Howland Reed.......

[Melisandros Megas]

My suggestion is Robert Carlyle...and I really hope that Howie will be a major POV character in the last two books.

[King Behind The Wall]

Major character? Yes. POV? No.

I support your idea of Robert Carlyle as Howland Reed

[Crannog-Mage]

I think Kenneth Branagh would be on point for Howland

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kfS5YiTFSM

[King Behind The Wall]

This is now a more real discussion now that we have rumors from multiple sources that ToJ is happening in season 6. If that's the case, they HAVE to cast someone as HR. Same actor will also has to appear in present time now that Jon is dead.

 

HR has to be introduced eventually and it would not make such sense to introduce him without doing the ToJ flashback first. HR is a big deal for the readers but for the viewers, he will be just another Stark ally if they don't know about ToJ.

[Richard Writhen]

Ned and Howland were around 20 years old when TOJ went down. If Howland is still alive however KB or RC would be good. Maybe even Defoe.

[DanïelNorth]

Howland Reed needs to be old and have a mysterious feel around him.

That and be able to appear as a sympathetic while appearing as a warrior the same time.

 

I think David Thewlis would be perfect.

[Lady Isis]

What about Richard E Grant????

[Northernmonkey]

Will Howland even be in the show? Has he been mentioned since season one? Was he even mentioned then?

[Mother of Mountains]

I can't remember him being mentioned in S1 but Bran, Jojen and Meera certainly talked about him in S3 or S4.

[Joseph Nobles]

I believe Grant is too tall to play Howland. He's over six feet! No question he could do the part otherwise. And the same with David Thewlis - he's 6'2".

 

Carlyle at 5'8" would be great! But there are great character actors even shorter.

[King Behind The Wall]

Will Howland even be in the show? Has he been mentioned since season one? Was he even mentioned then?

 

HR was mentioned by Jojen and Meera in season 3. It will be a giant middle finger to the readers if HR is cut from the show. Not that D&D have not middle fingered the readers in the past but not to this extent.

[Aemon's counsel]

David Thewlis and Robert Carlyle are fantastic suggestions, IMHO. Reed needs to be someone who looks outwardly unimpressive and even weak, but is actually cunning and has steely resolve, and both Thewlis and Carlyle have the right look for that and are also great actors.

 

The only problem with Thewlis is that he's over six feet tall, and the crannogmen are supposed to generally be short.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

 

HR was mentioned by Jojen and Meera in season 3. It will be a giant middle finger to the readers if HR is cut from the show. Not that D&D have not middle fingered the readers in the past but not to this extent.

 

IIRC, he's only been mentioned once in the show - when Meera and Jojen met Bran - and it was just one line. Prepare to get middle-fingered. There's been no sign of a Howland-type character in the casting call lists. Any info he had could be given to a reappearing Benjen, thus consolidating characters. Any "magic" he does might be given to Leaf - the casting call for the CotF character mentioned a decently-sized part and action scenes, implying Leaf may come south with Bran. We still haven't heard KotLT, and there's no sign we will. ToJ will probably be one-on-one Ned vs Dayne.

 

Dropping Howland would truly suck. That increases the likelihood it will happen.

[Mother of Mountains]

IIRC, he's only been mentioned once in the show - when Meera and Jojen met Bran - and it was just one line.

One line maybe but it was specifically about Ned and Howlands friendship during Robert's Rebellion. If they were cutting him completely they wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

[jbob]

We still don't even know how important he will be in the books let alone the show. We don't even know what kind of person he is. Cutting him could be very easy story wise.

[dornishdame]

One line maybe but it was specifically about Ned and Howlands friendship during Robert's Rebellion. If they were cutting him completely they wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

 

I would love to see Howland in the show, but that one line could have been a way of explaining who Jojen and Meera are and why Bran instantly trusts them without going into too much depth.  

[King Behind The Wall]

 

There's been no sign of a Howland-type character in the casting call lists. 

 

This is not a confirmation of anything. If HR is to be introduced in this season, the casting would kept very tightly under wraps.

 

Now that we know they are doing ToJ in season 6, it would be wasteful if that is not a precursor for HR's intro.

 

We are NEVER going to see a casting call that looks something like this ->

 

A short, slim Caucasian actor with age 40-50 to play a crannogman who has a pivotal role.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

Forget stature. There are no "crannogmen", per se, in the show. All the special factors concerning the Neck and those who live there have been left out. The Reeds are just another northern noble house. (That's not necessarily bad. Casting actors to play small-statured crannogmen would have been difficult, and too limiting. Thomas and Ellie aren't particularly short, certainly not crannogman sized.) But we saw casting calls for two noble lords, and they are apparently Umbers or Karstarks.

 

We've only seen one call for a great swordsman, so we probably won't see Hightower or Whent at the ToJ. Show!Ned is a much better swordsman then book!Ned, so there's no reason to have Howland at the ToJ.

[Ser Bryar Ashford]

I think Ian McShane will be Howland Reed...He's got a froggy appearance, he's small in stature but big in persona.

[Ygritte.]

Probably all cast now right? But ahhh, Robert Carlyle is exactly who I have been picturing this entire series, I never knew the actors name though, or where I had possibly seen him.....