Charles Dance Cast as Tywin Lannister

Charles a fan of the books, has been the favourite within the production team for some months now, who approached him as he was filming for Your highness in the paint hall in Belfast

A very experienced Actor with a TV and Film career spanning over 36 years, he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare company for 5 years.  He is most renowned for his British TV work which includes The Jewel in the Crown, The Phantom of the Opera and Bleak house.

I always remember for his softer role in the Jewel in the Nile, but his wiki page starts with the line

Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains.

Which fits his chosen role and all stills I have seen of him recently show he acting in the harder style required for the role of Tywin Lannister

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Also leaked by GRRM today is  that Jaime Sives has been signed on to play Jory Cassel, one of the more minor roles.

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• Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
• Finn Jones as Loras Tyrell
• Kristian Nairn as Hodor
• Roy Dotrice as Grand Maester Pycelle
• John Bradley-West as Samwell Tarly
• Conan Stevens as Gregor Clegane
• Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin
• Ian McNeice as Illyrio Mopatis
• Ron Donachie as RodrikCassel
• Jamie Campbell Bower as Waymar Royce
• Richard Ridings asGared
• Bronson Webb as Will
• Esmé Bianco as Ros (aka Red Headed Whore)
• Miltos Yerolemou as Syrio Forel
• Luke McEwan as Rast

Some fascinating names, some exciting names and some relatively unknown names. Many will be happy to see Esme back as Ros, for what reason I will never know .

However still some names to be added to the list.

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Michelle Fairley to Replace Jennifer Ehle

The role of Catelyn Stark has been recast in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Well know and popular actress Jennifer Ehle has been replaced by Michelle Fairley inthe role for reasons as yet undisclosed by HBO.

Rumours generally suggest it was for reasons not related to the acting performance, but either prior commitments or a change in direction in the role. I am more confident it is the first. As I wrote in the cast Bio’s I was not convinced by the casting of Jennifer but was keen to be proved wrong. It now looks like we will never get to know.

A full Bio will come later, but Michelle Fairley is an established TV and stage actor in the UK, who will have probably her two most prominent film roles coming up as she appears in the final two Harry Potter films. One would think a lead role in the Game of Thrones is a big step up for her.

We have had strong hints that Tazmin Merchant may also we recast for the role of Danny. More information when we get it

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Nikolaj Coster Waldau

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is cast as Jaime Lannister in the HBO production Game of Thrones, a role I am sure he is suited to with his good looks, charm, smooth acting skills and the feeling of everything is just too good that he gives off.

Jamie as a character is not the typical ‘knight in shining armour’ very much being the ‘shite in knighting armour’ or as Frodo says someone that ‘seems fair but feels foul’, it may sound harsher than its meant, but im sure Nikolaj can play that role excellently. This is one of the pieces of casting on Game of Thrones which im most happy with.

Nikolaj Coster Waldau in New Amersterdam

Nikolaj as a Dane has a pedigree in both Danish and English film. I won’t speak to much about Dannish Language film as I know little about it, but I will say his film Nattevagten (1994) is what made him famous in Denmark. He has continued to make Danish language films even after breaking into Hollywood in 2001.

His breakthrough in mainstream English language film came with the Black Hawk Down in 2001, has been busy since that point and has and impressive list of films in which he has been involved with.

However none of his performances have been stand out in these English language films, but he does seem to be one of those actors who Ridley Scott is happy to work with on a number of projects so that speaks well for him.

Nikolaj Coster Waldau

Coster-Waldau is a family man who lives in Denmark and is married to Nukâka Motzfeldt a former Miss Greenalnd and they have two young daughters named Saffina and Philippa.

Filmography

English Language Films

• Black Hawk Down (2001)
• Enigma (2001)
• My Name Is Modesty (2003)
• Wimbledon (2004)
• The Headsman (2005)
• Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
• Firewall (2006)
• New Amsterdam (2008)
• Virtuality (2009)
• Game of Thrones (2010)

Non English Language a Films

• Nattevagten (1994)
• Nattens engel (1998)
• Vildspor (1998)
• Antenneforeningen (1999)
• Misery Habour (1999)
• På fremmed mark (2000)
• Manden bag døren (2003)
• Rembrandt (2003)
• Den gode strømer (2004)
• Supervoksen (2006)
• Underbar och älskad av alla (“Wonderful and loved by everyone”, Swedish, 2006)
• De unge år: Erik Nietzsche sagaen del 1 (“The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche part 1″, Swedish, 2007)
• Kautokeino-opprøret (Norwegian, 2008)
• Himmerland (2008)
• Ved Verdens Ende (2009)

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Kit Harrington in War Horse

Kit Harington is definitely one of the UK up and coming theatre actors, and his role of Jon Snow in Game of Thrones definitely sets him up for a strong move over into TV and film.

Kit has done little TV and film work to date, but has one theatre credit to his name which is taking the lead in the National Theatre and west end production War Horse.

The show has been a great hit winning an Olivier Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award and London Critics’ Circle Theatre award and being watched by the Queen Elizabeth and her racist hubby. It has now become the most successful national theatre play ever.

Kit Harington

Kit plays the role of Albert Narracott who is one of the two leads in the play the other being a puppet horse. The role is the major human one in the play and in performing such Kit has been to a large extent a significant part of plays success.  He was not part of the cast in its original run at the national theatre, but has been part of the 8 month run in the west end of London.

His only Film credit is on a independent UK film Greys Inbetween in which he played the role of Sebastian, which is the supporting role, but beyond that little is known of either the role or kit.

Apart form the above Kit is a little bit of mystery and apart from his age of 22, little else in known about him at the moment.

Kit Harrington

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Jennifer Ehle

Ok the first piece of the casting for Game of Thrones which I have just thought is wrong, im not a casting director so I may have this really wrong, I also have nothing against Jennifer Ehle who is a very fine actress, but she just the seems the wrong person for the role.

I find Catelyn Stark a very strong sometimes spiky woman in the books, a go getter and a doer, and from the roles she has played and the pictures I have seen Jennifer juts does engender that kind of feel in me. In short she comes across too soft. May I even say a little ‘Bridget Jonesy’.

She is best known for her lead role as Elizabeth Bennetin the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice in which she plays and won a BAFTA award for the performance, and this possibly the reason why I think she is the wrong choice for Catelyn Stark.

Jennifer Ehle was born on the 29th December 1969, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. She is the daughter of novelist John Ehle and actress Rosemary Harris. Born in North Carolina, Jennifer changed schools 18 times growing up in order to follow her mother’s frequent moves as an actress.

She studied at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, but she left in her final term when Sir Peter Hall offered her a leading role in Channel 4′s production of The Camomile Lawn (with her mother playing her character aged).

Jennifers first movie role was as Cynthia Powell (John Lennon’s first wife) in 1993′s Backbeat, a film that I really did enjoy and never got the commercial success it deserved.

Jennifer Ehle

It was the next year when she took the lead in Pride and Prejudice that he career really took off and she has not really lacked work since.  She has been involved in 15 films since that point, particular highlights for me being  Wilde and Paradise Road.

When Jennifer has really shone though is in the theatre. Where she was nominated for a 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Annie in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and also for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for the same role.

Jennifer Ehle has dated the actors Toby Stephens, from The Camomile Lawn, and Colin Firth, Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. She is now married to the writer Michael Ryan and they have two children, George and Talulah, Whom I presume she had between 2001 and 2003 due to the gap in here acting schedule. The family currently reside in upstate New York.

As I have said im not convinced about this piece of casting, but I am unfamiliar with much of Jennifer’s screen work and all of her theatre work. She is obviously a very talented actress and I hope she can prove me wrong and shine in this role.

Filmography

• The King’s Speech (2010) as Myrtle Logue
• Pride and Glory (2008) as Abby Tierney
• The Russell Girl (2008) as Lorraine Morrissey
• Before the Rains as Laura (2008) (Malayalam Film – India)
• Alpha Male (2006) as Alice Ferris
• Melissa (2006)as Melissa
• The River King (2005) as Betsy Chase
• Possession (2002) as Christabel LaMotte
• Sunshine (1999) as Valerie Sonnenschein
• This Year’s Love (1999) as Sophie
• Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) as Sally
• Paradise Road (1997) as Rosemary Leighton-Jones
• Wilde (1997) as Constance Lloyd Wilde
• Pride and Prejudice (1995) as Elizabeth Bennet
• Backbeat (1994) as Cynthia Powell
• The Camomile Lawn (1992) as Young Calypso

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Joseph Mawle as Jesus

Even though it is only going to be for one episode the inclusion of Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark in the Game of Thrones cast just shows the level of quality which has been sought out for all the parts.

Joseph is one of the quality up and coming actors in the UK at the moment, gaining many plaudits for his role in Soundproof.  He also stared in the BBC/HBO TV production The Passion, and the award winning Dunkirk.

Joseph Mawle

The also won much critical claim in his role in the screen performance of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot on the London stage picking up awards from the Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage.

Though not a household name (yet) Joseph is a much sought after UK actor, and his inclusion speaks more of the quality of the production HBO have created for the pilot.

Joseph was born 21 March 1974 in Oxford, and grew up in Warwickshire. He did not have the privileged life of many of the other cast members of Game of Thrones after, due to being dyslexic he was sent to a boarding school for children with learning difficulties, after school he worked on a building site and at this time his parents split up and he lived alone in a caravan.

He also  suffers from partial deafness, having suffered hearing loss, due to a virus, at the age of 16.  Between the ages of 16 and 18 he was completely deaf and now suffers from reduced hearing at both higher and lower ends of the hearing range

Joseph Graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School a little older than most in 2002, after previous studying the performing arts at college in Warwick.

Filmography

• “Game of Thrones” (filming) …. Benjen Stark (1 episode)
• We Want Sex (2010) (post-production) …. Gordon
• Dive (2009) (TV) (post-production) …. Gary
• Sometimes the Moon Is Velvet (2009) (post-production) …. Jack
• “Agatha Christie: Poirot” …. Antonio Foscarelli (1 episode, 2009)
• Murder on the Orient Express (2009) TV episode …. Antonio Foscarelli
• “Merlin” …. Alvarr (1 episode, 2009)
• The Witch’s Quickening (2009) TV episode …. Alvarr
• “Waking the Dead” …. Stefan Koscinski (2 episodes, 2009)
• Heartless (2009/I) …. Papa B
• “The Street” …. Keiran (1 episode, 2009)
• After Tomorrow (2009) …. James
• Freefall (2009) (TV) …. Jim
• Red Riding: 1980 (2009) …. The Ripper
• “Free Agents” (1 episode, 2009)
• Lezione 21 (2008) …. Musician
• “The Passion” …. Jesus (4 episodes, 2008)
• “Foyle’s War” …. Fred Dawson (1 episode, 2008)
• Clapham Junction (2007) (TV) …. Tim
• “Holby Blue” …. Simon Jenkins (1 episode, 2007)
• Persuasion (2007) (TV) …. Harry Harville
• The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton (2006) (TV) …. Fred
• “Dalziel and Pascoe” …. Charlie Barron (2 episodes, 2006)
• “Silent Witness” …. Adrian Burney (2 episodes, 2006)
• Soundproof (2006) (TV) …. Dean Whittingham
• Dunkirk (2004) (TV) …. Lt Ian Cox RN

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Alfie Allen

The actor cast to play Theon Greyjoy is Alfie’s Allen or Alfie Owen-Allen, his greatest claim to fame at the moment is his family, he is the younger brother of singer song writer Lilly Allen, the son of Keith Allen who is kind of hard to define but a British actor/musician/celebrity/hell raiser, and Alison Owen a film producer responsible for Elizabeth, Sean of the Dead and The Other Boleyn Girl amongst other films.

He was actually raised by his mother and the British Comedian Harry Enfield who is mother was married to at the time.

Though I can never remember seeing Alfie in any films he has played numerous bit parts in many films, one would suggest initially through family connections, things seem to be picking up moment and Alfie seems to be making a name for himself in his own right.

It was at the age of 3 that he had a role in his father comic strip presents production of ‘The Yob’ ( a Parody of Job Culture based on the fly ). Next up at the age of 12 both he and his sister got small parts in his mother’s production of Elizabeth in 1998, and he joined his father again in ‘You are here’ in the same year.

Alfie and Lilly Allen

He was had involvement in another 15 different projects in the last 10 years including bit parts in the major films Atonement and The Other Boleyn Girl.

Game of Thrones is one of the 4 projects he has on the go at the moment, which are either in post production or filming the others being entitled The Kid, Soul Boy and Powder. He holds a high billing in both Powder and the Soul Boy, and I get the impression his star is definitely rising at the moment.

He has also been acting on the stage and has had many pictures (that I refrain from putting on here ) of him performing naked onstage in Equus in London.

Alfie was also made well known in by his sisters song Alfie off her album Alright, Still. Which doesn’t paint him in a good light, He has also had a reputation for getting kicked out of most of the posh schools in London.

Yes he does indeed sound like the perfect person to be playing Theon Greyjoy. Alfies star is rising at the moment and I think it will continue to rise through Game of Thrones.

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Jason Momoa in Stargate Atlantis

Jason Momoa was the last major member of the Game of Thrones cast, announced, only a few days before filming began, he play the part of Khal Drogo.

Recently being best known for his work as Ronan Dex in Stargate Atlantis in which he receives much acclaim even from people who don’t love the show. However he comes from a less well respect pedigree with a number of years work on that awful show Baywatch.

Unlike many of the actors on Game of Thrones Jason doesn’t come from a traditional acting/drama school background, and got his break via modelling when he won 1999 Hawaii’s Model of the Year competition. He got through the audition for Game of thrones by performing the Haka (a traditional dance of the Maori Warriors of New Zealand).

Jason was born in Hawai on the August 1, 1979 and raised in Iowa. His father was of native Hawaiian background and his mother German Irish American. His uncle is the famous Hawaiian Surfer Brian Keaulana.

He has had two children with the actress Lisa Bonet(The Cosby show)  in 2007 and 2008), and from all account still seems to be with Lisa (sorry girls).

Jason Momoa

On November 15, 2008, Momoa was attacked in hollywood. With a broken beer glass  Momoa received around 140 stitches during reconstructive surgery.

Standing at 6 foot 4 with Dreadlocks (again they were cut off a few years ago), Jason will make an imposing figure as Khal Drogo and it seems both an appropriate and commercially sound choice.

Filmography

• 2009 The Game as Roman (2009)
• 2009 Stargate Atlantis as Ronon Dex (2005-2009)
• 2005 North Shore as Frankie Seau (2004-2005)
• 2004 Johnson Family Vacation as Navarro
• 2003 Tempted as Kala Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding as Jason Ioane
• 2001 Baywatch as Jason Ioane (1999-2001)

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