Top 5 Favorite Casting Decisions from Season 1

[kissdbyfire]

Yeah, that scene. It's indeed superb. Charles Dance has been a favourite of mine for sometime now, and NCW is a more recent one - I really hadn't seen anything with him before GoT. They are both fantastic in that scene, and the way you could read in 'Jaime's' eyes everything he was feeling in it... wow.

[bigmeuprudeboy]

No Aiden Gillen???

His two most famous roles other than Littlefinger (in Queer as Folk and the Wire) have both been slimey little creeps too

PERFECT casting

[seeyouintee]

Arya

The Hound

Tyrion

Robert (but for fuck's sake, they could have made the guy look taller by using very simple cinematography!!!)

Jorah

[GoodGuyA]

No Aiden Gillen???

His two most famous roles other than Littlefinger (in Queer as Folk and the Wire) have both been slimey little creeps too

PERFECT casting

I don't like how he speaks. He looks perfect and gestures perfectly, sure, but the way he delivers his lines seems less cock sure of himself and more paranoid.

Robert (but for fuck's sake, they could have made the guy look taller by using very simple cinematography!!!)

Simple can easily turn to disastrous when working with scale. He looked tall enough to me. I don't see what the issue is.

[seeyouintee]

I don't like how he speaks. He looks perfect and gestures perfectly, sure, but the way he delivers his lines seems less cock sure of himself and more paranoid.

Simple can easily turn to disastrous when working with scale. He looked tall enough to me. I don't see what the issue is.

He's supposed to be 6 & a half feet tall and tower over Ned, whom I believe is supposed to be around 6 ft. Sean Bean is a good few inches taller than the guy who plays Robert. Most of the scenes involving Robert have him engaged in dialogue and a lot of them are from the waist up. They could easily have stuck him on a 6 inch stool for the scenes where he's standing next to someone he's supposed to 'tower over.'

[Crown]

No Aiden Gillen???

His two most famous roles other than Littlefinger (in Queer as Folk and the Wire) have both been slimey little creeps too

PERFECT casting

Stupid me. He's brilliantly cast. Same goes for Conleth Hill. Both not on my list. Facepalm.

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

1. Maisie Williams - All of the child actors do a great job. Maisie Williams does a great job, I'm excited to see what she does with the rest of the series.

2. Charles Dance - The perfect Tywin. The scene where he skins the deer is my favorite scene that isn't in the books.

3. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau - The perfect blend of arrogance, turmoil, and all around badassery.

4. Peter Dinklage - Just....perfect.

5. Aiden Gilan/Colenth Hill - Both are exellent.

[TheEvilKing]

Favourites:

Peter Dinklage - not how I pictured Tyrion's looks or accent in the books, but has done such a fantastic job.

Mark Addy - perfect as King Bob

Harry Lloyd - Amazing as Viserys, actually improves on the character in the books

Conleth Hill - Pretty much exactly how I imagined Varys, what a spot on piece of casting

Dude who plays Syrio - can't remember his name, but he has like 3 scenes and 2 of them are some of the most memorable of the first season

Also perfectly cast per the books: Jaime, Dany, Arya, Ser Barristan, Joffrey

Actual improvements on the books: Jorah, Doreah, Sam, Maester Leuwin, Osha

Most looking forward to in season 2:

Stannis & Mel - from the trailers it looks like they've nailed these two

Natalie Dormer as Marge - fantastic actress and totally hot, I don't care that they've aged her up

Jaqen - this guy just looks intriguing

Ygritte - looks cute

[Holmes]

For me, perfect casting = perfect look, perfect performance. Therefore, i.n.p.o.:

Benjen Stark. Only beef is that he's hard to understand sometimes. He's a noble, should talk more like it, even if he's been with the NW for a while.

Osha. Perfect.

Maester Luwin. Perfect.

Varys. Absolutely perfect.

Tywin. Has a great look, but they should have given him the big golden chops.

Sam and Selmy get hon. mention.

On the other hand:

Cersei: hate her portrayal, not good looking enough. I've always imagined her as gorgeous, overwrought, and batshit crazy, all of which she ain't.

Littlefinger: Perfect look, but many times I find his speech wooden. Should be more flamboyantly dressed, but that's not his fault.

Sansa: not even close at times.

Ghost: GHOST DOESN'T TALK!!! EVER!!! ...sorry. It's mentioned so many times that he's silent!

And honestly, though Sean Bean did a great job, he's not how I pictured Ned. Always thought of him as thinner and harder. Bean looks soft to me.

Similarly Peter Dinklage also did a great job, I'd pictured him as more like the dwarf Bijaz in Children of Dune, if you've seen that miniseries (recommend)

[Orangutangu]

If I do as others have done and leave Sean Bean and Peter Dinklage out of the equation, I guess this is my list for season 1 (won't do season 2 until I have actually seen it):

- Charles Dance as Tywin

- Maisie Williams as Arya

- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime

- Harry Lloyd as Viserys

- John Bradley as Samwell

Catelyn, Osha and Littlefinger are all characters who were played quite differently in the series from how I imagined them when I read the books, but that I enjoyed immensely. I see that a lot of people don't agree with Aidan Gillen's Littlefinger, but i think he has a great unsettling quality to him.

I might be in the minority, but I wasn't all that excited about Jack Gleeson. Don't get me wrong, he nails the sadist side of Joffrey, but he never showed me anything that made me understand why Sansa would fall for him in the first place (the fact that she is a silly girl and he is a prince isn't quite enough for me.) I think it might be because he looks very different from how I imagined him, in the book he is described as incredibly good looking.

[Sarnius]

If I do as others have done and leave Sean Bean and Peter Dinklage out of the equation, I guess this is my list for season 1 (won't do season 2 until I have actually seen it):

- Charles Dance as Tywin

- Maisie Williams as Arya

- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime

- Harry Lloyd as Viserys

- John Bradley as Samwell

Catelyn, Osha and Littlefinger are all characters who were played quite differently in the series from how I imagined them when I read the books, but that I enjoyed immensely. I see that a lot of people don't agree with Aidan Gillen's Littlefinger, but i think he has a great unsettling quality to him.

I might be in the minority, but I wasn't all that excited about Jack Gleeson. Don't get me wrong, he nails the sadist side of Joffrey, but he never showed me anything that made me understand why Sansa would fall for him in the first place (the fact that she is a silly girl and he is a prince isn't quite enough for me.) I think it might be because he looks very different from how I imagined him, in the book he is described as incredibly good looking.

She never fell in love with HIM, she fell in love with the DREAM that she would be a princess then queen and go to these fancy balls and wear beautiful dresses.

[Orangutangu]

She never fell in love with HIM, she fell in love with the DREAM that she would be a princess then queen and go to these fancy balls and wear beautiful dresses.

I get that, and I agree, I don't think she was ever really in love with him.

I guess what I was trying to say is that in the book, he is described as very attractive, having inherited his parents looks, and as someone who could be charming when he could be bothered to, whereas in the TV series, I find him sickly-looking and unconvincing in his early attempts to court Sansa.

I may have come across as a bit harsh on him, there really isn't any actor in GOT that I am truly unhappy with, and I am looking forward to watching Gleeson in season 2, as I think he is going to be perfect as evil, unhinged King Joffrey.

[Lavean]

What? No one mention of Kit Harington as Jon Snow? I thought he was perfect. I also liked Richard Madden a lot. Of course all the rest were great as well, Sean Bean being my absolute favorite.

Emilia Clark I thought is very cute, but she didn't quite convince me as Dany. Her physical features were too soft for me. I always imagined Dany's body to be more defined, riding around in the Dothraki heat all day long. Also her speeches and actions sometimes felt too forced and made me cringe (when and after eating the horse heart for example). That being said, I found she was way better at portraying the early, weaker Dany, than the later strong queen.

[gmavridis]

I won't even go into Sean Bean as Eddard and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion... In fact, I'll pick my fave 6 among the 'smaller roles'.

Donald Sumpter as maester Luwin

Natalia Tena as Osha

Rory McCann as The Hound

James Cosmo as Lord Commander Mormont

Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy

John Bradley as Samwell Tarly

I'm not very sure about maester Luwin but for all the other's you wrote I totally agree. Also Julian Glover who plays Grand Maester Pycelle is a great choice. In general they did explicit work with the casting and I believe that GRRM's active involvement with the series played a great part on this.

[Top Notch Balanter]

Just judging on the 1st episode of Season 2 here are my top 5

1) Jack Gleeson-he made the episode he just makes you want to hate Joffrey even more

2) Peter Dinklage-potrays Tyrion just as good in season 2 love his cockiness in the show

3) Lena Headey-her dialogue with Tyrion is done so well

4)Dominic Carter-Perfect Choice for Janos Slynt

5)James Cosmo-Really enjoyed his performance at Crastors Keep

[Lady Hodor]

Tyrion - Peter Dinklage

Arya - Masie Williams

Khal Drogo - Jason Momoa

Robb - Richard Madden

Syrio Forell - (Dont know his name, but he is Syrio, just so).

[David C. Hunter]

No particular order

1.) GreatJon

2.) Varys

3.) Joffrey

4.) Jaime

5.) Arya

Ned and Tyrion are already understood

[Broken Fox]

Jaime

Tyrion

Arya

Varys

Ned

[LewoAF]

Personally,

1) Sean Bean was, as i expected, absolutely marvellous.His portrayal of Ned was exactly as I pictured the character reading the book.

2) Not many people will agree with me on this one but one of my favorite castings has to been Lena Heady as Cersei. Her dialogues with Tyrion are great but for me the character casting really shined during her manipulation of Sansa and her scene with Cat in Winterfell

3) Conleth Hills is great as Varys. He never fails to make my skin crawl when he appears on screen.

4) Jack Gleeson is very impressive as Joffrey. From his charming scenes in the beginning to his evil, manipulating scenes, the kid never fails to impress. Just look at the reaction from the fans every scene he is slapped or humilated. He is the character you love to hate and Gleeson does such a good job.

5) I really like the casting of Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont. He fits the image of a disgraced knight and most of his scenes are enjoyable to watch.

[wolverine]

Agreed. Let's take Bean and Dinklage out of this conversation all together for being too obvious!

I think Dinklage does a great job with his role, but I still dislike how different he is physically from the books. He is a pretty decent looking guy and athletically built little person. Tyrion is supposed to be a waddling, ungainly, hoffifically ugly imp. I think it is an important part of his character to be less mobile and fugly.

So as far as casting goes I don't know if I could say I think it was one of the best choices even though Dinklage rocks in the part.

EDIT: My picks

1. Momoa was Drogo

2. Maise Williams as Arya

3. Charles Dance as Tywin

4. Jorah Mormont (This was one I did not like at all at first)

5. The Hound

6. Gleeson as Joffrey

There are tons of others that I did not like the choice at first that have totally grown on me such as Jaime, Robb, Jon, Daenerys, Sansa, etc.. They did a really good job casting for season 1.

I think my least favorite casting is probably Renly. IMO he is supposed to appear stronger and be way more likeable.