Dickon’s Recasting Confirmed and Explained by original actor Freddie Stroma

Freddie Stroma as Dickon Tarly in "Blood of My Blood"
Freddie Stroma as Dickon Tarly in “Blood of My Blood”

Back in 2015, Freddie Stroma was cast as Dickon, Sam’s younger yet hunkier brother. Sam and Gilly’s visit to Horn Hill turned out to be quite memorable, but that was mostly thanks to Samantha Spiro and James Faulkner as Lady Melessa and Lord Randyll. The dinner scene was excellent indeed, but Stroma didn’t get to do much besides ask about Night’s Watch hunting habits and react skeptically about the White Walkers.

Unfortunately, it is now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that his most memorable “There’s no such thing” line will be as much as we’ll ever get of Stroma’s interpretation of Dickon, as the actor himself has confirmed he will not return, and explained why.

On IGN, Terri Schwartz reports Stroma’s statement on the subject at the 2017 winter TV Critics Association, where he was representing the new ABC series Time After Time: “I was shooting this, so my character, I wouldn’t be able to go back now. It was still fun. I got to be in that world. I’ve watched all of it. It’s just an incredible TV show.”

When Stroma got the role for season six, he was reportedly told “there’s a chance this is going to be coming back,” which means the Game of Thrones production knew Dickon would return. Nevertheless, as a fan of the show, the actor doesn’t regret his brief role: “Even just to get such a toe in there is fun. Just to be on set and kind of feel like I was in that world, I was a fan sitting there at the table doing that scene.”

Tom Hopper and James Faulkner, in Caceres / Photo: Hoy
Tom Hopper and James Faulkner, in Caceres / Photo: Hoy

Of course, as Schwartz herself explains in her article, here at Watchers of the Wall we already got wind of Dickon’s recasting back in November, once Black Sails actor Tom Hopper, instead of Freddie Stroma, appeared on location alongside James Faulkner. Still, it’s nice to have a confirmation from the original actor. Get used to Tom Hopper’s face (not that it’s difficult), because that’s who we’ll see as Dickon in season seven.

28 Comments

  1. He must be feeling a bit Confunded about this, nonetheless!

    I hope they don’t make a mess of Time after Time. The movie version was delightful, but I think that was largely the chemistry between Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm MacDowell.

  2. This is OT: but somebody asked George on his blog in the comments if he would do more mediveal fantasy after ASOIAF and he said he would like to write more in using the same world after he is done his Ice and Fire books

    That’s exciting 🙂

    This was his response:

    “I will likely write more stories set in the world of Westeros after ICE & FIRE. Dunk and Egg, for starts.

    Will I ever attempt another seven-book megaseries set in an entirely different fantasy world? Unlikely.

    I have other stories I want to tell too. SF as well as fantasy. More Wild Cards, more Thousand Worlds.”

  3. Dee Stark: Will I ever attempt another seven-book megaseries

    He never intended ASoIaF to be a 7 book megaseries either so his plans/intentions aren’t very realistic regarding that entire quote from his comment thread. But I wish him luck on producing all that material and I will read it if it ever hits the bookshelves

  4. Making the 8: But I wish him luck on producing all that material and I will read it if it ever hits the bookshelves

    Authors clearly are like scientists: they will talk about 50 years of future projects they intend to start and complete through breathing tubes on their deathbeds! (Not that GRRM is on his death bed, but he’s talking about many, many years of work there!)

  5. People previously unfamiliar with either actor probably won’t even notice the change since Dickon was barely seen in S6. It won’t be drastic like Daario.

    Speaking of the dinner scene, I expected Dickon to be more ‘dickish’ than they had him – more like his father. Maybe they’ll dick up Dickon in S7 with Hopper…

  6. Sue the Fury:
    “Get used to Tom Hopper’s face (not that it’s difficult)”

    I’ll say.

    This was what I was going to comment on as soon as I read the post lol. Not difficult at all!

  7. Having just binged all of Black Sails, I’m quite happy with this recasting because Tom Hopper is fabulous.

  8. Oh my, he is simply…delicious.
    Don´t get me wrong, I like Samwell, but hey, there is no denying who is the hotter bro here.
    I can see why Daddy Tarly would prefer Dickon to be the heir, but if he was a better person he would siply have talked to Samwell into their options. I am sure Samwell would have liked to go to the Citadel and become a super Maester- I bet Daddy Tarly did not want to spend a dime on Samwell´s education and expected him to die a discreet death up North.

  9. Priscila:
    Oh my, he is simply…delicious.
    Don´t get me wrong, I like Samwell, but hey, there is no denying who is the hotter bro here.
    I can see why Daddy Tarly would prefer Dickon to be the heir, but if he was a better person he would siply have talked to Samwell into their options. I am sure Samwell would have liked to go to the Citadel and become a super Maester- I bet Daddy Tarly did not want to spend a dime on Samwell´s education and expected him to die a discreet death up North.

    He hates maesters.

  10. Priscila,

    I thought Lord Tarly abhorred the idea of any Tarly spending their lifetime in servitude. In addition he thinks very little of maesters. If I remember correctly, in the books Sam specifically tells Jon that he can’t go to the Citadel to become a maester because his father would forbid it. He remembered an instance when Randall chained him in a cell and left him there for days for suggesting he could go to the Citadel to earn chains.

  11. I guess only the first-first-string characters get some kind of guarantee? Only glitchey one seems to be Daario Naharis. In that case, Michiel Huisman has worked out better than Ed Skrein. Skrein’s replacement seems to have been explained as a series conflict, and something else? I can’t remember.
    I still think Conan Stevens was the best Gregor Clegane, but there seems it was ‘creative differences’ , tho after all this time, that story is still a bit of mystery to me. Ian Whyte was awkward place holder. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is ok as a costume action figure.
    I have wondered how Nell Tiger Free feels about playing Myrcella? As it turned out, so brief, Aimee Richardson could have done it. Aimee’s story still seems odd, she has now gone on to more TV work and is a real actress.

  12. Don’t get me wrong, I like Tom Hopper as much as any other gal, but while Stroma seemed like reasonably cast as Sam’s younger brother, Hopper looks as if Lady Tarly had some good time with the hunky stable boy. He doesn’t really look younger than Sam either.
    But well, I can live with that.

  13. Was that some bizarre way of trying to say he couldn’t film due to this new commitment? Not that I blame him for making a business decision like that but just what GOT needs…more recasting to confuse casual viewers. You’d think with all the recasts the casting department would have some crazy rigid contracts in place to prevent this but at this point, the only thing more confusing would be if they started swapping their existing actors to play other characters.

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