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The Best Casting and Worst Casting (in your opinion).

Conor

By Conor,
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Tower of Grief Commoner

Tower of Grief

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I’m a huge fan of the books so a lot of my opinions are based on my love of the characters as they are written by George and not bad acting. I don’t really think there’s any noticeably bad acting in the show… sorry about my long post, it’s my first so I got all keen bean about it.

Sean Bean is the PERFECT Ned and I miss him all the time. All of the other Starks I’m happy enough with. I didn’t realise so many people disliked Kit Harrington, but I think it’s more the material that he’s given rather than his acting. I actually think he’s got a pretty good grasp of the character, as Jon is very solitary and private, doesn’t really share his feelings with anyone, isn’t much of a talker, is dealt a pretty tough hand most of the time, and these traits just don’t translate very well into a likeable character onscreen.

Tywin and Tyrion are fantastic. Cersei I find a bit hit and miss, but again I think it’s mostly the writing…real Cersei would never sit around fondly reminiscing with Tyrion. I get that those two are golden onscreen together, but it’s very out of character. Jaime isn’t how I pictured him physically but his performance makes that irrelevant.

Davos is great as well, a difficult character to play and make him interesting and likeable enough and he does a good job.

Others who are great are Walder Frey, Brienne, Osha, Joffrey, Varys, Lysa (hate her, as it should be), Bronn, Viserys, Jeor Mormont, Drogo, Maester Aemon, bless him…could go on forever.

Iwan Rheon is one of my favourite actors, but even with his very impressive level of performance he just still isn’t quite right for Ramsay. Physically he is so far off that I just don’t believe it, and he’s become almost comical. I think they could have cast him in a different role and he would have been just as amazing.

Iain Glen’s acting is superb, but the writers have changed his character so much that he’s unrecognisable and I’m wondering where they’re going to take him in the future without suddenly having him do all these OOC things. I was shocked when I began reading the books after having seen season one of the show to find out how different he is.

Ditto with Shae, but it’s more how they’ve written her that bothers me. Hate her character in the books and won’t be happy if they change her coming storyline to suit the TV character that they’ve created. Also, I saw a red-carpet interview with this actress and I don’t think she actually speaks that much English, so I think this explains a lot about her performance.

Asha (sorry, “Yara”) has been so miscast that it’s a real pity, because in the books she is fantastic. Strong female warrior, beautiful, confident, spirited, sense of humour etc, one of the best female characters…on the show I find her dull and lifeless, and not that attractive either. And because I saw the actress before I got to reading about her in the books, it’s left me with a tainted view of her that I hope to get rid of. Abbey Cornish could’ve been an awesome Asha.

Talisa is almost insufferable and I just don’t see much to like about her character. Boring and not a great beauty, and that’s about all that I have to say about her. I get why they didn’t go with the Jeyne Westerling storyline, as the audience needed more to make it seem plausible enough for Robb to break his vow, and it gave him a nice storyline to act out, but it also did him a disservice. Real Robb broke his vow out of duty and honour, as he felt that he must marry Jeyne after “despoiling” her. A true son of Ned Stark. Implying that he just decided that he had to marry Talisa because he loved her cheapened his character. But again, this was more a problem with writing than the actual actor. She may actually have been a great Shae.

Loras Tyrell looks nothing like how I pictured him. Isn’t he meant to be the most beautiful man in Westeros? He just comes across as bitchy and shallow to me. But also, I’ve seen pictures of the actor outside of the show and he IS very good looking. So what went wrong with the stylist?!

I adore Natalie Dormer as an actress, and she seems to be a lovely person as well, but definitely not whom I would have picked for Margaery. I cringed all through season two at how different she was, especially her line “I want to be THE queen”, but she’s definitely grown on me and I’m just happy for her to be a part of the show. A lot older than Joffrey though.

Emilia Clarke I really want to love, and I thought she was brilliant in season one, but her story has just gone downhill since then. Everything she says is the same and said in the same way. But I think a lot of this is just her storyline; Dany had such a cool plot in AGOT (I miss the Dothraki being on the show), but after that she really doesn’t get up to that much for quite some time.

Mance isn’t how I pictured him, but also, um, where was he all season? Pretty sure he had like two minutes of screen time. A pity because I think he’s a very likeable character in the books. I always imagined him as very cheerful despite everything. A few people have described him as being like Aragorn...I'd say a cross between Aragorn and Gimli.

Beric Dondarrion. He’s meant to be young and gorgeous, and is such a fantastic character in the books. The chapters with the BWB are such highlights. Didn’t find this actor or role interesting at all though.

I think my biggest disappointment is The Hound, because he is my favourite character in the books and I just pictured him to be very different: younger, much more aggressive and enraged…all Houndy. I think the fact that they cast a man in his 40s meant that they had to downplay the hinted at romance (or whatever you want to call it) between Sandor and Sansa, and have also forfeited any future romance of happening between the two of them (which I’m still vainly hoping for), which is my favourite relationship in the series. That said, Rory’s acting is still great and his scenes are always highlights. Just not what I wanted from the character is all, and I can't help feeling disappointed.

Overall a brilliant cast, and as I was writing this post I could see that most of my complaints were really with the writing and the big changes that they made rather than the actors. I definitely think it was a good decision to age up all of the younger characters by a few years (Dany being 13 would have just been awks) but I feel like they also aged up the older characters as well, and some just seem too old.

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The Green Viper Commoner

The Green Viper

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Best:

John Bradley as Sam Tarly

Maisie Williams as Arya

Jack Gleeson as Joff

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion

Iain Glen as Mormont

Isaac Hempstead Wright as my baby Bran

and the Reeds are also great!

Charles Dance as Tywin

Aidan Gillen as littlefinger is fantastic

NCW as Jaime is brilliant also.

Jerome Flynn as Bronn is amazing! Gives so much to the character.

There's so many more I just cannot choose.

Worst:

Loras Tyrell, completely the opposite of what I thought.

Talisa I really hate the character and the way she's portrayed

Esme Bianco as Ros, not a fan.

Ed Skrein as Daario, so so so wrong.

But D & D have mostly got it right with the casting, with the exceptions of a few.

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James Sucellus Hedge Knight

James Sucellus

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Mostly great casting. Best would be Varys, Sandor, Davos, Melisandre, Arya, Sansa, Jaime and Tywin. So perfect that I imagine them while reading.

Worst of all is Shae. That woman is a fucking terrible actress. "SHAEEE DA FUHHHNNNY WHOOAAAAR!" What the hell? Just... go away. Other than her, the guy playing Mance is good but nothing like Mance. Beric is meant to be a heart-throb inducer, but looks more like a heart attack sufferer. Asha is meant to be a charismatic and beautiful warrior queen, yet they've got some ugly woman playing her that'd look more at home cleaning the toilets in McDonald's.

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James Sucellus Hedge Knight

James Sucellus

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I agree. The Climb monologue was a bit ham-fisted but somehow seemed to work well. It really encompassed Littlefinger perfectly and, honestly, I feel like only us book readers would find it "too much". All of my unsullied friends thought it was great.

I loved it. Littlefinger is prone to villainous declarations in A Storm of Swords and A Feast For Crows, it isn't particularly out of character. Only scene I had a problem with show Littlefinger's characterisation was in 2x01 when he casually called Cersei a brother fucker in front of everybody and nearly died for it.

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Joyful Union Council Member

Joyful Union

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Beric is meant to be a heart-throb inducer, but looks more like a heart attack sufferer.

Asha is meant to be a charismatic and beautiful warrior queen, yet they've got some ugly woman playing her that'd look more at home cleaning the toilets in McDonald's.

If anything, Beric is better looking on the show then in the books. In the books, his wounds are far more serious, and he looks like he's starving to death.

Asha is meant to be charismatic, which is where I think Gemma Whelan was lacking, but Asha/Yara isn't meant to be "beautiful", that's just what artists tend to draw her as.

This is how she's described. "Ironborn, he knew at a glance;lean and long-legged, with black hair cut short, windchafed skin, strong sure hands, a dirk at her belt. Her nose was too big and to sharp for her thin face, but her smile made up for it."

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The Mondrian Oak Hedge Knight

The Mondrian Oak

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If anything, Beric is better looking on the show then in the books. In the books, his wounds are far more serious, and he looks like he's starving to death.

Asha is meant to be charismatic, which is where I think Gemma Whelan was lacking, but Asha/Yara isn't meant to be "beautiful", that's just what artists tend to draw her as.

This is how she's described. "Ironborn, he knew at a glance;lean and long-legged, with black hair cut short, windchafed skin, strong sure hands, a dirk at her belt. Her nose was too big and to sharp for her thin face, but her smile made up for it."

I have no bloody idea why everyone keeps on saying Asha is supposed to be a stunner. I bet they also imagine her with one of those RPG-like bikini armors.

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Nezzer Council Member

Nezzer

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I have no bloody idea why everyone keeps on saying Asha is supposed to be a stunner. I bet they also imagine her with one of those RPG-like bikini armors.

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/12/129924/2957279-asha-greyjoy-xia-taptara.jpg

http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/173/1/b/1b95676ef60e811b312d0da1513a8ae9-d4x6xfq.jpg

http://visionsoiaf.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/regodon-asha-greyjoy.jpg

Yeah...

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NewJeffCT Landed Knight

NewJeffCT

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I don't have many problems with the cast - The Mountain in season 2 didn't have the screen presence of Conan Stevens in Season 1. Maybe they can make up for it with better armor and some lifts in his heels in season 4? (Even though Ian Whyte is listed as one inch taller than Stevens...)

Best cast - too many to list, but I'd start with Tyrion and Tywin.

I don't have a big problem with Harington has Jon Snow - I'm disappointed with the writing for his character, turning him into something of an incompetent boob in season 2, getting his sword taken by Craster, having Ygritte escape on him, etc

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Gregor's Nancy Boy Hedge Knight

Gregor's Nancy Boy

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I watched season two the same time I was reading ASoIaF for the first time so I saw Yara before I read about Asha. I don't know why everyone complains about the actress so much. Honestly, I remember thinking she was pretty sexy even though she wasn't really particularly beautiful. Which is how Asha is in the books. Sure, the actress has some physical imperfections but does no one remember Asha's big nose?

I'm not attracted to twiggy girls. Needless to say, that's not how I imagined her.

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Aeternum Hedge Knight

Aeternum

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Yeah, it's hard to imagine Asha Greyjoy, a hardened commander of killers and raiders, as a sex goddess in a ringmail bikini - although it seems many people did imagine her that way. :lol:

My own mental image of Asha, when reading her chapters in the books, wasn't too far from Gemma Whelan's onscreen version. Battle-scarred, muscled in a lean and wiry guerrilla-soldier way, wears male armor, a hard and weatherbeaten face. No supermodel looks - maybe attractive in an unconventional "ugly-sexy" way, but definitely not pretty.

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Gramsci Hedge Knight

Gramsci

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Ed Skrein as Daario, so so so wrong.

I actually quite like him! Maybe I am in the minority here, but I can't tell you how happy I am the blue beard was done away with. I really like the direction they went with him.

I am not a fan of Sibel Kekilli as Shae. That isn't to say that she is bad, but I just don't like it.

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