A Game Of Thrones - HBO - Casting

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – HBO is filling out the cast of its fantasy pilot "Game of Thrones" with the addition of former "New Amsterdam" star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and several others.

The group joins the previously cast lead Sean Bean as battle-weary Ned Stark, who leaves his home to serve the king. Mark Addy, Kit Harrington, Jennifer Ehle, Jack Gleeson, Peter Dinklage and Harry Lloyd also star.

In the adaptation of the George R.R. Martin fantasy-book series, Coster-Waldau will play Jaime Lannister, one of the king's guards and a ruthless usurper of the previous king.

Another addition is Tamzin Merchant ("The Tudors"), who'll play Daenerys, an exiled teenage princess.

Also new to the cast: Richard Madden ("Hope Springs") as Stark's eldest son, Robb; Iain Glen ("Into the Storm") as Ser Jorah Mormont, a disgraced knight; Alfie Allen ("The Other Boleyn Girl") as Theon, Stark's young ward; Sophie Turner ("Doctor Who"), as Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa; and Maisie Williams as Stark's young tomboy daughter, Arya.

HBO still has a few more roles to fill in the large ensemble cast of "Thrones," one of the more talked-about titles on the premium network's development slate.

I thought the book largely sucked, but I'm willing to give this adaptation a shot when it comes out.

Surely I'm not the only AGoT fan who, immediately after reading this announcement, went to images.google.com/images?q=Tamzin+Merchant .

I'm not touching those books until Martin can prove to me he can finish the series. I refuse to get "Robert Jordaned" a second time.

-Will

You can safely read the first three, as they are written very much like a trilogy. There are a lot of threads that remain open, but there is also quite a bit of resolution. Book four very much feels like a new beginning.

-MMM

Sean Bean as Ned, huh? I guess they're going with all of the characters being older across the board. I think Ned's supposed to be like 30 in the books, and Bean is 50ish. Probably good, since they'd have had to film love scenes with 13 year olds etc....

I'm more than a bit surprised that they're even bothering with the Daenerys part at all, considering we're four books in and her plot line has yet to intersect with anything going on on Westeros. I know that it will, and I have my suspicions as to her role overall, but I'm not seeing how her story will come across well in a series. Particularly if they're going to do one season per book - waiting four or five years for her character to become relevant to the rest of the plots seems like a lot to ask from an audience.

It's HBO. It won't last that long.

Octavian wrote:

I'm more than a bit surprised that they're even bothering with the Daenerys part at all, considering we're four books in and her plot line has yet to intersect with anything going on on Westeros. I know that it will, and I have my suspicions as to her role overall, but I'm not seeing how her story will come across well in a series. Particularly if they're going to do one season per book - waiting four or five years for her character to become relevant to the rest of the plots seems like a lot to ask from an audience.

Excellent point. I think a more creative direction to go with it would be to ignore her completely. Then *if* they get to a 4th or 5th season or whatever, make some sort of like, 1 or 2 episode only Daenerys arc/short movie that works completely linearly to introduce her, air it before the next season, then have her invade.

Screw that. The story of Daenerys is integral to the series, even if it has not yet overlapped in a major and obvious way. The fall of the Targaryens had a huge impact on Westeros, starting with Robert's ascension to the throne. Key characters are moving to Dany's banner, including Barristan Selmy and Tyrion Lannister. Leave Dany until later, and viewers will feel that the whole story is forced, instead of plotted out in advance. Besides, it's not like these books are getting crammed into a trilogy of movies like Lord of the Rings. With a season on HBO for each book, these stories will have plenty of room to breathe, to succeed or fail on their own merits without heavy-handed cuts.

I'm more concerned about Martin. He is a large, unhealthy-looking man in his sixties, so the odds of seeing a finished series are looking somewhat iffy. And Martin has said that he doesn't want anybody else to finish the series if he dies before completion. It's bad enough that Martin has already taken on several new hobbies in recent years while struggling with writer's block. His involvement with the HBO series could totally derail his writing, because Martin has experience with writing for television and will probably meddle rather than let his books get translated poorly to the tv screen. Martin is probably hoping that the pressure of getting these books finished in time for HBO will force him to get them done, but that seems like a dicey proposition. Maybe the HBO writers can help him get it done.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Lena Headey, star of the recently canceled "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," is headed to "Game of Thrones," a pilot for HBO.

Heady has closed a deal to co-star in the fantasy, an adaptation of the George R.R. Martin book series that chronicles a battle among seven kingdoms and two ruling families for control of the Iron Throne.

She will play Queen Cersei of House Lannister, wife of King Robert (Mark Addy) and sister to Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), her twin, and outsider younger brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). Sean Bean stars as battle-weary Ned Stark, who leaves his home to serve the king.

The casting of Headey, who has a big following based on her starring turn in "Terminator," is sure to add to the already strong online interest in HBO's "Games" adaptation. The British actress played another royal figure, Queen Gorgo, in the feature "300," based on Frank Miller's graphic novel.

It really sucks that Terminator was cancelled. The second season, and especially the finale, was jaw-dropping.