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 theatre 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 anonimity.
  • 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).
  • Genius Bruiser: Conan Stevens, actor portraying Ser Gregor Clegane is this in real life. 7 ft tall wrestler, bodybuilder and stunt actor, he is also scripwriter, computer geek and made his own website all by himself.
  • 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.
  • Younger Than They Look:
    • Sophie Turner, Sansa Stark's actress, despite being tall and looking fairly grown up, is only 15 years old, and was 14 at the time the first season was filmed (which is, more or less, one year older than her character on the show).
    • Peter Dinklage (42 years old) playing Tyrion Lannister (24 in the books) causes this effect in Tyrion. Then again, Tyrion's age is never given in the series, although he is supposed to be the youngest of the Lannister siblings, his elders being around 31 or so in the novels.
      • As of the end of season 2, it seems that Cersei and Jaime are 36, and Tyrion 32 - give or take one year.
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