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

[wandering]

Iwan Rheon and Ciaran Hinds. Has nothing to do with preconceived notions from the books either, I've just found their performances a bit bland and uninteresting so far.

[little.bird]

I'm actually very fond of Sophie as Sansa, I think she's brilliant. Sansa is supposed to be becoming quite a beauty by the third book, and Sophie is undeniably beautiful. I think she navigates Sansa's innocent naivety quivering on the edge of insightful womanhood splendidly, and I always feel for Sansa when she is on screen.

Tyrion is also brilliant, and I'm very fond of Catelynn. I'm also of the opinion that both Robb and Jon were well cast, while Theon leaves much to be desired for me.

I'm also somewhat in love with the casting for Davos and Jorah, as well as Barristan. Davos in particular.

I agree with the fairly general consensus that Mance, Shae and Yara were very poorly cast, while the one I care for the absolute least is Talysa, but that's mostly because I hate the character substitution.

Oh, Joffrey's brilliant as well. I quite like Natalie as Margaery as well.

So many of them are incredibly well cast, it's hard to pick just a handful that are well done!

OH, the Lannisters - Tywin is fantastic, Jaime is amazing and I'm half in love with him, and I'm ambivalent towards Cersei. I love Lena, just not in this role.

As for the rest of the Starks, I don't dislike Maisie so much as what they've done with Arya's character, and I wish she had more of the horsey Stark look to her. Bran, Robb and Sansa have the Tully look down to me though, so that's okay.

And though I dislike Daenerys as a character, to me Emilia plays her well.

[Cybvep]

Ciaran Hinds as Mance was a mistake. The actor is good, but this is not a role for him.

[Theda Baratheon]

Ciaran Hinds as Mance was a mistake. The actor is good, but this is not a role for him.

This is so true, he could have been cast in another role but Thoros of Myr in the show is a bit closer to how I imagine mance, bard and all.

[Sordelor]

I agree with the fairly general consensus that Mance, Shae and Yara were very poorly cast, while the one I care for the absolute least is Talysa, but that's mostly because I hate the character substitution.

I agree with these, and I hate it that they changed Asha's name into Yara, I just can't find the use of it, I don't think anyone would confuse her with Osha. And I just hated that they replaced Jeyne with Talyta.

[Cruella]

Tormund ( supposedly jolly and rotund, not haggard and severe )

Daario (controversially, I like book Daario so dislike the arrogance of Ed especially since I do not find him attractive at all)

Daario is arrogance personified.

And an actor who plays Tormund could be ribald and robust and all that, he's just not written this way. I think his look is great, it makes him memorable even though most of his lines had been cut. (which is a shame)

[Raja]

I also think they've got all the Tully's right. Especially Edmure, he's probably my favorite.

[Don Roberto]

Many people here are saying this and that character was miscast because they act differently in the books, but most of that is writing choices, not acting ones. Instead of looking at what is said, look at how it is said.

Tormund is a good example, he was written as a mixture of book-Tormund and Styr, and seems quite out-of-character. But on ep7 we actually have a scene that more closely ressembles the buffoonish "tall talker" from the books, and the actor nails it.

[Faydra]

The best casting decision ever was Charles Dance as Tywin. Jamie, Eddard, Arya, Dany and Melisandre were also well portrayed.

Cersei and Catelyn are different however... they just don't fit the look I expected.

[Ser-Bruce-Wayne]

Best , 1. Tywin Lannister-Charles Dance, 2. Tyrion Lannister-Peter Dinklage . 3.Littlefinger- Aidan Gillen 4.Joffrey Baratheon -Jack Gleeson 5 Ned Stark - Sean Bean, honorably mention Theon Greyjoy

nobody is doing a real bad job , so I wouldn't have a worst category.

[Joyful Union]

Best: Conleth Hill is Varys. He was born for the role

Worst: Pretty minor I know, but the Stable Boy in Season 1. Laughably bad.

[ImpingAintEasy]

i dont have his name but the dude that played edward stark was good i kinda want him to be my dad so i can be a stark he loves his kids 2 much and the actor made him seem like he walked from the books onto the tv so that was good on him 4 being a good actor

[Masamune]

Lena Headey doesn't do it for me. She's quite good at the smarmy, manipulative side of Cersei but her range is limited to precisely one facial expression. Even when she smiles it looks like an upside down frown. Which is why they had to rewrite the character to suit the actress.

Tricia Helfer should have been Cersei. Oh wells.

[DolorousKim]

I think that the casting on this show has been consistently brilliant. Many of my favorites have already been mentioned (Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance, Maisie Williams, Gwendoline Christie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, etc., etc....), so I'm going to focus on some of the secondary casting that I have found to be overwhelmingly good:

• Conleth Hill - His Varys is perfection. Really, I couldn't dream of anyone else holding a candle to how well he plays this role.
  
• Jerome Flynn - I love book Bronn, but I absolutely adore show Bronn. Flynn brings such a sense of swagger and fun to this role, and his scenes with Peter Dinklage are to die for.
  
• Donald Sumpter - He brings such a depth of emotion to the role of Luwin that I actually teared up when his character dies at the end of the second season, even though I knew what was coming. Now that's acting...
  
• Francis Magee - The role of Yoren could easily have been a throw-away part, as he has only a few lines and scenes. Magee made the most of this character and imbued Yoren with a warmth that book Yoren did not possess. He was very memorable in this role.
  
• Paul Kaye - Show Thoros seems to be written as an amalgamation of several of the BWB characters, particularly Tom O'Sevens, and Paul Kaye is more than up to the task of bringing each of these facets to life. His scenes were among my biggest delights in Season 3 so far.
  

As far as casting misfires, there haven't been too many, and even among those, I often feel, as many have already mentioned, the fault has more to do with the writing than with the actors' portrayals. That being said, the roles that I feel didn't measure up to my book-reading expectations have included Simon Armstrong as Qhorin Halfhand, Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder, and Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully. Gemma Whelan gets a lot of flack as being miscast as Asha (Yara), but I think that this may be the most egregious example of the writing totally diminishing all of the likeable aspects of a character and leaving an unrecognizable shell for the actress to work with. So, I'm not really panning the casting here so much as the writers' gutting of the character of Asha (Yara).

[King of the Road]

Worst: Pretty minor I know, but the Stable Boy in Season 1. Laughably bad.

I also always get a good laugh out of Daenerys' handmaiden in S1 Ep.1, the one who runs into the background as she gets in the bath and just says: 'It's too hot my lady!'. Awful delivery of the line, but so hilariously bad it's great!

Best casting has to be Charles Dance, he acts and looks like the Tywin I imagine. Also special mention to Iain Glen, he's nothing like the Jorah Mormont in the books, but that's no bad thing. My favourite character in the series, alongside Barristan Selmy.

No one's doing a bad job in my opinion, though I'm not massively keen on Lysa Arryn, although it may just be the character rather than the actress that I dislike.

[The_Salt_Wife]

Even though I like Headey as Cersei, I have to admit that as a BSG fan, the idea of Tricia Helfer as Cersei intrigues me.

[Overlord of Skagos]

ok no one gonna say it...BEST CASTING: Kristian Nairn as Hodor!!

[LadyMary]

On a tv series with such an amazing cast, it's hard to find things to criticize. And I agree the writing is more at fault than the acting in some cases...

There are some amazing child actors on this show (Maisie, Sophie, Kerry, Art, Isaac) who make the most of even small roles and make them convincing, but the already mentioned stable boy was not good, and the actor who plays Robin Arryn isn't good either - he's cartoonish. Granted he's young maybe he'll get better.

[The Red Pope]

On a tv series with such an amazing cast, it's hard to find things to criticize. And I agree the writing is more at fault than the acting in some cases...

There are some amazing child actors on this show (Maisie, Sophie, Kerry, Art, Isaac) who make the most of even small roles and make them convincing, but the already mentioned stable boy was not good, and the actor who plays Robin Arryn isn't good either - he's cartoonish. Granted he's young maybe he'll get better.

Don't forget Jack Gleeson, he's done so good that his face has actually become a symbol of viciousness. Which is a pity really since he has a diversity that he might not be able to use anymore, like when he played the charming prince to Sansa in season 1.

I also think Daario could have been prettier, he did have that going for him in the books at least.

i dont have his name but the dude that played edward stark was good i kinda want him to be my dad so i can be a stark he loves his kids 2 much and the actor made him seem like he walked from the books onto the tv so that was good on him 4 being a good actor

One does not simply walk into this kind of ignorance. :huh: (pun)

[Citadel_acolyte]

Cersei, Tyrion and Tywin all make my list of favorites. Really, I think the casting director was spot on with the Lannisters, with the exception of Tommen (not pudgy enough) . Davos is brilliant. I also really like the casting of Brienne of Tarth, Melisandre, Ygritte, Theon and Samwell. Sean Bean was fantastic. My only comment is that Robb and John seem a lot older than in the books (as opposed to Joffrey who seems to be cast closer to his book age). This doesn't bother me. Given the storylines, I think it was appropriate to cast older actors for the parts.

On the negative side, I don't really like Littlefinger for all the reasons already mentioned on this thread by Roberto. I don't mind Margaery, although I think the wardrobe choices for her are a bit much. I agree that Robert Baratheon was well acted, but miscast. It was just a little too difficult to see the towering hero of the man that was. I don't mind the casting of Stannis; I think his grim, taciturn nature is well conveyed.