Game of Thrones/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acting for Two: Ian Whyte portrays Gregor Clegane in Season 2, a White Walker in Seasons 1 and 2, and a giant in Seasons 3 and 4.
  • Actor Allusion: After playing the titular role in Martin Luther, Heretic, Jonathan Pryce once again plays a radical religious reformer crusading for the peasantry against a corrupt mother church.
  • Actor Existence Failure:
    • Margaret John, who played Old Nan, died a couple months before the show began airing. "Lord Snow", where she first appears, was dedicated to her memory.
    • Narrowly and thankfully averted with Sean Bean which, in light of "Baelor", would have been incredibly morbid.
    • In an odd coincidence, Jason Momoa, who plays Drogo who also gets killed off in the first season was likewise violently attacked in a bar (albeit some time in the past). Drogo's anti-hero scars are real ones, the result of Momoa being attacked with a broken bottle.
  • The Cast Showoff: Though it never derails the show, musical theater star Kerry Ingram (Shireen) and former British pop star Jerome Flynn (Bronn) are given a chance to show their skills.
  • The Character Died with Him: Old Nan has not be recast following the death of Margaret John.
  • Development Gag: In one episode, Tyrion claims that one of Littlefinger's whores knows a fabled sex position known as the Meereenese Knot. The term is actually George R.R. Martin's nickname for the cluster of logistical issues involved in getting several characters to Meereen in a satisfying manner; the Meereenese Knot was largely the reason for A Dance With Dragons' infamous delays.
  • Dyeing for Your Art:
    • Sophie Turner went from blonde to redhead for Sansa; Joe Dempsie, who plays Gendry, went from blond to black, while Peter Dinklage and Jack Gleeson went from brown/dark blond to light blond to better portray members of the extremely light-haired Lannister family. A lot of the other actors, like Emilia Clarke and Lena Headey, wear wigs. Meanwhile, Maisie Williams cut her hair to convincingly portray Arya trying to pass as a boy in Season 2.
    • Daniel Portman is a sportsman in real life, but let himself go in order to be more believable as Podrick Payne.
    • Gwendoline Christie apparently really got into the role, putting on lots of muscle with the aid of protein shakes and going up a clothes size, according to Sophie Turner.
    • Conleth Hill shaves his full head of hair to play Varys, a thing he welcomes as it brings him street anonymity.
  • Enforced Method Acting:
    • That horse's heart Daenerys ate? It was essentially a giant gummy, which tasted disgusting and a tiny girl like Emilia Clarke struggled to keep it down.
    • Alfie Allen really was tied up like that for his torture scenes in Season 3, a process that Iwan Rheon mentioned as being extremely painful.
  • Fan Community Nickname: "Unsullied" for those who have not read the books, and "Bookwalkers" for those who have.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • The first season brought us Carl Drogo, Kelly C/Danny, Salsa Stork, Bob the King, Middlefinger and Tyrone Lancaster.
    • Asha Yar for Asha Greyjoy, on account of her being called Yara in the TV series.
    • Zorro Zaron Ducksauce (or some variation thereof) for the confusingly named Xaro Xhoan Daxos.
    • Talisa gets Florence Bonesaw (Flo-Bo for short) for her role as a war nurse and her penchant for amputations.
    • Given his scruffy disposition in Season 2, some fans have taken to calling Jaime Sawyer Lannister due the similarity.
    • Stan(nis) the Man(nis).
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: The series is already looking like it's going to be positively brimming with familiar actors. So far:
  • I Am Not Spock: Quick, name an actor on Game of Thrones who has another widely known role. Yeah, Sean Bean is unfortunately the only main cast member who can completely escape this.
  • Irony as She Is Cast: Singer Wilko Johnson and DJ Kristian Nairn as The Voiceless Illyn Payne and the one-worded Hodor.
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: According to DVD Commentary, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister, called "Kingslayer") and Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon).
  • Older Than They Look: Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont, who is actually age-appropriate to the character at 50, but sure doesn't look it.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Conan Stevens only had one appearance as Gregor Clegane in the first season before leaving the series to appear as Azog the Pale Orc in The Hobbit. He's replaced by former basketball player Ian Whyte in the second season. Apart from their height, the two actors look nothing alike, not to mention that Stevens is quite husky, while Whyte is much thinner. Quite a few people seem to have missed the fact that he was supposed to be the Mountain. The Mountain gets recast again in Season 4, where he is played by Icelandic bodybuilder, Hafþór "Thorï" Björnsson (who is considered to at least be superior to Whyte, and generally a strong substitute for Stevens).
    • Beric Dondarrion is played by David Scott in first-season episode "A Golden Crown" and by Richard Dormer when he reappears in third-season episode "And Now His Watch Has Ended". This was somewhat less jarring, as the previous actor had such a minor appearance and was so inconspicuous in looks that fewer people remembered him; furthermore, the character has been through a severe Mutilation Conga in the interim.
    • Tommen Baratheon was played by Callum Wharry in Seasons 1-3, but beginning Season 4, he will be played by Dean-Charles Chapman, who previously played Martyn Lannister in Season 3.
    • Michiel Huisman replaces Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis in Season 4. The two look almost nothing alike.
    • Keeping with Tommen's recast, the role of his older sister Myrcella will go from Aimee Richardson to Nell Free in the fifth season. Bizarrely, Free is two years younger than Dean-Charles Chapman, putting the recast in similar territory to that of Gregor Clegane.
  • The Other Marty: Even before it began airing, it happened for a lot of characters between the original pilot and the series proper (most of the pilot was then reshot with the new cast).
    • Daenerys went from Tamzin Merchant to Emilia Clarke.
    • Catelyn went from Jennifer Ehle to Michelle Fairley.
    • Magister Illyrio went from Ian McNeice to Roger Allam.
    • Gared went from Richard Ridings to Dermot Keaney.
    • Ser Waymar went from Jamie Campbell Bower to Rob Ostlere.
    • Not a cast member, but Tom McCarthy, director of The Station Agent (Peter Dinklage's most prominent role), The Visitor, and Win Win, helmed the original pilot and helped with casting, but ultimately did not feel invested enough in the series, or that he was good enough at directing for television, to continue, and went back to film. He says "I’d like to think I had some impact on it, but I don’t think much of that is mine anymore." The pilot was reshot by HBO house director Timothy Van Patten.
    • The show's 2013 April Fool's joke was a fake announcement that Peter Dinklage would be replaced by Warwick Davis to make Tyrion a more "comedic" character. The showrunners also claimed that they would digitally transfer Davis' face over Dinklage's in reruns and subsequent DVD releases.
  • Promoted Fanboy:
    • An indirect example: In Season 3, Gilly's son was portrayed by an infant called Arya Hasson. Unsurprisingly, both her parents are huge fans.
    • Several actors were fans of the books before being cast on the show, such as Kristian Nairn (Hodor). Keisha Castle-Hughes was also a fan before being cast as Obara Sand.
  • Real Life Relative: Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne) is the son of Ron Donachie (Rodrik Cassel).
  • Romance on the Set: Apparently, Kit Harington (Jon Snow) went on a date with Rose Leslie (Ygritte).
  • Star-Making Role: Loads, but most notably Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Rory McCann, Alfie Allen, Jack Gleeson, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Richard Madden, Carice van Houten, Gwendoline Christie, and Pedro Pascal. And although not completely unknown prior to the show, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Iain Glen, Natalie Dormer, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, and Liam Cunningham truly ascended superstardom afterwards.
  • What Could Have Been: Owing to budget and/or practicality, various things were considered but adapted out.
    • A minor example would be Sandor Clegane's hunting dogs in Winterfell; the scene was shot with them there at first, but they spooked the horses and therefore were cut from the final version.
    • Alfie Allen's sister Lily Allen was offered the role of Yara Greyjoy, but the siblings declined due to the incestuous scene between Theon and Yara.
    • An extra said that there were two days scheduled to shoot Grenn and the Nightwatchmens' fight against the giant, but it was cancelled due to budget.
    • Iwan Rheon was the primary runner-up to play Heroic Bastard, Jon Snow, ironically later getting cast as the ultimate Bastard Bastard, Ramsay Snow.
    • Pedro Pascal mentions on a Season 4 commentary that he and Michiel Huisman had worked together on a failed pilot the year before, which would have prevented them both from joining the show if it had been picked up.
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