Oberyn Martell Cast

[Kobayashi Maru]

I don't see it. I can think of half a dozen actors that would've worked better on looks alone.

This is the second casting after Mance that made me go "..huh?" and show!Mance was terrible (not entirely the actor's fault though, the character was horribly written)

I'll wait until I see his acting, but he doesn't look anywhere near badass enough. Judging from his photos, he looks so ordinary and dull.

Pretty much sums up what I have to say about him. My first thought was what,this guy has to pull of Red Viper,I so don't see it. He might do it why not,we'll see but the firs impression was...meh.

[Aapo]

Easy JonSnow17. You cannot expect everyone to fall in love to this guy.

To me he looks good but I was wondering how tall he is? IMDB didn't have this info but left me wondering

[Masamune]

Then make your own show and shut the hell up . You're a random nobody on a forum , do you thing the showrunners of one of the most successful shows gives a crap about your opinion ?

By that logic you should open your own restaurant if you dislike the food at the place you're eating?

Hush now.

[Koi No Yokan]

Can't wait to see the Red Viper! I'm quite confident they've found the right guy. Hopefully writing doesn't ruin RV and make him just one-dimensional character (another Blackfish).

To be fair, there's a big difference between the Blackfish and RV. Oberyn is a poignant character with importance to the forwarding of the plot, and holds a lot of distinctive flare in personality. Brynden, as awesome as he is, really isn't anything other than a background character (currently). He was introduced in the show as a bit of a hard-ass, no bullshit kind of guy - which he essentially is. While it is disappointing Blackfish didn't get much screen-time to show what he's really about, you can understand why within the machinisms of the show. The Red Viper will be built up,

and it will make his sudden downfall all the more shocking for the audience.

[Bayard]

Dorne is close to my heart. He looks very close to what I pictured Oberyn when reading the book, but that's not that important. Dorne is a melting pot, they can chose whatever actors they like, I am sure some Martells looked like Targaryen in the past, and others like Rhoynar... I would actually like them to be different, no to look the same. What I think is important is their accent. They let the English actors use, pretty much what accent they wanted.... they can't do the same with Dorne. No matter how different they look, they are united by their culture... all the Dornish should have the same accent, and it shouldn't be latino.

[ARYa_Nym]

I don't think fans were exaggerating. In the picture of Arianne for that spoiler chapter he posted she was brown. I also heard he liked that True Blood actress for one of the Sand Snakes. She's brown too.

[PatrickStormborn]

Surely you've heard of a tan? My brother is the poster child for olive skin, yet he is somewhat pale until we get into the sun, after which he looks like a true desert dweller. You wouldn't call him white, you wouldn't call him dark.

You also linked an actress who's half Indian, half Dutch, which is not at all the heritage of an olive-skinned person.

Janina Gavankar fits the description of the Salty Dornish and looks exactly like Lady Nym according to GRRM. Moreover, Lady Nym is only half Salty Dornish and half white, implying that Oberyn is at least as dark skinned as she is, but most likely darker.

[ARYa_Nym]

In terms of ethnicity and race:

A public health book from the University of Chile states that 30% of the population is of Caucasian origin; Mestizos with an average 60% Caucasian ancestry and 40% Native American ancestry are estimated to amount a total of 65%, while Native Americans (Amerindians) comprise the remaining 5%.^[2] A genetic study by the same university showed that the average Chilean's genes are 64% Caucasian and 35% Amerindian.^[103]

Despite the genetic considerations, many Chileans, if asked, would self-identify as white. The 2011 Latinobarómetro survey asked respondents in Chile what race they considered themselves to belong to. Most answered "white" (59%), while 25% said "mestizo" and 8% self-classified as "indigenous".^[104] A 2002 national poll revealed that a majority of Chileans believed they possessed some (43.4%) or much (8.3%) "indigenous blood", while 40.3% responded that they had none.^[105]

From personal experience I know that white latinos can be way lighter than him especially if he was from say Argentina or Costa Rica and no they don't have to all be of Spanish descent. They could be German, Polish, Italian, etc.

This guy looks mestizo leaning on the whiter side.

[WingedMan]

To be fair, there's a big difference between the Blackfish and RV. Oberyn is a poignant character with importance to the forwarding of the plot, and holds a lot of distinctive flare in personality. Brynden, as awesome as he is, really isn't anything other than a background character (currently). He was introduced in the show as a bit of a hard-ass, no bullshit kind of guy - which he essentially is. While it is disappointing Blackfish didn't get much screen-time to show what he's really about, you can understand why within the machinisms of the show.

Which is why I'm worried about the show character a bit. They've already moved some characters a bit too much towards "everyman, hard-ass, no bullshit kind of guy" compilation. Oberyn is a distinctive character and I'd like to see that instead of regular drinking-and-whoring swordsman. Another issue is that sometimes lazy writing (in regard to characters) results in the fact that show fails to describe social structures of Westeros (e.g. Blackfish/Edmure) as they were portrayed in the books. In other words, they do injustice to books with the writing of some characters.

As I said, I'm quite confident in the choice of actor since casting has been stellar (with notable exceptions being Renly, Mance, Asha and Loras). I haven't seen him acting at all and I'm actually quite happy that they didn't cast a name everyone recognizes.

[boojam]

I love you guys and your wacky "I'm positive" predicitions :P

You know you never know who they may have offered the role to and could not get them.

We only find out very few times who was offered what and who turned what ... it's not a thing casting directors or agents or even actors talk about.

[Clariana]

I don't think fans were exaggerating. In the picture of Arianne for that spoiler chapter he posted she was brown. I also heard he liked that True Blood actress for one of the Sand Snakes. She's brown too.

And??? If gender doesn't stop old Oberyn race certainly doesn't all the sand snakes have different mothers so some can be darker and others pale (lady Nym, say...), in fact that is part of their attraction, so diverse but they work as a unit (go snakes!), pretty positive Sarella is described as black and her mother was a ship's captain.

[ARYa_Nym]

And??? If gender doesn't stop old Oberyn race certainly doesn't all the sand snakes have different mothers so some can be darker and others pale (lady Nym, say...), in fact that is part of their attraction, so diverse but they work as a unit (go snakes!), pretty positive Sarella is described as black and her mother was a ship's captain.

There are differences between them but let's not pretend like there wasn't anyone saying that brown is a misinterpretation and fans were exaggerating how dark he meant when he spoke of Arianne and Oberyn and some of the Sand Snakes.

Lady Nym would not be pale as Patrick Stormborn illustrated. She is brown since he liked that True Blood actress. Tyene could be pale but no one was talking about her.

[Clariana]

There are differences between them but let's not pretend like there wasn't anyone saying that brown is a misinterpretation and fans were exaggerating how dark he meant when he spoke of Arianne and Oberyn and some of the Sand Snakes.

Lady Nym would not be pale as Patrick Stormborn illustrated. She is brown since he liked that True Blood actress. Tyene could be pale but no one was talking about her.

Sorry I meant Tyene (the septa's daughter?) not lady Nym.

[Giskard Reventlov]

Well, for me, this guy falls in the same group as the actors casted for Melisandre and Daario Naharis roles...meh...not very good...but could be worse...will do

[Giskard Reventlov]

I don't see it. I can think of half a dozen actors that would've worked better on looks alone.

This is the second casting after Mance that made me go "..huh?" and show!Mance was terrible (not entirely the actor's fault though, the character was horribly written)

I'll wait until I see his acting, but he doesn't look anywhere near badass enough. Judging from his photos, he looks so ordinary and dull.

Sad thing about casting Mance is that Kieran Hinds is GREAT actor. I voted for him on "which actor would you like to see" thread. But he is soo not the Mance from the books...

[Clariana]

Sad thing about casting Mance is that Kieran Hinds is GREAT actor. I voted for him on "which actor would you like to see" thread. But he is soo not the Mance from the books...

Well I didn't. I like Hinds a lot but he was too old and too large for Mance. He was great as Caesar in Rome.

[MrsClegane]

I haven't heard about this guy before but after seeing some photos of him I think he could pull it off. Just give him a long hair and a moustache.

It's even more exciting to see that rather unknown actor has been casted as such epic character.

[Clariana]

He looks good in this photo: http://www.craveonline.com/tv/articles/528431-pedro-pascal-joins-game-of-thrones-season-4

And unknowns have overall done really well in GoT.

[Pinkie Baelish]

Jesus Christ, give it time and see how the actor performs before you write him off. I remember the same thing happening with Michael McElhatton after season 2, with people saying that he looked and acted far too normal for Roose Bolton. But after season 3, many people were singing his praises.

[Mladen]

I was hoping for Alexander Siddig, but this isn't the worst thing... I mean, wait and see is my policy. We can't judge him before we see him in GoT

Jesus Christ, give it time and see how the actor performs before you write him off. I remember the same thing happening with Michael McElhatton after season 2, with people saying that he looked and acted far too normal for Roose Bolton. But after season 3, many people were singing his praises.

He bought me with that look to Catelyn at the table at the RW... It was brilliant.