Could you imagine Game of Thrones without Emilia Clarke?
Film and TV history is littered with twists of fate in the casting department and some of the most memorable characters you can think of were played by actors only called up at the last-minute.
Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, for example, was a role slated for Irish actor Stuart Townsend before Viggo Mortensen stepped in, while Johnny Depp is believed to have been considered for the part of Ferris Bueller (played by Matthew Broderick) in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
More recently, it has emerged that actress Emilia Clarke almost didn’t land the part of Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, who was originally supposed to have been played by English actress Tamzin Merchant.
Merchant, who some of you will know from The Tudors, even starred in a pilot for Game of Thrones, which showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff recently admitted was “complete shit”.
Discussing their experiences of watching the pilot with screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin on an episode of the Scriptnotes podcast recently, Weiss said: “Watching them watch that original pilot was one of the most painful experiences of my life.”
“As soon as it finished, Craig said, ‘You guys have a massive problem’.”
Thankfully, roles were recast, a new director was hired and the vast majority of the pilot was re-shot.
Six seasons and millions of fans later, we think it’s worked out pretty well.
