76 replies to this topic

[Planetary]

Not as bad as it seems. It's not like they're replacing The Hound or Jaime Lannister...it's the Mountain, who mostly exists off-screen in the narrative anyways.

Besides, everyone thought Mark Addy would be awful and he turned out to be an amazing King Robert. I'll reserve judgment until I see this new Mountain fellow on screen.

[AryaDayne]

Maybe he will only be seen in a full body armor with a helmet.. I hope they get "our" Mountain back when it comes to Oberyn vs Gergor..

[The Bastard of Bolton]

If I remember correctly Gregor is mostly pillaging and riding ready at Harrenhal during CoK right?
If they underused the character a lot then they could manage to keep him as a menacing figure leading a band of raiders. With Lorch, The Tickler, Rorge, Biter, Wease, Roose and the rest of the brigands there is plenty of evil to focus on at Harrenhal.  A constantly armoured knight dehumanizes himself, makes him seems more the monstrous.
I would build more interest in the character, foreshadow,  and really set Conan up to become part of T.V. history if they adapt things well.

[Songlian]

I've just found out about this, and was not thrilled about it. But as always, in HBO we trust.

Anyway, Stevens wrote a blog about it: http://www.conanstev...-season-02.html

The important bit I guess it's this:

Quote

I had a great time working on GoT season 01 and the response from viewers to my character and portrayal seemed very positive. I was looking forward to being able to reprise the role for season 02, but it seems like HBO decided to go in a different direction for the 2nd season and I will not be playing Ser Gregor this time around which is a pity.

Of course, if I were asked to appear in season 03 as a herpetologist or another role I would be very excited to do so.

[Frog One]

The new guy is a 7 footer and has played as the Predator in AVPR, he will be always in Armor so, even if he is a bit skinny for the job, it wont matter.

[The Bastard of Bolton]

The faces are so very different though, unless he keeps the helmet on the entire time it'll definitely be hugely noticeable.
From the sound of that quote from Stevens it doesn't even seem like he expects to return to the role of Gregor.

[_Oberyn_]

Songlian, on 22 March 2012 - 11:16 AM, said:

I've just found out about this, and was not thrilled about it. But as always, in HBO we trust.

Anyway, Stevens wrote a blog about it: http://www.conanstev...-season-02.html

Not thrilled about it myself and I dont trust HBO either.

Btw, if u missed it Conan payed a visit to this forums himslef a few days ago. Link

[RebeccaSigyn]

UGH!! I hate to read this! I loved him as Gregor Clegane! I have no clue who the other guy is, he may be really good & I'll give him a chance but I will always see Conan Stevens as the mountain that rides.

[Horus Bergeron]

Été, on 15 September 2011 - 05:43 PM, said:

IIRC he only speaks gets a single spoken line in ACoK, he just needs to loom scarily in the background, brooding. So I'm seconding the sentiment that Gregor's actor mainly needs to be super-tall, since full plate will easily create the illusion of massive bulk.

I guess the problem in episode 4 is that they had Ian Whyte wearing mail.  You would think that HBO would have thought about how this would look.  They could have had him wear more padding (it's not like it was hot at that location) or just have him plate armour all the time.  Hell Gwendoline Cristie ended up looking bigger than he did.  C'mon HBO, step it up.

Edited by Horus Bergeron, 26 April 2012 - 11:15 PM.

[boojam]

After all the totally brilliant casting decisions D&D have made this use of Ian Whyte has gotten the most complaints.

When I heard they were going to use him, I figured they would use the armor from last year (or modify it) put Ian in it and keep the visor closed.
The rest of time The Mountain would be out an about doing his slash and burn duties.

He makes a great White Walker.

Edited by boojam, 28 April 2012 - 12:40 PM.

[Arkash]

He's athletic and quick, but not monstruous, he's supposed to be monstruous... well...

[Giskard Reventlov]

Well, first actor was perfectly casted. New guy is ....tall. But , as other people have said, Gregor is almost always "off the screen" in the books.

[Lord Hound]

Wow. This is very disappointing. I just saw S02E04 yesterday for the second time and I just realized that they changed him! The first actor was perfect, this new guy is just tall, no muscles at all. They should have just hired "The Big Show" instead, at least he knows how to act.

[Robb_]

Is there any chance of Conan Stevens returning for season 3?

I don't think many non-book readers would even notice that it was the same character that had been switched twice, because the character has been kept in the background really apart from that scene at the Hand's Tourney in Season 1

[booknerd2]

They have to get Conan back! The new guy is such a nice guy in interviews, but he is not right for this part. Probably made it worse with the comparison to Conan.

But I can't imagine future scenes without Conan as the Mountain.

[atia-]

I was soooooo disappointed with this recast.  They could have at least stuffed his armor to puff him up a bit or something???  I remember I kept telling the person I was watching it with, "WAIT until you see The Mountain, he is sooo fucking huge and awesome!"  and then I kept thinking while watching....."Where is the Mountain?"  Finally his name came up on the captions and I was...... ;(  Not impressed.  The Mountain is also a little slow in the head, and this guy doesn't act like a dumb brute at all.  It's not even really the actor's fault....some armor and dialogue changes and he would have been acceptable.

[Night Gathers]

We basically just need Conan Stevens for one scene in season 4. I bet the viewers will go like "Oh, that's the guy who chopped off the horse's head in season 1!" I doubt they will notice they replaced him.
But we will.