mountain was nearly felled by a poisoned spear
tip during his duel with Oberyn Martell in
season four. After that, however, he was turned
into a kind of mute zombie, loyal only to
Cersei herself.
But that wasn’t the only transformation
that the Mountain has undergone during Game
of Thrones’ run, as he’s actually been
played by no fewer than three separate actors.
In season one, when the Mountain nearly killed
Loras Tyrell after a joust, he was played
by Conan Stevens, an Australian actor. The
Mountain was far less visible in season two,
but when he did appear, he was played by the
Welsh actor Ian Whyte. From the fourth season
on, the fearsome and intimidating Icelandic
strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson has
portrayed the Mountain. Of course, now that
he's ensconced in an iron mask, it doesn't
seem to matter much that this massive man
has changed faces three times.
The Tarly family isn't exactly the most important
clan in Westeros, but astute viewers will
have gotten to know them pretty well over
the years. By far the most significant member
of the family is Samwell Tarly, the lovable
bookworm of the Night's Watch and frequent
companion to Jon Snow. Sam has proven to be
the heart and soul of the show time and time
again, but he’s not so popular among his
own family. In the sixth season, when Sam
arrived at Horn Hill with his girlfriend Gilly,
he received a cold welcome from his stern
father, Randyll, who clearly favors Sam's
handsome and accomplished brother, Dickon.
“Not fat enough already?”
During season six, Freddie Stroma of Harry
Potter fame appeared as Dickon. However, scheduling
issues forced him out of the show, so Black
Sails' Tom Hopper stepped in - to plenty of
acclaim from fans. Sadly, Hopper's time as
Dickon has also been cut short, as both he
and his father Randyll were burned alive by
Daenerys when they refused to bend the knee
to her in season seven. Easy come, easy go.
Most viewers of the show will be familiar
with Stannis Baratheon - who, as King Robert
Baratheon's brother, staunchly believed he
was the rightful heir to the Iron Throne - but
some might not remember his wife, Selyse Baratheon.
While Stannis fought for the Throne with the
aid of Melisandre, Selyse remained nothing
if not a loyal. After all, she stuck by her
husband through several unsuccessful battles,
as well as his obvious attraction to Melisandre
herself. When Stannis used their daughter,
Shireen, as a human sacrifice, Selyse finally
took her own life, only for Stannis to meet
his final defeat in battle a few hours later.
Selyse, when she was introduced, was a very
minor character, who can be spotted simply
standing in the vicinity of Melisandre and
Stannis while the latter commits himself to
the Lord of Light during a magical ceremony
in the second season’s premiere. At that
time, she was played by Sarah MacKeever, had
no lines at all and served as little more
than a glorified extra. However, when Selyse’s
role was expanded to include a multi-episode
arc, the show chose a more venerated actress
fore the role: Tara Fitzgerald, who famously
appeared opposite Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet
on Broadway during the mid-1990s.
Game of Thrones' first episode ended on a
pretty shocking final scene - specifically,
the young Bran Stark being pushed out of a
tall tower after catching Jaime and Cersei
in a compromising position. Bran survived
the fall, however, losing his mobility and
eventually gaining a new set of powers, including
the ability to review and even meddle in events
of the very distant past, making him the heir
apparent to the role of the Three-Eyed Raven.
When the audience finally met the mysterious
Three-Eyed Raven in season four, he looked
fairly different to the character fans would
later come to know. Originally played by Struan
Rodger, Bran first meets the Raven while the
omniscient being is holed up in a secluded
tree. By the time the Three-Eyed Raven returned
to the show in its sixth season, Rodger had
been replaced by legendary actor Max von Sydow,
best known for The Exorcist and Flash Gordon.
Since then, it has been von Sydow’s Raven
who has guided Bran through the secrets of
the past, present, and future of Westeros.
Game of Thrones is rife with villains and
antagonists, but few are more sinister or
mysterious than the Night King, the ancient
and seemingly infallible leader of the White
Walkers. The Walkers, who reside far north
of the wall that separates Westeros from the
northern wilderness, were previously considered
nothing more than a frightening legend, but
have recently made their presence known in
Westeros in a pretty spectacular way. Throughout
the show's run, audiences have watched the
Night King perform a range of despicable acts
- from turning a child sacrifice into a White
Walker to taking down one of Daenerys' beloved
dragons.
Though the character comes to life via impressive
prosthetic make-up, as the show went on, sharp-eyed
viewers realized that the Night King looked
a little different from when we first met
him. Before season six, the Night King was
played by Richard Blake, but the role then
went to Vladimir Furdik, an actor hailing
from Slovakia. Though the show's creators
have never provided a concrete reason for
the change, it's possible that Furdik won
the role thanks to his history as a stuntman,
giving him more mobility for battle scenes.
Throughout Thrones' run, Beric Dondarrion
has quite literally lived several lives. In
season one, he served as nothing more than
a member of a search party sent by Ned Stark
to bring the Mountain to justice. As war broke
out in Westeros, however, he joined a group
called the Brotherhood Without Banners, who,
through their loyalty to the Lord of Light,
have followed Beric as he is constantly revived
from the dead by his resident Red Priest,
Thoros of Myr. Most recently, Beric has been
found aiding Jon Snow in his fight against
the White Walkers, traveling north of the
Wall in order to get more information on these
mysterious and ancient creatures.
David Michael Scott portrayed Beric for his
minor role during the first season. Beginning
in season three, however, Irish actor Richard
Dormer took the reins. Luckily, Beric’s
change in appearance is easy enough to explain
in-universe, considering the man died multiple
times off-screen before viewers met him for
the second time again.
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