Best and Worst casting choices.

[Gaz0680]

All the Dornish stuff I don't really blame on the actors at all. The writing was awful. The whole plot line was very poorly planned, too much pointless stuff and it didn't provide any insight into Dorne's purpose or Doran's plans. The dialogue in particular was cringeworthy at times.

[TheLordProtector]

Maisie Williams for me no longer suits her role at all - to begin with she was bloody perfect - but as she's gotten older I think she's gotten worse. Emilia Clarke has been dreadful from day one. Terrible terrible actress. I fear for Terminator Genysis.

Kit has gotten a bad rap. Jon Snow is a somewhat bloodless character in the books and really what more could you want other than the bitchy resting face for that?

Shae was dreadful from the get-go.

[BaelorTheBold]

No doubt the best casting for this show was/are:

Sean Bean as Ned

Charles Dance as Tywin

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion

Michelle Fairley as Catelyn

Mark Addy as Robert

Stephen Dillane as Stannis

Liam Cunningham as Davos

Harry Lloyd as Viserys

Alfie Allen as Theon

Conleth Hill as Varys

David Bradley as Frey

Every time I read the book I immediately jump to a picture of these actors when their character is mentioned. Except for maybe Tyrion because they talk about how ugly he is in the entire time.

Characters I am indifferent about (not bad just never formed a complete opinion on them)

Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys

Owen Teale as Thorne

Richard Madden as Robb

Kit Harrington as Jon

Michael McElhatton as Roose

Casting I am fairly disappointed in

Pretty much all the Sand Snakes (maybe they will grow on me next season)

Deobia Oparei as Hotah (again maybe he will grow on me next season)

Gethin Anthony as Renly (I loved Mark Addy as Robert so much and I know they are like 15 years apart but to me they just didn't seem like brothers; just couldn't get into him in that role)

Kristofer Hivju as Tormund (Just not what I pictured him as, probably more the show writers interpretation of Tormund that bugs me)

Sibel Kikelli as Shae (Again I never got into this character, she seems an okay actor but it was probably more the show writers interpretation that bothers me)

A whole lot more actors to mention but those are the ones that stand out to me the most.

[Gaz0680]

Maisie Williams for me no longer suits her role at all - to begin with she was bloody perfect - but as she's gotten older I think she's gotten worse. Emilia Clarke has been dreadful from day one. Terrible terrible actress. I fear for Terminator Genysis.

Kit has gotten a bad rap. Jon Snow is a somewhat bloodless character in the books and really what more could you want other than the bitchy resting face for that?

Shae was dreadful from the get-go.

I feel the opposite regarding Maisie. She has improved significantly as an actress and has grown into the role beautifully for what the show wants Arya to be. I think Maisie is putting far less of herself into Arya now than she did originally and has truly inhabited The Arya persona (for the show)

Whether that matches your perception of Arya from the books is another matter entirely. Not many characters in the show are particularly like their book counterparts - and that's because of the writing, not the acting. The show has characters talking and acting rather inconsistently in general.

The show characters personalities are whatever D& D want them to be at the time.

That said, acting the part laid out for them well IS in the control of the actors, so if they screw that up, as Emilia has, then fault can be laid on the actor. Emilia has like three facial expressions and her receive bad news face is the same each time, regardless of the extremity of the news or emotion involved.

Kit has improved from seasons 1 and 2 where I thought he was totally wrong for the role. His acting is better now and he's more believable.

[Hos the Hostage]

Best Castings:

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion

Sean Bean as Ned Stark

Harry Lloyd as Viserys

Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy

Charles Dance as Tywin

Lena Heady as Cersei (I don't care about the dark eyebrows. Her eyebrows can act!)

Maisie Willams as Arya. She looks young for her age. I don't think not being skinny matters much. See Sam below - still fat like in books, but destroyed that character by not understanding him properly.

Stephen Dillane as Stannis

Worst Castings:

All three sandsnakes we met in S5. Terrible acting. Especially Obara, who walks like someone hit her the way Hound hit Brienne.

John Bradley as Samwell: Sam in the books is a kind, cowardly guy, never sure of himself. Sam in the show is a mean, arrogant, self-centered bastard. You can't see it in the first few seasons, but you see nothing else in season 5. ("I killed a whitewalker. I want to have sex. I want to have sex. How does it feels like to have sex. I don't care what citadel says. I want to have sex". Fuck you, Sam! I hope Euron kills show!Sam.) If you watch the Oxford interview with Dan, David, Kit and John, Kit says it helped him to understand Jon better by reading the books, and John is all mean, like 'its not necessary, I got one dialogue of Sam during audition, and I understood him perfectly.' Kit should have said that that one dialogue would not help him know what impression does Sam gives to others. We read a Bran chapter and Catelyn chapter, we get a good idea of how Jon Snow is perceived. We read one dialogue, it gives a very one-dimensional view of the character which John Bradley has proudly carried off since season one. I don't think actors should read the book to know characters better, but there is no need for them to demean actors who has read the books, which is what John Bradley did with Kit. Added to that the way Sam's character is changed, I'm totally angry at John, for I think he imparted too much of himself into the character.

S3 Daario. He had the same hairstyle as Margaery.

Gemma Whelan as Asha: No offense to the actress who seems to be doing a good job, but Asha had to be charismatic and mischievous. Gemma's face looks too serious most times. It is good when she is leading armies, but she also has a playfulness about her.

[robasp2]

I think he's basically a bit of eye candy for the women, like Dan's actress is for the men.

Are you kidding?

Daenerys is nowhere near eye candy for men'!!

Doreah was eyecandy.

Natalie Dormer is eye candy

[Lord Neddard Stark]

Are you kidding?

Daenerys is nowhere near eye candy for men'!!

Doreah was eyecandy.

You don't think so ? I thought Dorreah was cute and all but I've always found Emilia Clarke more attractive personally.

[robasp2]

You don't think so ? I thought Dorreah was cute and all but I've always found Emilia Clarke more attractive personally.

I respect you opinion.

Its just many of my friends who like her actually liked her because she was the potential ruler, had dragons, was a khaleesi and because of her nudity.

And I personally feel she is a bit unattractive to be called "eye candy"

Anyway.. Its not like we can argue about beauty. Lol :p

[Lord Neddard Stark]

I respect you opinion.

Its just many of my friends who like her actually liked her because she was the potential ruler, had dragons, was a khaleesi and because of her nudity.

And I personally feel she is a bit unattractive to be called "eye candy"

Anyway.. Its not like we can argue about beauty. Lol :P

Haha fair enough... I don't think she's the best looking on the show or anything. she just makes the Mereen storyline worth watching.

[walfoh]

Best:
Ramsay- Iwan Rheon

Reek- Alfie Allen
Roose- Michael McElhatton
Davos- Liam Cunningham
Jamie- Nicolaj Coster-Waldau

Tywin - Charles Dance

Worst:

Littlefinger - by a mile - Aidan Gillen (he can't even stick to 1 accent). Terrible actor.

Tyrion - Peter Dinklage That appalling attempt at a standard pronunciation english accent nearly pushed him to the top of the worst list.
Daenerys - Emilia Clarke
Jon Snow - Kit Harrington

[Bironic]

Worst:

Daenerys Targaryen: Emilia Clarke

Jon Snow: Kit Harington

Littlefinger: Aiden Gillen

Asha Greyjoy

Ser Gregor Clegane (s2 I think)

The first Daario Naharis

The Sand Snakes

Shae

Grey Worm (don't know why but I don't like him)

Talysa

Some important characters are not bad but not good either:

Sansa Stark: Sophie Turner (mostly because they victimized her too much)

Catelyn Stark: Michelle Fairley (mostly because she looks not like I pictured Cat)

Robb Stark: Richard Madden

Lysa Arryn: Kate dickie

Cersei Lannister: Lena Headey (I think she did a decent job but they changed her character a lot, less choleric, which is kind of sad)

Sam Tarly: Jon Bradley West

Renly Baratheon

Loras Tyrell

Margaery Tyrell

The Others are either good, very good or so unimportant that I already forgot them.

[mafro987daboss]

One casting choice above them all- SALLADHOR SAAN! Seriously, if season 5 had the (previously thought) inevitable Salladhor cameo all could have been forgotten.

[Aemon's counsel]

One casting choice above them all- SALLADHOR SAAN! Seriously, if season 5 had the (previously thought) inevitable Salladhor cameo all could have been forgotten.

This. Saan was one of the characters that the show actually improved on, and that's mainly due to the casting. Lucian Msamati manages to make Saan likable despite him being obviously quite debauched and cynical, and his scenes with Davos (his only scenes?) are great at suggesting a sort of long-lived, fractious-but-warm friendship.

[jennyceleiro]

I feel like I'm the only person in the world who thinks this, but I actually like Season 3 Daario better than the current one. To me, he just seemed to fit the book character more. When I was reading the books, Daario seemed totally cocky, sleazy, etc. and I thought that the season 3 actor captured that really well. The current Daario just seems like a nice guy to me.

[Ben H'gahr]

I’m happy with most actor choices but outstanding due to reliably good performance are:

Alfie Allen

Michael McElhatton

Stephen Dillane

Michelle Fairley

Peter Dinklage

Natalie Dormer

Iwan Rheon

Indira Varma

Diana Rigg

Jonathan Pryce

Sibel Kekili

Charles Dance

Conleth Hill

Sean Bean, Lena Headey and Mark Addy just perfectly fit the characters IMO.

Alex Siddiq showed that he can act but did not get enough scenes

Like the character so much that no objective statement is possible:

Rory McCann

Iain Glen

Kit Harrington

Maisie Williams

Jerome Flynn

Tom Wlaschina

Actors I particularly hate are

Missandei

Grey Worm

S3 Daario

Jessica Henwick (annoying annoying annoying)

Especially Grey Worm and Missandei and their stupid romance are so flippin’ annoying that I wished they had died in S5.

Chosen for looks, bad actors:

Emilia Clarke (even though she seems to be a nice person)

Sophie Turner (but improving)

Sand Snakes (srsly, Castle-Hughes is the worst case of anti-acting I ever had to witness. I think we finally found an actress worse than Kristen Stewart).

DeObia Oparei (this guy is a parody of Areo Hotah)

[LatrineDiggerBrian]

I think the casting has been amazing and near perfect on this show. The only one that I haven't really liked is Ramsey, I just don't like a lot of the choices Iwan Rheon makes. I kind of wish the dude who played Waymar Royce in the pilot ended up playing Ramsey.

[adsf45ds]

Charles Dance is a good actor, but he gives the personality of an old-school British schoolmaster rather than Tywin, the brutal, genocidal lord of Lannister. I mean Tywin is basically Vladimir Putin....

Emilia Clarke looks great but she looks like she's about to burst into giggles any second, doesn't really have that fire you'd expect with Dany. I bet Amanda Seyfried would be an interesting Dany.

Pedro Pascal felt very lightweight, he just didn't have that presence somebody like the Red Viper should. Plus that whole Inigo Montoya thing was eh....

Liam Cunningham, Aidan Gillen, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Richard Madden, Stephen Dillane, Tom Wlasicha and girl who plays Gilly are all perfect IMO.

[Astromech]

Just concerning matching looks with their book counterparts and not acting ability,

Worst:

Jorah Mormont

Sallador Saan

The Sand Snakes

The last two Gregors

Areo Hotah

Best:

Varys

the Hound

Brienne

Sansa

Samwell

[Tony Inchpractice]

Richard Madden was good; even if Robb is changed a bit from books. Aidan Gillen has just gone full blown ham. You expect him to wink at the camera ever time he appears. And his voice has changed considerably from season 1.

 

Ser Barristen was one the biggest wastes, a waste of Ian McElhinney. 

 

Owen Teale and Stephen Dillane have done really good jobs considering the crap they've been made to work with in the show. 

[The Amun Ra]

Owen Teale and Stephen Dillane have done really good jobs considering the crap they've been made to work with in the show. 

What's wrong with ser Alliser? I think he is one of the few characters who are more complex and better developed on TV than their book counterparts. He is an experienced ranger who spent several months beyond the wall during the worst winter  and also good battle commander who fought bravely in Battle at Castle Black, not to mention that he held temporary command over Castle Black in season 4. He still respects Jon in some way as opposed to Janos Slynt. But his book counterpart.... Never been beyond the Wall, never participated in battle of Castle Black, immediately tried to execute Jon after his return, not to mention that he dragged him to Janos Slynt in the middle of the battle, has no respect for Jon but also no respect for the Starks in general and he was basicly Slynt's right hand man in the books (on TV it was the opposite with difference that Thorne didn't always listen to Slynt's advice)  Or is it him participating in Jon's assassination that bothers you? Marsh, Yarwyck, Thorne or all three together.... what's the difference?