Best (and worst) casting on Game of Thrones?

[Glongpre]

Theon Greyjoy was one of the worst for me. I have read the books and I could not find him in the show. I was like is that Theon? Nope that's Rodrik...Where the hell is Theon? Oh that guy. Huh.

Shae was also bad but it is the accent. It is just grating.

That one whore that they showed a lot. I don't know who she is, and she served no purpose really other than to show other people's character development. She was pretty though.

Edit: This is the gal I'm thinking of.

 

[ZeroMachine]

They got an actual porn star to play a prostitute.

They could have just coasted with everything else and I would have respected them for that.

 

[donisaac]

My favourite is definetly either Daenerys (emilia clarke) or Tyrion. I have to say though that I was hugely dissappointed by Loras. In the books he is the most handsome man on the planet and when I saw him in the show I was like "this is the hottest man in Westeros?" He seems like a really average dude. I think it could also be due to the fact that in the book pretty much everyone is either really good looking (sansa, cersei, maergery, etc) or really bad looking (most peasants, brienne, the freys etc). I felt completely enamored by Daenerys though.

 

[Angelous Wang]

The only mismatch I can really think about isn't even the actor's own fault: Bran grew up too fast

Seriously they picked a kid at the worse time in his life for continuity, the kid has even gone through his facial structure change from kid face to young man face.

When I saw him in season 2 for the first time I thought they had swapped him for his older brother or something.

By the time season 4 comes around the kid's voice is probably going to have broken too.

Continuity nightmare.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I don't want any spoilers so I'm just going to tunnel vision my way down to the comment section...


Okay, I'm all clear.

I didn't actually read the books, I have friends who hate me for it, but it's the truth.
So I'm not going to touch "best casting" except to say that Peter Dinklage is is absolutely superb, regardless of how Tyrion Lannister was written in the books.


But I have a very strong opinion on the worst casting,
My friends who have read the books leave me in my TV show La La Land for the most part, but they have this odd propensity for defending Daenerys Targaryen's absolutely juvenile stupidity. This is when they tell me that in the books Daenerys is 13 years old, when in the show she's twice that age. Casting a 13 year old to play her would not only excuse her juvenile stupidity, it would actually make her pretty fucking awesome.

But they cast an adult woman so she could get her tits out with out Chris Hanson knocking on their door.

And it think it's terrible, making a big important character seem like she never mentally matured past 13 for the sake of titillating the viewers who never mentally matured past 13

 

[Frotality]

well its a struggle to separate best acting from best casting. charles dance is by far and large my favorite actor on the show, with an uncanny ability to speak volumes with the subtlest of facial movements. but as far as casting choices go, the actor who most accurately portrays the intended character... that would probably be mark addy as king robert. hes every bit as bombastic, likeable, and utterly incompetent as he was in the books, perfectly portraying a man who is a blast to be around when surrounded by his simple pleasures, but a witless terror when forced into roles he has no mind or desire for.

 

[RandV80]

Easy. Kristian Nairn as Hodor.

Absolutely nails his lines 100% of the time.

****ing rights!

Honestly though being a long time reader I already had images of the characters made up in mind, with some additional re-enforcement from that series of cool fantasy artwork that's been made for all the characters (ex: Tywin with the mighty golden chops). But if there's one character who when I first saw a still thought 'that doesn't look anything like them', but now when I go back to reading the books couldn't imagine them as anything else, it would be Hodor!

Such great casting on the show overall, to the point that the only ones that I could pick out that I don't like would be ones who I don't think really belong. I was thinking Shae but I'll concede the point that her character makes for a better romance angle for Tyrion that works better on TV, so that just leaves good ol Ros the read headed whore who was only a one of mention from the books and really doesn't make any sense in the show.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

snip

Hasn't about 2 years passed in Westeros since the very beginning of the story, and the point their at now though? It's natural that a growing boy could change a lot in that time. Also a lot of the younger characters have been written as a few years older in the show than they were in the books (probably to make all the terrible things that happen to them slightly more TV friendly). For example, Rickon is 3 in Book 1, but is specifically stated as being 6 in Season 1, which, if Bran is also proportionally older, would make him 12 years old at this point in the show. With this in mind, it's even more plausible for the character to have changed along with the actor.

Jaime as best.

Asha and Roose tie for worst. Asha was supposed to be a lot more better looking than what we got and Roose doesn't look anywhere near how he's described in the books.

I'll be honest, I can't remember much about how Roose's appearance is described in the books. However, I think physical appearance should be secondary to personality and mannerisms. For example, neither Peter Dinklage nor Charles Dance really look anything like what Tyrion and Tywin were described as looking like in the books. However, the image I will have in my mind's eye now of those two characters is always going to be of Dinklage and Dance, because they just own their roles so well. Roose I think is the same. He's got the calculating, opportunistic, ever so slightly paranoid edge to Roose Bolton down to a tee.

 

[Vrex360]

Actually kinda surprised that people dislike Shae, I like her quite a bit and keep hoping that the BIG THING that apparently happens in the books (did not read them but I know) doesn't play out the way it does. Okay so she's kind of a broken record sometimes but so are a lot of people in this story. I like her though, she can be quite witty, very stern and authoritative, very nurturing towards Sansa and even quite strong from time to time. She's far from my favorite but I really don't have a problem with her.

Anyway for me the two best are probably Arya Stark and Tyrion. Tyrion kind of goes without saying, Peter Dinklage is a very good actor and there aren't many actors who could physically fit the role of Tyrion so I imagine the choice to cast him was more or less a no brainer, either way he absolutely kills it by being hilarious and also by having a lot of charm and likeability to his performance.
And Maisie Williams as Arya is also very good, again I haven't read the books so I can't comment on how she's characterized versus the books but she's still really good. She gives Arya enough strength to be labelled a 'badass' while also still having enough child-like vulnerability to actually make people concerned for her safety. She also still does have for all that's happened to her some spark of child-like sweetness. One of my favorite scenes being in Season One when Jon Snow gives her Needle is an example of this. Either way she's the perfect idea of a 'badass little girl' (if that isn't on TV tropes yet it bloody should be) because she is both tough and vulnerable. Intimidating and adorable and I find myself always rooting for her to make it out of this alive.

Also to note are Deaneries and Khal Drogo as well as the rest of the Starks, Cersei Lannister and Joffrey are all really well cast. I also quite like Breanne of Tarth because television needs more female leads who aren't conventionally attractive and the actress playing her is really good.

As for worst cast, well I wouldn't say 'worst' since no one involved are bad actors but I find the whole subplot kinda dull... Stannis Baratheon. I don't blame the actors persay but through season 2 and 3 I was so much more invested in the war between Robb Stark and Joffrey, Arya, Tyrion, Daeneries and her dragons and Jon Snow beyond the wall and every time the story goes somewhere else I just find myself losing interest.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

angry angry snip

Wow, you've got quite a lot of vitriol for this show, haven't you?

They made Shae a bigger character for the same reason they left out Lollys, Cleos Frey, Strong Belwas, Whitebeard and a shitload of other characters: it's a tv show. The aforementioned characters aren't vital to the story, and featuring them all in the show would only have confused the viewer more. Shae is quite central to Tyrion's character, but in the books she really doesn't do much anything. She couldn't be written off the story, and making her a character that has nothing to actually do would have been a really bad move for a television series, so they gave him a bigger role, where she also serves to strengthen Sansa's storyline. But if you can't accept it, fine.

"Feeds starving puppies when no one is looking"? Seriously? Season 2 showed the more human side of Tywin, that doesn't mean he's Santa fucking Claus. They showed Tywin was capable of relaxing and liking people through Arya's role. That doesn't instantly make his character scream of love and frienship.

 

[Mikeyfell]

And it think it's terrible, making a big important character seem like she never mentally matured past 13 for the sake of titillating the viewers who never mentally matured past 13

Thank you for that wonderfully true quote.

I'm glad you like it.

 

[DugMachine]

The lannisters were casted almost to perfection.

The Starks are pretty good but Bran and Arya, while they play the roles good enough just weren't what I imagined in the books.

 

[[REDACTED]]

angry angry snip

Wow, you've got quite a lot of vitriol for this show, haven't you?

They made Shae a bigger character for the same reason they left out Lollys, Cleos Frey, Strong Belwas, Whitebeard and a shitload of other characters: it's a tv show. The aforementioned characters aren't vital to the story, and featuring them all in the show would only have confused the viewer more. Shae is quite central to Tyrion's character, but in the books she really doesn't do much anything. She couldn't be written off the story, and making her a character that has nothing to actually do would have been a really bad move for a television series, so they gave him a bigger role, where she also serves to strengthen Sansa's storyline. But if you can't accept it, fine.

"Feeds starving puppies when no one is looking"? Seriously? Season 2 showed the more human side of Tywin, that doesn't mean he's Santa fucking Claus. They showed Tywin was capable of relaxing and liking people through Arya's role. That doesn't instantly make his character scream of love and frienship.

It's a strange and terrible thing to witness someone become genuinely apopleptic at people liking what they don't. I mean, fucking Christ.

 

[Gromakh]

1. Charles Dance as Tywin. Much like Alan Rickman's Snape, Dance's Tywin is arguably better than the actual Tywin..

I'm not sure if he's my favourite casting but I will agree that Dance's Tywin is much more... I don't know... Interesting, I guess. I loved the scenes he had with Arya.

Yeah, and as a nitpick, I like his character's appearance in the show much better than his in book description.

Shaved head, except for weird blonde mutton chop things.

This (though the fan art is exceedingly well made):

Sucks compared to this:

OT: Jon Snow would definitely be my pick.

Forgot about the mutton chops?don't know why they couldn't have had them in the show. In any case, I agree, Dance is spot on. Perhaps the best casting in the show.

 

[Gromakh]

Actually kinda surprised that people dislike Shae, I like her quite a bit and keep hoping that the BIG THING that apparently happens in the books (did not read them but I know) doesn't play out the way it does. Okay so she's kind of a broken record sometimes but so are a lot of people in this story. I like her though, she can be quite witty, very stern and authoritative, very nurturing towards Sansa and even quite strong from time to time. She's far from my favorite but I really don't have a problem with her.

I don't dislike Shae but I find her scenes with Tyrion annoying. She's evidently been altered from the book, as she honestly seems to care for Tyrion. But I don't know why, really don't care and find scenes with the two of them intrusive and time-wasting. The book version just makes more sense. Of course, I'm still catching up on the series and have still to watch seasons 4 & 5, so I could be wrong about how much they changed her character (no spoilers, please).