Casting

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje To Join Game of Thrones Cast

Posted on by Shylah

adewale_akinnuoye_agbaje

 

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, perhaps best known for his role as Kurse in Thor: The Dark World, is set to join the cast of Game of Thrones for the fifth season.

While there isn’t a whole lot of information regarding Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s involvement in Thrones, if the current rumors are true, he will be playing a wholly new character:

Details of the role are being kept under wraps but is said to be a character not in the books with the name ‘Malko.’

So, the field is wide open right now for where Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Malko will pop up. Let us know your best guesses in the comments!

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Shylah

157 Comments

  1. Hodor!

    I’m trying to figure out what region “Malko” would even be from with that name. It sounds like something from Korra.

  3. Possibly the pit announcer. Even if that’s not the case, I’d bet his role will involve Meereen and Daznak’s Pit, which they are filming right now.

  5. Chebyshov,

    I’m glad that I’m not the only one who immediately thought of Korra. If they put him in a red scarf, we’ll know we were right in our line of thinking.

  6. I think he’s more known for Lost, but maybe a Strong Belwas type character. I doubt he’d sign on for any type of small role

  7. He’s probably Moqorro

    Also He’s gotta be best know from Lost Right? Mr. Eko! “Take me to the question mark.

  8. WHOA WHAT HUH??

    I mean, I’d wanted Adewale on this show for ages (he was always my pick for Moqorro, who probably won’t be on the show at all). And given his name (and he’s “best known for playing Simon Adebisi on the HBO show Oz,” damn ya), he’s a great addition. I just want to know what the hell he’s doing here! Is he some kind of transmogrified version of Moqorro? Will he show up in Essos, maybe, interacting with Jorah? He doesn’t seem like a Manderly replacement, or a bastardized Septon Meribald (that would make no sense at all). Someone at Hardholme? A slaver picking up people at Hardholme? A dying man in the House of Black & White?

    Also, check one more off in terms of big dramas now linked with GoT!

    The Wire? Check.
    Deadwood? Check.
    Rome? Check.
    Treme? Check.
    Homeland? Check.
    Oz?? CHECK!
    Sopranos?? Ok. Not the Sopranos yet.

  11. See, if he’s playing Moqorro, then that means we’ll also be meeting Victarion Greyjoy this season, which means we’ll also be meeting Crow’s Eye, which means we’ll be seeing the DRAGON HORN!!! 😀

  12. Probably not worthy of mentioning, but he also did Pompeii with Kit, where he played the slave Atticus 🙂 I wonder if that’s how/ why he got involved, if the rumours are true. Good to know anyway, I like him.

  13. I “hope” some version of Moqorro. He’s a fairly big name actor and I’d hope will have a role reflecting that.

    One reason I like the idea of him being Moqorro (besides Moqorro being a cool character) is that the actor studied at a prestigious school and is fluent in several languages- so, it would be sort of a character/actor shared background thing.

    Or, barring Moqorro, a version of Brown Ben Plumm.

  15. No idea, but because of his size and built I’m thinking a pit warrior. This is what happens when you have a preconceived idea! It will probably end up to be the role of a priest of R’hllor (something like Moqqoro in a different setting). Or trader come to negotiate in Meereen.

  16. Nice. They finally cast Rhaegar. We are going to have those flashbacks after all.

    Edit: Or maybe he is cast as Doran’s gouty foot?

  17. Man, we had been liking this guy for all sorts of roles since season 1)

    Anyway, I too join those hoping he will have a big role worthy of his name and talent

  18. Greatjon of Slumber,

    Last week, I re-watched a David Nutter-directed episode of Sopranos in S6. Also, Alik Sakharov was the cinematographer for most of the series. Unless your just talking actors, I’d say there is a great Sopranos-GoT crossover…. 🙂

  22. First thought was Moqorro, but it’s a created role so it’s not that, unless they’ve just altered Moqorro so much that GRRM wanted a name change like he did with Talisa/Jeyne and Locke/Vargo. They maybe need someone to be the face for the pit fighters, so I could see him being that, but that seems like sort of a minor thing to pull someone relatively big in for. Maybe a brief, single season role is part of the appeal for him, though?

  23. Yeah, I agree with others. It is very unlikely that an actor of the calibre of AAA would sign up for a really minor role, although his role might be, say, as small as Burn Gorman’s Karl, an actor of similar stature.

    I think we have got to the stage where actors are happy to sign up for smaller (not too small, obviously) parts on the show as it is such a good thing fo have on their CVs. Therefore, unlike other shows who have to fill out smaller roles with (relative) nobodies Game of Thrones can cast guys like AAA and Gormon in these sort of roles.

  24. Mine is the Furry:
    Nice.They finally cast Rhaegar.We are going to have those flashbacks after all.

    Edit:Or maybe he is cast as Doran’s gouty foot?

    That’s it ! ^^ Now I want to see Adewale playing Rhaegar in a flashback !

    More seriously, I hope he’s some version of Moqorro. At least a Red Priest, with the deep voice and strong carrure of Adewale, it could work really well.

  27. Actually thinking through it, they could make a pit fighter into a pretty big role:

    He could have scenes with Hizdahr petitioning Dany to reopen the pits, then he could have scenes with Tyrion and Jorah, acting as their trainer of some sort, then he could fight at Daznak’s Pit as part of the festivities there, and from there, he could either take Belwas’s role as the poisoning victim, or serve as Hizdahr’s bodyguard who fights Barristan during the coup. Having an established badass pit fighter fight Barristan would at least let them finally show how good he is after building it up with nothing to show for the whole series so far.

  28. I’m thinking it’s a Shavepate/Reznak type character. Someone to hang around Dany alot. Moqorro would be excellent though. “..and you…snarling in the midst of it all”.

    Edit: Please let his name be ‘Malko mo Malko’

  31. The best guess would be a slave who interacts with Tyrion and Jorah and maybe gets fried in Daznak’s Pit.

    The other possibility could be a similar type of character that takes some of the actions of Moqorro. It’s stated he’s invented but Malko is a name that’s close enough to Moqorro that they could’ve conceivably changed it because Moqorro wasn’t rolling off the tongue in the dialogue.

    We know that Volantis is in so Tyrion and Jorah encountering a R’hollor priest would track so I’m not going to rule this out especially since it appears a lot of this stuff is currently being filmed.

  32. Dear Santa,

    Now that BE is ending, can we please please please have Michael Shannon cast as Euron Greyjoy?

    Oh and I’m sorry about the cat.

    Love,
    Mine is the Furry, aka Rygar

  33. Afeastfordances:
    First thought was Moqorro, but it’s a created role so it’s not that, unless they’ve just altered Moqorro so much that GRRM wanted a name change like he did with Talisa/Jeyne and Locke/Vargo. They maybe need someone to be the face for the pit fighters, so I could see him being that, but that seems like sort of a minor thing to pull someone relatively big in for. Maybe a brief, single season role is part of the appeal for him, though?

    He could be some kind of bastardized version of Strong Belwas – with a brief two-ep appearance as the fighter who kicks ass and gets invited to sit on the dais and eat the locusts. Yes, he’s too thin. But still. 🙂

    Mine is the Furry:
    Greatjon of Slumber,

    Paulie Walnuts for Victarion!

    And don’t leave out the other GREAT HBO show Boardwalk.Tim Van Patten helmed the original GoT pilot.

    For sure, but do they have any common actors? Because if we expand to directors, well, we bring in Breaking Bad and all sorts of other shows. I can’t say I recall any commonality in actors unless they cast Dominic Lombardozzi to play the role of Pit Fighter Fuzzy Dunlopargaryen.

    Cami,

    Confused man. You’re saying he’s been shooting w/ Jorah/Tyrion? If that’s the case he’s that much more likely to be a red priest type, maybe with a name change. (And for the record, I love Moqorro, and the Victarion/Moqorro interactions were awesome because of it. Tyrion and Victarion, the two main characters who have interactions with Moqorro, are distinct in that they’re probably on the opposite ends of the scale of POV characters in terms of overall intelligence.)

  34. I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s playing Moqorro. That and ‘Malko’ sound pretty similar, and since he’s been cast around this time he’ll be involved in the Essos storyline, which Moqorro is. He’s the right calibre and build for that character and I don’t think a guy like Adewale would sign up for just a really small pit fighter role. I wanted him for Hotah, however I’m just glad he’s on the show because he’s a really great actor.

  35. Congrats to Mr. Akinnuoye-Agbaje on joining the show! Whatever role he plays, it’ll be linked to Dany’s storyline in Meereen, probably

    involving Daznak’s pit or as a pit fighter or as TV Moqorro.

    And speaking of “Pompeii”, I think Sasha Roiz, who played Proculus, would be another nice addition to the GoT cast. I thought Roiz had great screen presence.

    Mine is the Furry,

    Michael Shannon would be a great Euron. I liked his version of Zod in “Man of Steel”.

  36. King Tommen,

    Good call about the name similarity, but as much as I like the Benerro and Moqorro characters, can someone speculate as to what he would provide, plot-wise, if there is no Victarion storyline?

    Besides generally giving the impression that the followers of Rhollor are powerful/global and vaguely supporting Daenerys in Essos. Would he then have the dragon horn? Maybe this is relevant for the endgame?

    I have not thought about this much.. please enlighten me!

  38. Im guessing a Pit fighter. If he just goes by 1 name he is probably low born. But what do I know? I go by Greg!

  40. Dragonslayer: This would be a terrible waste of a great acor.

    You’re probably right. I’m much more inclined to think he’s a version of Moqorro, which is awesome, because it’s a character I didn’t think would survive. If he is, that’s great. If he’s not, we can just call him Simon Adebisi and I’d be good with it too. Or hell, we can say he’s a resurrected Styr, and make him look like a Thenn in Essos, and THAT would be good too. I mean with this guy, it’s all good.

    Main characters aside, only 2 small roles left I really desire: Manderly and Meribald.

  41. Dragonslayer: This would be a terrible waste of a great acor.

    Agreed. Far better suited for Dorans gouty footsies.

    Oops my mistake. Those two roles are one and the same.

  42. Dragonslayer,

    Just a joke since I hadn’t seen any Belwas rage in months.
    We know Belwas will not be in the series. I hope his role is better than book-Belwas!

    I doubt he’s Moqooro or similar as well..
    Hard to guess which region or storyline he is even in. Something In Tyrion’s or Dany’s arc is my first guess… If I had to guess now, maybe a mercenary? Slave or slaver?

  44. With the omission of Quentyn and Arianne and LS anf Griff… getting “Master Eaton” and other invented characters and scenes in return… I won’t get my hopes up for Moqorro and assume he’ll play Orson Lannister in a flashback

  46. I heard that in order to make the series more their own, D&D decided that they would have Black Walkers for season 5 and they wanted AAA to be the Day King, the guy that leads them.

  47. Hooray, another made up character! They do realise there’s a whole book worth of people they can cast right?!

  49. Cami,

    Perhaps just a photo shoot?

    And for anyone thinking he’s Moqorro, come on… The only real thing that we know about the character is that he’s not in the books.

  50. I just hope he’s not a one-episode-only character, please.

    In fact, I hope he’s not a one-season-only character.

    In fact, I secretely still hope he is Moqorro despite the crushing (yet probably rightly so) common sense displayed by some people here.

    #TeamMoqorro

  51. Carne,

    I think he’s that Luther guy, but this one is Malko. Doesn’t fit.

    This guy is either the pit announcer, a pit fighter, or… Anything else, really

  52. I loved Adewale Akinnnouye-Agbaje’s performance as Mr. Eko on Lost, so it’s very cool to hear that he’s going to be on Game of Thrones! I would guess that his role is most likely that of the fighting pit announcer. That would be a showy part with a lot of dialogue, one that would appeal to a well-known and well-respected actor (and one that wouldn’t tie him to the show long-term, since he seems to work fairly steadily in movies). Other possibilities could include a pit fighter, a sellsword captain (standing in for Brown Ben Plumm or the Tattered Prince), or some kind of replacement for Moqorro. But I think that the announcer is the best bet.

  55. WiC reports that Gwyneth Keyworth will play Clea (the prostitute in a Tyrion scene). They say something about an unconfirmed source so I don’t know what to make about it: I would have believed it without hesitation back in the good old days but now…

  58. jentario:
    Carne,

    I think he’s that Luther guy, but this one is Malko. Doesn’t fit.

    I don’t think that we can rule out this Luther guy as “Luther” is probably a false name for the casting call.

  60. So after giving this some thought……I think we are looking at Brown Ben Plum just not with that name…think about this fellow readers…look at the shit storm from last season with Jaime and Cersei ….now how do you think the un sullied masses would feel about a black character with the name Brown Ben Plum

  62. john,
    TheTouchOfFrost,
    Ren Snow,

    I don’t quite see what your points are. Most of the invented roles are very small roles; they are not replacements for major charracters, like Arianne or Quentyn, they fulfil very small roles, often to help us understand more about the major characters. It is certainly not a case of Quentyn or Malko.

    Moreover, the show is an adaptation, and because they are omitting some characters they need others to fulfill the roles major characters might have had. In a way it is better this way; I’m sure there would be a tonne of people moaning if someone like Moqorro was only in a couple of scenes, but if it is original character, well it is difficult to complain really.

  63. Grey Wind,

    These casting news usually spring up just before or during the filming that pertains to those characters. The Northern story line remains largely unfilmed, except for Castle Black and their interior sets. Wait for November —if anything is announced or leaks out about the Northern story line, including casting, it will be then.

    However, I agree with your apprehension. Generally, I’m happy with D&D adapting the bare-bones of the Northern story line, and making up whatever they wish, but… I just want Manderly.

  70. First of all why wasn’t Adewale cast as Areo Hotah?

    Second why wasn’t Adewale cast as Moqorro?

    Third why the fu.. are we getting more made up characters instead of Victarion, Euron, Coldhands, Strong Belwas and Arianne?

  71. Strider,

    I’d think Shannon would be horribly miscast as Euron. Euron is smooth and charming, whereas Shannon’s characters tend to be balls of anger.

    However, he’d make an oddly appropriate Victarion. Van Alden is kind of similiar in terms of self-righteous anger and unintentional humorousness due to lack of introspection.

  72. Jordan,

    I was going with the flow and the comment that started it all upthread 😉

    But to be honest, I’d be happy to have him either way since I think he can do more than Van Alden, or Zod which in terms of bottled up anger would match Vic like you mentioned. He seems versatile enough. I loved him in both Revolutionary Road and Take Shelter.

  73. Jordan:
    Strider,

    I’d think Shannon would be horribly miscast as Euron.Euron is smooth and charming, whereas Shannon’s characters tend to be balls of anger.

    However, he’d make an oddly appropriate Victarion.Van Alden is kind of similiar in terms of self-righteous anger and unintentional humorousness due to lack of introspection.

    Step outside the box. Shannon can do anything. He has the look and build for Euron and he is an incredibly talented and versatile actor.

  74. Al Swearengen,

    I did post a similar thing to the following before your comment, but it is awaiting moderation. To summarise we aren’t getting these characters instead of others, because they are much smaller parts which don’t require exposition. Why people can’t comprehend this is beyond me.

  76. Jeb:
    Al Swearengen,

    I did post a similar thing to the following before your comment, but it is awaiting moderation. To summarise we aren’t getting these characters instead of others, because they are much smaller parts which don’t require exposition. Why people can’t comprehend this is beyond me.

    I hate you and D & D.

  78. Mr. Eko!! I love him, fantastic actor! Lost will always be my favorite show… ok so Game of Thrones is about tied with it now. 😉 Ah, this makes me happy.

  79. Al Swearengen: I hate you and D & D.

    Thank you. Seriously though, it is an adaptation, they are never going to be able to adapt everything the same way. The books are the books, and will always be there. The show is the show, and we should be grateful that it has been this good. Let’s hope that it continues to be brilliant in the furture, and with castings like this, there is a strong chance that it will.

  80. since the red wedding, they almost neglected the north story line, where was all the talks about the revenges we saw in the storm of swords? or the promos for season 4? that’s just a big part of the whole story that was disappeared , for me, it was very sad.

    Luka Nieto:
    Grey Wind,

    These casting news usually spring up just before or during the filming that pertains to those characters. The Northern story line remains largely unfilmed, except for Castle Black and their interior sets. Wait for November —if anything is announced or leaks out about the Northern story line, including casting, it will be then.

    However, I agree with your apprehension. Generally, I’m happy with D&D adapting the bare-bones of the Northern story line, and making up whatever they wish, but… I just want Manderly.

  88. A Man Grown:
    Al Swearengen,

    WU! SWEDGIN! SAN FRANCISCO COCKSUCKA!

    That was one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen on television!

    As for AAA, I echo all “yay” sentiments regarding him being part of GoT. His was my favorite character on Lost.

  89. I hate you, D&D. You have ruined ASOIAF forever. Also, Pedro Pascal as the Red Viper? What a horrible miscast. Should have been Oded Fehr! Now we get more made up characters instead of real ones from the world GRRM created. Instead of Euron and Victarion, we get Melko and Volantene Brothel guard. Instead of Damphair and Harrys Swyft, we get Winterfell worker and wildling captain. UGH!!! Fucking amateurs!!!

  90. Stannis the Mannis,

    By “the right way” I assume you mean “my way.” I don’t mean to sound confrontational —I am just trying to say that “the right way” is very much a subjective matter (I and many others are perfectly happy with how it’s turning out) and that, if faithfulness to the source material is your objective measure of how “right” the adaptation is, the ‘rightest’ of all adaptations would be an unimaginative product essentially made by a robotic mind, which would result in a drab, senseless collection of scenes piling up to —let’s say— hundreds and hundreds of hours, if not a thousand. Of course, I don’t intend to make a false equivalency —I’m not saying there’s not a middle ground between staying 100% true to the adaptation and what Game of Thrones is. My point is that many different people have different standards or how much an adaptation can diverge from the text of the source material. Faithfulness is relevant, but it’s not paramount. The following may be controversial for book fans who were waiting years for an adaptation but, in my honest opinion, making good television is and should be the point, sometimes despite the text.

    As I see it, in Game of Thrones (and most other things, despite what fans of this or that book would say) these changes often happen precisely to stay true to the spirit of the source material, despite the text. For example, I find certain claims of white-washing characters a bit ludicrous —without the benefit of the internal voice of the characters justifying themselves, showing certain actions without any changes would make them look like complete monsters. The same goes for cutting new characters; whether you like it or not, there is limited time each season and it may be wiser to have satisfying story arcs for characters we’ve known for years than compromise that in order to fit everything in.

    I don’t ask you to agree, but I hope you see how categorically stating that Game of Thrones is not “the right way” to adapt ASOIAF may come off as, at least, a bit too blunt.

    Tyrion Pimpslap,

    Your satire is much more eloquent than my silly rant.

  92. Luka Nieto,

    For me, the show is mediocre at best, in terms of being HBO quality with writing, directing, and acting. Then again, I am unfairly comparing it to some of the greatest HBO series or shows ever; Deadwood, The Wire, Boardwalk, Sopranos, Curb, and True Detective.

    GoT may be the most popular, but that doesn’t = best quality. Just look at U2, Bieber, and Katy Perry’s tits. There is much to be improved upon, and I feel that the writing could use the biggest boost, although I felt that last season D&D really hit their stride.

  95. Mine is the Furry,

    I agree with this. Game of Thrones is in my opinion is not the end all be all that HBO has done. I think The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos are of higher quality. Game of Thrones may have the most hype though. But of course that is just one person’s opinion. I suspect on this site dedicated to the show and story most will disagree.

    Don’t get me wrong here though, I don’t think Game of Thrones is a bad show at all, in fact I enjoy it and think it top quality. But I tend to view it as a what could have been. Benioff and Weiss are overrated writers. And I honestly don’t like most of the directors they have chosen for some of the more pivotal episodes. David Nutter for example, I think sucks.

  96. steve,

    I agree about Nutter. I also think McClaren sucks, even her episodes of Breaking Bad. All the Breaking Bad directors used the same style. I found it annoying.

    In fact comparing BB to GoT is a good way to explain how I feel about them. Both very popular and extremely entertaining, but far from being the best series I have ever seen due to certain deficiencies in the overall product.

  97. Can D&D be overrated as writers when every 10th comment on this site calls them garbage? FWIW, I think Benioff is pretty good, and Weiss is the weak link of the writing duo.

  99. Game of Thrones is more of a “favorite” of mine, I follow it much more closely, but Boardwalk Empire is often a higher caliber of writing, directing, and in some cases acting.

    We been on the road for 18 hours. I need a bath, some chow, and then you and me sit down and we talk about who dies. Hnyah?

  100. Stannis the Mannis:
    A generation from now someone will remake ASOIAF the right way.

    Unless you are talking about an anime version there’s no way a show they can top this adaptation. No one will come close to matching the budget that HBO has put into this rendition of game of thrones for a remake. Also, Good luck finding other show runners that actually give a damn about the books. This is the best live action version we will ever get

  101. Turncloak,

    I’m basing my belief that Benioff is the stronger writer based mostly off of his other work, namely his novels. I’m not sure how their partnership works. It may be that because they write most of the episodes there is a higher success/failure rate, but I have always wondered how they could write some truly great episodes with really good dialogue, and then have others that are simply mediocre/okay. I do question whether the good ones are mostly Benioff’s work and the clunkers Weiss’, but I have no proof, and may be completely off the mark.

  103. Al Swearengen,

    DON’T YOU LET JEB CRUSH YOUR DREAMS, AL! His rational answer contravenes to the #BookCanon!!! LOL

    Forget Jeb. He doesn’t need to understand how everyone’s mind works.

    Ry is right. We miss you.

  104. Strider,

    Swedgin is back. But where the hell did Arthur go? He would be geeking out big time with the filming of Daznak’s Pit.

  107. wizardeyes:
    This guy was the only good thing about Pompeii

    Nah, Kiefer Sutherland’s truely hammy performance was what made me able to sit through that disaster of a movie (pun intended). It’s like he knew how bad it was going to be and decided to just have lots and lots of fun with it instead.

  108. Tyrion Pimpslap, I agree, I think Benioff’s novel “City of Thieves” is fantastic. It also felt very cinematic to me, like it could easily be translated onto the screen.

  109. Tyrion Pimpslap,

    According to their appearance on this show they split up the episodes and write different scenes apart from one another. They probably write bigger scenes like the RW or Oberyn v. the Mountain together though.

  110. I think he’ll play a similar role to the one he plays in Pompeii, as the gladiator Atticus.

    But in this case it will be as a gladiator for the Daznak Pit.

    And I think we’ll see a lot of him interacting with Jorah and Tyrion.

  111. A new pic from the “Juego de Tronos” Facebook page titled “Jaime de paseo por Dorne” (Jaime walking around Dorne) shows Nikolaj Coster-Waldaus we have seen him already a couple times —disguised as a Dornish rider. It’s him at the back —the quality is not so good, but you just glimpse Jaime’s golden hand.

  112. Luka Nieto,

    Awesome.

    Fedejru,

    I still think he’s definitely the Pit Announcer from the most recent casting call. He’s worked with David J. Peterson’s languages before in Thor 2, so we know he could handle the Valyrian. Also it sounds like a pretty showy prominent role which would feature in one of the biggest tv moments of next year. It would be a smaller part than some others but I don’t think it’s beneath him.

  113. Tyrion Pimpslap:
    Strider,

    Swedgin is back. But where the hell did Arthur go? He would be geeking out big time with the filming of Daznak’s Pit.

    Tyrion Pimpslap,

    I know, right? Arthur was great. And where is Wildseed? She was awesome too. Not to mention Mrs. H’ghar. For that matter, where is Jaqen H’ghar? Wasn’t he supposed to be returning in Season 5? Anyway, it’s great that Al is back. And his favorites – Fincher and Darabont – are so talented it’s scary.

  114. Congrats to Mr Akinnuoye-Agbaje on joining the GoT family.
    I cannot believe how upset some on here are to the casting, because some of their book favs haven’t yet been or probably won’t be cast. I personally am upset over LS, but not to the point of attacking casting of other actors and characters.
    D&D have done almost a perfect job with added characters…
    1. Talisa
    2. Locke
    3. Ros

    Not to mentions altered scenes and arcs.
    1. Hound/Arya/Brienne
    2. Arya/Tywin
    3. Missandei
    4. Tyrion/Bronn
    5. Gendry

  115. Cami,

    Keep them coming Cami. You are on a roll!

    Tyrion Pimpslap,

    Yes, missing an Arthur here too! Ah, well… As long as Arthur knows where the right site is (that’s WotW, just so we’re clear), we can do nothing but wait lol

  117. Jeb,

    My point is there are already characters in the book that could normally fulfil these roles. Why do we need to make them up?! Most of the made up characters have been pretty shite so far. Talisa was pretty much Jeyne Westerling under a different name (no idea why they needed to change the character as they had the exact same role). Ros was pretty rubbish and just used as someone for main characters to interact with. Olyvar is the male Ros. Locke would have been a good change and was doing great until they randomly sent him on the most pointless of missions to the wall and beyond and Karl Tanner was only bearable as Burn played him so OTT.
    Will see how he’s cast as but I think in most cases then an exisiting book character could be more easily adapted.

  120. Can’t believe no one is suggesting this but Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje could be Quhuru Mo from the Cinnamon Wind.

  121. Flay Ramsay,

    Would love it, but afraid he’s too young and too American. Shannon is also too American.

    I really wanted Charlie Cox for Arys Oakheart if they went that route.

  125. clearly an aged up Satin?

    (Sorry-I had too). But seriously, I will be pised if we don’t get Elder Brother at some point-his speech to Brienne is one of the most touching scences of the whole series-I will hope that this is who he is playing!

  126. Wait…what?

    I know I wasn’t the only one fancasting him for Areo Hotah for a few years now, so this is awesome. My heart hasn’t skipped a beat like this since…well, since Alexander Siddig introduced himself in the casting video.

    But what about this new character though?

  130. Mr. Eko! I hope he is a Moqorro-type Red Priest character.
    To a poster above who wondered whether or not Moqorro and Benarro are important to the end game: Yes. They are part of the fight between light and dark, fire and ice. So a new composite character to give us the essence of both characters’ messages is needed. And D&D cannot just call him Moqorro if GRRM objects (much like Talisa).
    So excited by this news! Love this guy!

  131. Hodor’s Bastard,

    Alan Taylor, Tim Van Patten…plus the ones you mentioned…pretty much anyone who mattered on the sopranos came to direct/produce GoT

    What a talent filled show the Sopranos was.
    Matthew Weiner was a writer – went on to create MadMen
    Terrence Winter – went on to create Boardwalk Empire.
    No wonder the Sopranos was amazing

  134. Ser Matt the Sullen:
    Broken Wolf,

    Keep those hopes alive! Iron Islands is CUT dude. Sorry to break it to you.

    Have we received any OFFICIAL confirmation that the Iron Islands were cut? I didn’t think so. Just like we were as good as TOLD at this years San Diego Comic Con that LS would be seen sometime during the show. I promise all of you, the Iron Islands are not cut. May I be flayed alive if I’m wrong.

  135. Broken Wolf,

    Of course the Iron Islands are not “cut.” Yara’s still there, Balon still has something very important to do… but if you’re expecting the Greyjoy uncles, especially Victarion, well… yeah, that’s wishful thinking.

  136. Tereeza777,

    Some commenters changed their aliases when they started posting on Watchers on the Wall. I know that Mine is the Furry used to be Rygar (only after it was pointed out to me though). Though in all honesty, I don’t know if the people you have mentioned have changed their names or not.

    Turning to matters mentioned in other comments, I didn’t hate the Ros character the way some people did – I thought perhaps the character was a device for rolling some of the prostitutes from the books into one character to save on casting. In real life there were medieval “wise women” who did a sort of medical role and apparently the University of Salerno did take women students on its medical course way back when, but the way Talisa spoke sharply to Robb when they first met rather jarred with me; royalty had so much power then that an ordinary person, even one of noble birth, would have had to be careful how they spoke to a king. Wouldn’t a woman on her own, especially a handsome one, have needed some sort of bodyguard working in a predominantly male environment, yet Talisa is first seen strolling round the battle-field with only the Silent Sisters for company. It struck me as incongruous and when I saw that scene I hadn’t read the books to know that the character had been changed.

    Not sure who AAA is playing but I’m sure he’ll do a good job.

  138. Jaime’s girl:
    King Tommen,

    Good call about the name similarity, but as much as I like the Benerro and Moqorro characters, can someone speculate as to what he would provide, plot-wise, if there is no Victarion storyline?

    I have not thought about this much.. please enlighten me!

    I will speculate: what if Moqorro’s role in the books ends up actually being more important than Victarion’s? Maybe Victarion dies soon in TWOW, but the scary red priest connected to Dany’s storyline goes on to do some important stuff in future books.

  139. tyjon:
    Congrats to Mr Akinnuoye-Agbaje on joining the GoT family.
    I cannot believe how upset some on here are to the casting, because some of their book favs haven’t yet been or probably won’t be cast. I personally am upset over LS, but not to the point of attacking casting of other actors and characters.
    D&D have done almost a perfect job with added characters…
    1. Talisa
    2. Locke
    3. Ros

    Not to mentions altered scenes and arcs.
    1. Hound/Arya/Brienne
    2. Arya/Tywin
    3. Missandei
    4. Tyrion/Bronn
    5. Gendry

    Tyrion/Bronn is pretty much the same in books and the show, apart from giving Bronn the position of the head of the City Watch to avoid introducing yet another character.

    Arya/Tywin was pointless, OOC, illogical, and responsible for watering down Arya’s really strong book storyline from A Clash of Kings. And I thought you were being sarcastic when I saw Talisa and Ros listed as good original characters.

  140. Annara Snow,

    It seems that Moqorro serves a similar “R’hllor-perspective” role in eastern Essos like Mel does in the North/Dragonstone and Thoros does in the Riverlands, possibly to inject a little supernatural when necessary. Personally, I wonder if Arya will eventually meet up with Ezzelyno in Braavos and expand the connection between the Many-Faced god and R’hllor. Arya’s take on that, given that she already is balancing her Old Gods and Many-Faced God intuition, could spice things up somewhat as she moves forward.

    We’ve already got an indirect (direct?) connection via blood between the Old Gods and R’hllor (from Locke’s essay and book canon), which I am very intrigued about. I’m also waiting for more assertive R’hllor perspective in Oldtown. I simply find the Red God’s growing influence throughout Westeros and Essos quite intriguing.

  141. Hodor’s Bastard,

    As a follow-up, isn’t the act of being faceless actually a glamour? That’s another direct connection between R’hllor and the Many-Faced God. Beware Oldtown, Meereen, Castle Black….you’ve been infiltrated!

    Hopefully, the upcoming TWoI&F compendium elaborates on this a bit.

  143. tyjon,

    You’re kidding, right?
    By season 4, Locke was a thinly-veiled plot device who amounted to a huge pile of wasted potential, and once they couldn’t think of anything else to do with Ros, they killed her off for a cheap shock. As for Talisa, I guess I can sort of get behind that, but it’s pretty clear she was just added for the doomed love story and to make the Red Wedding that much worse. When you can easily spot that characters are just agents of the plot rather than people unto themselves then they’ve been written wrong.

  144. Schrödinger’s Cat,

    If you know what’s going to happen, you can see everything as an agent of the plot. Differences from the book stand out because they are new, not because they are particularly different in their construction.

  145. Hodor’s Bastard: As a follow-up, isn’t the act of being faceless actually a glamour?

    In the show, maybe. But given the room full of human faces Arya and the Kindly Man visit, that’s not how I see it in the books. Arya has to put one on and it sort of bonds to her face, and then she ends up having nightmares from the memories of the original owner. So that doesn’t sound like a glamour to me. GRRM seems to have left it a bit ambiguous, though, given when Arya first meets the Kindly Man he shows her his face as a skull cover in worms or something, which does sound more like a glamour.

  146. Schrödinger’s Cat,

    It’s confusing though: while the dead face is something she puts on as a mask, when she touches it still feels like Arya’s face. There has to be some magic involved, but even then, how does it work? It must be something in-between a physical mask and a glamour. I never understood it completely. Maybe we are not meant to yet.

  147. Schrödinger’s Cat,

    I thought they should have gone with Locke being the person Brienne fought at the end of the season so that arc closed satisfyingly, then they could have delayed the Rorge/Biter bs Hound fight to lay him low/dead (perhaps with a minor injury in the Polliver et al scrap so as to weaken him like the bite did. But D&D seem to get horny about main characters crossing paths so that’s what we got.

  148. jentario,

    At SDCC this year, a fan asked about a certain character reveal at the end of book three, and D&D said “we can’t talk bout that.” I, for one, take that as saying she might still show up.

  149. Schrödinger’s Cat:

    Not to mention the way Jaqen changes his face immediately, right in front of Arya. Magic must have been involved there. The process we later see in The House of Black and White is nothing like what Jaqen did, which I always found strange and confusing

  150. Best known for Mr Eko in Lost and Adebisi from Oz. God Oz was such a disturbing series yet somehow gripping.

  151. Schrödinger’s Cat,
    Annara Snow,

    My response was similar to what AS stated, so I shall not repeat it.

    But if Jaqen was able to demonstrate the face-change so quickly for Arya, I would think that he is discontinuing a controlled spell of some sort. But the mask connection is also a head-scratcher. We don’t really even get a glimpse of how Mel performs a glamour either. Also, did Arya’s faceless state simply wear off or did she blink three times then face-off and return the mask?

    There must be a glamour-faceless connection, but as LN mentioned maybe we are due to discover the details soon.

  153. Fantastic news! To have him back on HBO is amazing! While the posting mentions those anemic movies “Pompeii”, and “Thor Dark Something Something”…Mr. Agbaye’s careers is much deeper, varied and interesting.

    I had the privilege to watch him, as many have mentioned, in the groundbreaking HBO series “OZ”.

    I think we are lucky to get him on the show! Alexander Siddig, Jonathan Price and now Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje round off some really good casting choices…

    In Nina Gold we trust!

  155. I love this actor. He was such an amazing character in Oz. His role in Lost was really disappointing. I am happy that he comes back in a quality HBO production.

    Since his character is not in the book I expect him to be secondary but I hope it will not mean useless.

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