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Natalie Dormer's original role she wanted to be cast as & Tamzin Merchants reasons to leave the show


Lady Winter Rose

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Well

Natalie said she wasn't aiming for Margaery Tyrell role. She was applying for another role and was offered Margaery because she was better suited.

Now that show's ending, will we found out which role it was? She said she's never going to reveal it while shows airing and I think it might be Daenerys role, but I'm not really sure.

Margaery showed in season 2.

Possible candidates:

Ygritte, Melisande, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke wasn't a kid when show started and Natalie might pass as much younger then herself)

also:

Do we know why Tamzin Merchants left the show?

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On 4/24/2019 at 2:55 PM, Lady Winter Rose said:

Well

Natalie said she wasn't aiming for Margaery Tyrell role. She was applying for another role and was offered Margaery because she was better suited.

Now that show's ending, will we found out which role it was? She said she's never going to reveal it while shows airing and I think it might be Daenerys role, but I'm not really sure.

Margaery showed in season 2.

Possible candidates:

Ygritte, Melisande, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke wasn't a kid when show started and Natalie might pass as much younger then herself)

also:

Do we know why Tamzin Merchants left the show?

Tamzin Merchant was originally cast as Daenery's and was shot in the original pilot. I believe that it did not test well and so they replaced her. I think this also happened with one other cast member. I will look into it

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49 minutes ago, LadyBlackwater said:

Tamzin Merchant was originally cast as Daenery's and was shot in the original pilot. I believe that it did not test well and so they replaced her. I think this also happened with one other cast member. I will look into it

Catelyn was played by Jennifer Ehle in that pilot

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm a big fan of Tamzin Merchant, but have no idea why she left the show, she's never made a statement on it.  GRRM had handpicked her himself to play Dany.  

For a while I thought she may have left on her own volition because for the most part she's appeared in smaller scale or lesser known productions, usually quirkier projects and perhaps fantasy wasn't her thing.  But then she eventually starred in things like Salem and Dragonheart 3, plus when Game of Thrones started, no one expected it to blow up in popularity the way it did.  So I really have no idea, seems like the role of Danaerys would have been her thing.  

As for Natalie Dormer, not sure!  Both she and Tamzin were both on The Tudors which ended not long before Game of Thrones began.  Whoever it was would have been in season 1 most likely, it's really not uncommon for performers who weren't picked for a season 1 cast but came close to come back for a different role the next season.  Natalie looked too young to play Cersei, but it's possible.  My bets are on Cersei or Danaerys.  

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I agree about Tamzin Merchant.  She really has the alien look that I always imagined the Targaryens having.  I think Emilia Clarke has been excellent as Dany, but she always looks like she's wearing a wig.  I think Emilia (with her natural hair color) looks more like how I imagine Arianne Martell.

I am sure once the series is over we will learn more about actors that had auditioned for various roles.  I know for example that Conleth Hill (Varys) had auditioned as Robert Baratheon, and from what he has said, he probably would have gotten the role if Mark Addy hadn't accepted the offer.

Also, Richard Dormer (Beric) had initially auditioned to play Jorah.  The funny thing is that Dormer, and Iain Glan who ended up playing Jorah, formed a band after meeting each other while shooting season 7.

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On 4/24/2019 at 9:55 PM, Lady Winter Rose said:

Natalie said she wasn't aiming for Margaery Tyrell role. She was applying for another role and was offered Margaery because she was better suited.

I'm not sure either. Like others here though I imagine it would have been someone like Cersei or Melisandre who she might have originally been auditioning for.

On 4/24/2019 at 9:55 PM, Lady Winter Rose said:

Do we know why Tamzin Merchants left the show?

The pilot was an infamous failure when it was shown to the industry experts so D&D had to completely reshoot most of it, which took an extra year. That's why in some of the footage that was reused the Stark kids especially look noticeably younger. It is entirely likely that Tamzin simply was double-booked and couldn't commit to an unplanned reshoot and so had to leave the project. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with her in the role personally. I actually think she'd have made a very good Daenerys.

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On 5/8/2019 at 7:09 AM, bloodsteel bitterraven said:

I agree about Tamzin Merchant.  She really has the alien look that I always imagined the Targaryens having.  I think Emilia Clarke has been excellent as Dany, but she always looks like she's wearing a wig.  I think Emilia (with her natural hair color) looks more like how I imagine Arianne Martell.

I am sure once the series is over we will learn more about actors that had auditioned for various roles.  I know for example that Conleth Hill (Varys) had auditioned as Robert Baratheon, and from what he has said, he probably would have gotten the role if Mark Addy hadn't accepted the offer.

Also, Richard Dormer (Beric) had initially auditioned to play Jorah.  The funny thing is that Dormer, and Iain Glan who ended up playing Jorah, formed a band after meeting each other while shooting season 7.

Tamzin Merchant looks like a Daenerys from our imagination.

But you have to remember this is TV. People who never read the books will tune in.

TV works by casting for looks. Why? Profits.

When you think of it, it's weird but many viewers tune in for the nudity.

More appealing actors are needed to force such people to stick with the show.

When each episode costs 6m$ it's easy to see why a team would decide the casting on several criteria with cost being a major driver.

Don't consider this sexist. I think men like Kit , Richard and Nikolaj look too hot.

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Sansa perhaps? Remember, Margaery is 14-15 at the start of the books, same as Dany and they are both slightly older than Sansa.

If it was Dany she wanted, she would have been a better choice than Emilia Clark. Even in s01e01 Dany looks near as old as Viserys, 8 years oldr than him. 2-3 seasons later she looks even older than him, and older than Rhaegar as well who is supposed to be 23-24.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/8/2019 at 9:39 AM, bloodsteel bitterraven said:

I agree about Tamzin Merchant.  She really has the alien look that I always imagined the Targaryens having.  I think Emilia Clarke has been excellent as Dany, but she always looks like she's wearing a wig.  I think Emilia (with her natural hair color) looks more like how I imagine Arianne Martell.

I am sure once the series is over we will learn more about actors that had auditioned for various roles.  I know for example that Conleth Hill (Varys) had auditioned as Robert Baratheon, and from what he has said, he probably would have gotten the role if Mark Addy hadn't accepted the offer.

Also, Richard Dormer (Beric) had initially auditioned to play Jorah.  The funny thing is that Dormer, and Iain Glan who ended up playing Jorah, formed a band after meeting each other while shooting season 7.

I agree, Tamzin had a more waiflike look that is Dany in the books. I also noticed the obvious wearing a wig look. It seems the show's solution to the Targaryen silver hair was simply to stick wigs on whoever was playing them, be it her, Rhaegar, Viserys or Mad King cameo. It always looked unnatural. 

My guess is that Dormer was originally aiming for Cersei since she was around 30 then and Cersei is also in her 30s. 

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  • 7 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Natalie Dormer said in one of interviews she had after the show that she watched the show from the beginning as fan

https://people.com/tv/natalie-dormer-reflects-game-of-thrones/

I got the golden ticket, the perfect length of time," she said. "I watched season 1 as a fan, came in the second season, did a good solid five years just as the show had this incredible explosion, and then I got out in time to watch the end and sit on the couch again."

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  • 5 months later...

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