Main Cast by Number of Episodes

[Chinoiserie]

I think outdoor scenes are more expencive and the have built this whole set just for her storyline so they want to use it. Casting many actors is also expencive and it is confusing for general audiences to have too many characters.

[sonsastronk]

Nothing much is happening in Arya's screentime. Languidly washing a body, sitting in the rain reciting names, brushing the floor. And its so quiet in Braavos, its like she gets no lines and there isn't any real character for her to bounce off like she did with Hot Pie, Gendry and the Hound.

That's probably because Arya doesn't have enough substance as a character to be able to stand on her own. She's kind of like a camera. She herself is not interesting, but the characters we meet through her are. She isn't supposed to be considered to be an actual character. She's more of a plot device or a lense.

Also, I'm guessing that Arya's time has been shortened because 1) D&D lack interest in the character and 2) the audience lacks interest in the character as well. This is television, and the people in charge essentially want to give the people what they want. And what they want isn't Arya.

[oierem]

I agree that screentime is more important than number of episodes, and im happy with Arya's screentime this season. But i would personally rather see them split up that same amount of content into different episodes. I know it sounds stupid, but i would rather see her get two five minute scenes in two consecutive episodes than one big ten minute scene in one episode and then go missing for a week or so

That's exactly what everybody was criticising about season 2; that each episode should feature less storylines and longer scenes for each one. And that characters should miss more episodes.

[Colonel Green]

Since this thread has now also discussed screentime in addition to episode numbers, the latest figures for screentime per character, updated for episode 6.

The top 6 (which I expect will remain the same throughout, though in different positions) remain, though Dany's not appearing in episode 6 leads to her falling down to sixth place. Arya gets another big boost (she's averaging 8 minutes per appearance), moving into fifth place. Sansa jumps into third. Jon and Cersei are practically tied, and I expect Cersei will at least temporarily take the lead next week. With Tyrion's travelogue coming to an end, I expect his screentime will pick up more.

[Drogonthedread]

Since this thread has now also discussed screentime in addition to episode numbers, the latest figures for screentime per character, updated for episode 6.

The top 6 (which I expect will remain the same throughout, though in different positions) remain, though Dany's not appearing in episode 6 leads to her falling down to sixth place. Arya gets another big boost (she's averaging 8 minutes per appearance), moving into fifth place. Sansa jumps into third. Jon and Cersei are practically tied, and I expect Cersei will at least temporarily take the lead next week. With Tyrion's travelogue coming to an end, I expect his screentime will pick up more.

oh some people are not going to like that stat given the recent discussions ...

i got to say even i feel little bummed to see Dany at 6 ... i can understand why sansa is in 3rd place but i can see she fallback to 5 or 6 at the end of season ..

with tyrion meeting dany next episode ...i think she will get higher mainly because she will be having scenes with tyrion ...

[RenlyTheOneTrueKing]

I have a feeling Ramsay will overtake Petyr screentime wise, next episode.

[AryaNymeriaVisenya]

oh some people are not going to like that stat given the recent discussions ...

i got to say even i feel little bummed to see Dany at 6 ... i can understand why sansa is in 3rd place but i can see she fallback to 5 or 6 at the end of season ..

with tyrion meeting dany next episode ...i think she will get higher mainly because she will be having scenes with tyrion ...

Not if you read the discussion properly. This has been raised and discussed a few times. The whole quality of screentime discussion. What is actually happening? Look at Tyrion's screentime, think about his story, he's not really doing anything but travelling and getting into scrapes. I don't think its a good year for him either. On the flip side, Dany has less but it feels like she has had much more because when she appears she's getting a lot to do.

[Drogonthedread]

Not if you read the discussion properly. This has been raised and discussed a few times. The whole quality of screentime discussion. What is actually happening? Look at Tyrion's screentime, think about his story, he's not really doing anything but travelling and getting into scrapes. I don't think its a good year for him either. On the flip side, Dany has less but it feels like she has had much more because when she appears she's getting a lot to do.

i understand this totally ..

i was speaking more about people who where saying that D&D prefer Sansa more and neglect Arya ...

[Drogonthedread]

http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/game-of-thrones/episode-9-season-5/the-dance-of-dragons/305628/

looks like jon is going to appear in all the nine episodes

Arya will be present in 8,9,10 which means she will have another 6 episode season ..

and i still cant get over this phrase "Daenerys oversees a celebration of athleticism."

[Colonel Green]

looks like jon is going to appear in all the ten episodes

Jon has already missed an episode (506). He'll be in nine.

[Drogonthedread]

Jon has already missed an episode (506). He'll be in nine.

yeah i changed it ...it feels like he has been in every episodes

if sansa doesnt appear in episode 9 and cersei not being in episode 5 ...i think only tyrion is going to appear in all ten episodes

[Colonel Green]

I think it's unlikely we won't see anything in Winterfell in episode 9. That's become too central a plot location this season.

[Drogonthedread]

yeah we cant rely on synopsis about her appearance ...i hope she does because i will be glad if someone else appears in all ten episodes other than tyrion

[Arkash]

Great to have the synopsis !

Yeah, looks like Jon will be in 9 episodes, and if he returns at the Wall in 9 with a lots of wildlings and having lost a lot of brothers, it sets things up for the mutiny in 10 !

As for Sansa, I think Winterfell and Stannis' arcs will be so entertwined by episode 9 that if one appears, the other will as well, so yeah, she'll likely be in all 10 episodes.

That is of course, unless she dies before. ^^

[Colonel Green]

Iain Glen moves into a tie for fourth place with Maisie Williams -- I expect they'll remain tied through the remainder of the season.

Also, while we're waiting for the screentime chart to be updated, Cersei has to be in first place now, and Sansa is probably in second. Next episode should have a huge dose of Jon screentime, though, so he will quite possibly be back in first after that.

[Travy1991]

5x07 "The Gift" Update:

Made the List!: We have quite a few new cast members making the list this episode - five in total. I have retroactively added Baby Sam to the list who has appeared in Seasons 3, 4 and 5 with 11 episodes total. We don't have any ID on the baby (or babies) playing 'Little' Sam but I decided to include him in the list as the character has been around for quite a while. You can find him under the 'North of The Wall' section in the Guest Cast list. He's one of only three out of nine non-starring characters, from or introduced North of The Wall, to still be alive.

DEOBIA OPAREI (Areo Hotah), KEISHA CASTLE-HUGHES (Obara Sand), JESSICA HENWICK (Nymeria 'Nym' Sand) and ROSABELL LAURENTI SELLERS (Tyene Sand) have now appeared in three episodes of the show. Oparei can be found under the new 'Norvos' section while the latter three can be found under the 'Dorne' section.

I thought about adding Stella McCusker (Old Woman) to the list as the character makes her third (and final) appearance tonight. However, I decided to not include her appearance this episode as McCusker was not present - the dead body of the Old Woman was a prosthetic. This is the same reason I didn't include Sean Bean (Ned Stark) or Susan Browne (Mordane) as only prosthetics of their heads/bodies appeared in that episode.

Departures: Goodbye PETER VAUGHAN and Maester Aemon. I'm glad that they got the "Egg, I dreamed I was old" line in there. I would have also liked if we had Aemon urge Sam to help Daenerys too. That was a very poignant moment in the book. As Aemon urged Gilly to go south though, I think we can definitely expect to see Sam and Gilly hit up Oldtown next season.

My Thoughts: I'm a big defender of the show but now that we're seven episodes into the season, I have some big-ish issues with the show. The writing is way too on the nose. The amount of times we cut to angry!Olly. The Sand Snakes are sexual, dangerous badasses! Now that Jon and Aemon have left The Wall, all the bad guys come out to rape Gilly. And the rape...Jesus, D&D, enough is enough already. I'm sticking with the show. There's still a lot to like about it and some things are executed very well. But there's plenty of bad moments too and this has become more obvious as the writers have moved further away from GRRM's work. I'm not a purist. There are ways in which I prefer the show to the books. But despite GRRM's faults (particularly with pacing and his number of diverging plotlines), he knows how to write characters and he knows how to follow through much better than the show writers.

Anyway without further ado, here's the Main and Guest Top 10 lists for the week.

Main Cast Top 10:

1. Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) - 43/47 episodes
   
2. Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) - 42/47 episodes
   
3. Emilia Clarke (Daenerys 'Dany' Targaryen), Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) - 38/47 episodes
   
4. Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) - 36/47 episodes
   
5. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) - 33/47 episodes
   
6. John Bradley (Samwell 'Sam' Tarly) - 32/47 episodes
   
7. Alfie Allen (Theon 'Reek' Greyjoy) and Aidan Gillen (Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish) - 30/47 episodes
   
8. Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Conleth Hill (Varys) and Rory McCann (Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane) - 27/47 episodes
   
9. Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) and Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) - 26/47 episodes
   
10. Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Tully) and Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark) - 25/47 episodes
    

Oooh! People are not going to be happy that Maisie Williams and Iain Glen are sharing the same place on the table - they are fourth place behind Peter, Lena and the trio of Kit, Emilia and Sophie. This shared position, however, allows Michelle and Isaac to jump back into the bottom of the table in tenth place. Gwendoline Christie makes the Top 10 for the first time, coming in at Number 9. She is now the only one in the Top 10 who was not introduced until after Season 1.

John Bradley, Charles Dance and Conleth Hill started off as guest actors in Season 1 before being promoted to main cast in Season 2.

Guest Cast Top 10:

1. Julian Glover (Pycelle) - 26/47 episodes
   
2. Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy) - 25/47 episodes
   
3. Ben Crompton (Eddison 'Dolorous Edd' Tollett) and Mark Stanley (Grenn) - 22/47 episodes
   
4. Kristian Nairn (Walder 'Hodor') and Daniel Portman (Podrick 'Pod' Payne) - 21/47 episodes
   
5. Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell ) - 18/47 episodes
   
6. Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), Ian Beattie (Meryn Trant) and Ghost - 16/47 episodes
   
7. Dominic Carter (Janos Slynt) - 15/47 episodes
   
8. Esmé Bianco (Ros), Donald Sumpter (Luwin), Owen Teale (Alliser Thorne), Natalia Tena (Osha) and Summer - 14/47 episodes
   
9. Amrita Acharia (Irri), Josef Altin (Pyp), Drogon and Viserion - 13/47 episodes
   
10. Ron Donachie (Rodrik Cassel), Luke McEwan (Rast) and Art Parkinson (Rickon) - 12/47 episodes
    

In guest cast, Ben Crompton shares joined third place with Mark Stanley. Pod has now appeared in the same number of episodes as Hodor although his scene was extremely brief this episode. Ghost shares joined sixth place with Grey Worm and Meryn Trant. Owen Teale jumps up to joined eighth place with Ros, Luwin, Osha and Summer. This jumping around and joined places leave room in the Top 10 for Ron Donachie (Rodrik Cassel), Luke McEwan (Rast) and Art Parkinson (Rickon). Hey, Rickon made a list of top characters! Go figure!

[Chinoiserie]

I feel that dead people as prosthetics should be included if you include dead people played by cast members, different actors for characters, baby who we do not know is payed by, animals that may or may not be GCI. But this is definitely your decision and the thread is named Main Cast by Number of Episodes anyway. I just think people care more about the characters and it is more consistent.

The writing has been too obvious for some reason. It is as if the showrunners have less faith in the audiences intelligence these days. Many Unsullied have been waiting for Cersei's arrest since it was so obvious as well as Aemon's death and Barristan had a very obvious pre-death speech. There has been less stocking moments as result. I am enjoying the show, but I think when the writers are dying original material and are not forced to condensed books they result accidentally to tv-show conventions perhaps.

[Arkash]

Damn, I didnt expect Ghost to have appeared in 16 episodes ! Hope he'll get at least one more appearance this season !

His continued absence by Jon's side (and the lack of direwolves in general) is really the most negative aspect of the show for me !

Love how Dolorous Edd only had one line this season, but still did appear in every episode ! I hope Hardhome will give him more to do and he wont die there !

[Drogonthedread]

i am happy that jon and dany share same number of episodes ..and i want them to be like this till the end of the series ..

i dont want either jon or dany over take another when all said and done mainly because i believe they share same level of weight to the story

cersei will come down because i think she wont be in season 7...So that leaves only Tyrion ahead of Jon and Dany ...i am ok with that

i think Sansa will eventually drop from that spot with both screen time and appearances in the coming seasons

i dont think too many will complain about Ian glen ..he is a good actor and everyone loves him and he has appeared that many episodes mainly because he was with dany ..so its understandable

[Arkash]

I think Jon will have one more episode to his account by the end of the season.

Dany has skipped two episodes this season. Jon one.

Many people, me first, were thinking Jon would skip 509 this year, but the synopsis proves otherwise and I cant see Jon skipping 510, so Jon will be in 9 episodes this year and Dany only in 8. So it will make one more for Jon.