More Castings Afoot for the Game of Thrones Spinoff!

King's Landing Dragonpit 7x07 (2) Drogon Dragon Daenerys

HBO has been extremely tight-lipped with news regarding its Game of Thrones spinoff reported to be centered around The Long Night. Last month a handful of casting notices leaked, tipping off fans that the network is seeking a more diverse group of talent for the new show. The castings continue this month, with a fresh batch happening right now, and Watchers on the Wall has the descriptions right here!

As in September, the new info comes courtesy of a Norwegian site for actors gathering the descriptions from Spotlight‘s casting calls. The site has been updated with more roles, and we were able to acquire exclusive additional info with a little help from friends.

These latest ones were posted on October 24th, and the window for them closes on November 17th. HBO will reportedly start filming in February 2019, so there should be some roles cast soon!

These role are encoded (as were the previous ones), with descriptions right from the casting agencies, but it’s enough to get speculating! The parts include:

  • B3 (Male, 50 – 63 years old) SERIES REGULAR. Playing age 50s. Black actor.
  • W (Male, 37 – 45 years old) Playing age late 30s-mid 40s. Caucasian actor.
  • E (Male, 30 – 38 years old) SERIES REGULAR. Playing age 30s. Genuine Scandinavian, Germanic, or Eastern European.
  • V2 (Male, 49 – 58 years old) SERIES REGULAR. Playing age 50s. Genuine Scandinavian, Germanic, or Eastern European.
  • N (Female, 31 – 34 years old) SERIES REGULAR. Playing age early 30s. Caucasian actress.
  • M3 (Female, 28 – 31 years old) SERIES REGULAR. Playing age late 20s. Caucasian actress.

What do you all make of the latest info? Hopefully we’ll get some casting announcements shortly!

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Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

39 Comments

  1. spacechampion,

    Lucinda Syson has a great track record, and most importantly has worked with Goldman a ton. Her understanding of the creators’ styles and needs is important. She’ll do just fine.

  2. Hard to get too excited at the moment purely because S8 looms and we have no idea what is going to happen in the prequel.

  3. Jon Snowed:
    Hard to get too excited at the moment purely because S8 looms and we have no idea what is going to happen in the prequel.

    “Well, make do!”

    – Tyrion Lannister

  4. “N” and “M3”:

    India Eisley (was my “dream cast” for Lyanna Stark);

    and Riley Keough (“Capable” from Mad Max Fury Road)

  5. There are quite a few series regulars from a Nordic/Germanic background. I wonder if they’re from a what-is-currently north of the wall area of Westeros. Or possibly Valyrian ancestors over in Essos.

  6. Seriously for B3 there are several great actors beside Mr Elba; Colin Salmon, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Idris level), Delroy Lindo, to name a just a few superb British Thespians.

  7. This is clearly a Valyrian casting. Silver hair, beautiful Scandinavian blue eyes.

    This is the Dance of the Dragons prequel.

  8. Tyjon,

    Idris is great, but I really like Delroy Lindo! Plus, I always got the impression that GoT didn’t especially want to cast big name, superstar actors. Actors that I don’t know help me to melt into the story a lot easier. These roles could really change someone’s life!

  9. I think Delroy Lindo is naturalised American now? I didn’t realise he was born in England though I did like him in The Good Fight. I hadn’t realised Eamonn Walker (the fire chief in Chicago Fire) was British born or that he was the same actor who played “Marigold” (*Alf Garnett’s carer) in In Sickness and in Health in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Well, we never got a Brown Ben Plumm (book character I wouldn’t have minded being included in the TV adaptation) in GoT.

    * English equivalent of Archie Bunker.

    I can’t think of anyone offhand to play the parts but it’s all fun.

  10. That’s considered the most likely date but it could air any time between March and May. We will also get a trailer in 2018 (according to the HBO chief).

  11. Anon:
    Tyjon,

    Idris is great, but I really like Delroy Lindo!Plus, I always got the impression that GoT didn’t especially want to cast big name, superstar actors. Actors that I don’t know help me to melt into the story a lot easier. These roles could really change someone’s life!

    It was nice to get some ‘fresh’ actors for GoT that ended up being excellent for the most part. I think the ages of a lot of main characters in ASoIaF sort of forced them that direction though. That and looking for primarily Western European accented actors which narrowed the range. When looking for older characters it was more likely that roles would be filled with actors at least somewhat known such as Bean, Headey, Dinklage, Cosmo and others. We have to think that during initial casting they may not have had people beating on the doors for a part either. With no familiarity with the story and simply hearing it’s about dragons, wolves, magic… it might not have appeared to be something that would succeed.

    Of course we don’t know what ages all the characters will be for this new series but this list is for adult/older characters. They could draw quite a bit of interest from Names due to the massiveness of GoT. I wouldn’t be surprised if the main-main characters aren’t filled with well known actors, similar to Henry Cavill being cast as Geralt for The Witcher series.

  12. “We have to think that during initial casting they may not have had people beating on the doors for a part either.”

    In the immortal words of Dame Maggie Smith, “you take every part you are offered, because you might never get another one.” We can assume even the smallest parts had as many applicants as the producers and casting director could possibly accomodate.

  13. hamnoo:
    So it’s two young women and four old(er) dudes. Who’d have thought.

    Yeah, that was my initial reaction as well. Like, why not 46-53 yr old woman playing a pivotal role or series regular.

    OK, so we do not really know about the casting, we’re only going by these cryptic notices, but what struck me is “older guys, younger women”.

    I’m not against (presumably attractive) younger women having roles, good on them and mayhaps on the story, but I’d wish for fleshed out middle-aged and older women roles. I mean, the Queen of Thorns Lady Olenna, as played by Diana Rigg, was a huge fan favourite. Even Lena Heady, who is excellent as Cersei, is in her forties now.

    GoT somewhat perpetuates the badass tomboy cliche with Arya and the sarky dowager cliche with Lady Olenna. What I’d hope for in the spin-off is women in the middle, not young, not old, perhaps mothers but not living through their sons, to have their stories told properly. As in, female character XYZ, age 47-56 is as important as male character ZYX, age 47-53.

    We don’t actually know much about the Dawn Age, the Pact, the Long Night, the Age of Heroes. Most of the histories and lore seem collected by the maesters from the victors very long after the fact. I think GRRM is trying to point out the fact that history is a fucking tangle of contradictory narratives, and what becomes the “truth” is decided and imposed by the boss guy/gal, the eventual winner. Varys’s riddle of where power resides is one expression, so is S1 Cersei telling Joff “the truth is whatever you want it to be”.

    Some sort of a partly matriarchal society isn’t out of the realms of possibility in GRRM’s ancient Westeros prehistory, but I doubt the spin-off show will go there. Too feminist, too “virtue-signalling”, would maybe lose paying viewers. I dunno.

  14. Clob: It was nice to get some ‘fresh’ actors for GoT that ended up being excellent for the most part.I think the ages of a lot of main characters in ASoIaF sort of forced them that direction though.That and looking for primarily Western European accented actors which narrowed the range.When looking for older characters it was more likely that roles would be filled with actors at least somewhat known such as Bean, Headey, Dinklage, Cosmo and others.We have to think that during initial casting they may not have had people beating on the doors for a part either.With no familiarity with the story and simply hearing it’s about dragons, wolves, magic… it might not have appeared to be something that would succeed.

    Am definitely hopeful that the prequel will give us the same blend of new faces and recognizable acting talent that GoT did!

  15. talvikorppi, and Hamnoo,

    I agree. That was my first thought. Of cooooooourse older men with younger women. I would hope that this is just the initial casting, and they will be more inclusive for age as well as diversity in other ways. A girl can dream…..

  16. Shelle:
    Ooohh, 31-year-old Caucasian lady (with some acting ‘sperience) here…>:-}

    I had this same thought. 34-year-old female right here! Sadly not an actor though; do you think that’s a prerequisite? 😂

  17. Roberta Baratheon:
    talvikorppi, and Hamnoo,

    I agree.That was my first thought.Of cooooooourse older men with younger women.I would hope that this is just the initial casting, and they will be more inclusive for age as well as diversity in other ways.A girl can dream…..

    Oh come on. 2 of the men are 30s or 30s-40s.

    Che: I had this same thought. 34-year-old female right here! Sadly not an actor though; do you think that’s a prerequisite? 😂

    We should all try out! 😁

  18. Pigeon,

    Yeah, a couple of younger guys. Several older guys. A couple of younger gals. NO older gals. See the difference? See why it caught the attention of several fans.

    Anyway, it’s not worth getting our knickers in a twist, maybe all the women aged 43-57 were cast earlier, maybe this call is for supplementary characters or something. I just noticed the discrepancy in the age range for male/female characters in this particular casting call.

  19. I know everyone’s got their favorite choices for these roles. But I for one would want to see new faces, it kinda helps when you want to get immersed in the world. As much as I’d love Idris Elba to star in my favorite show, I think I’d feel disconnected when seeing a familiar famous face in a fantasy show like this. Though that would also mean that if they got new faces, they’ll have to be convincing in their acting too. But generally I welcome seeing new raw talents.

  20. Pigeon: Oh come on. 2 of the men are 30s or 30s-40s.

    We should all try out!

    Not sure! {:D I do recall reading recently, someplace, that they wanted authentic British accents…whiiiich, as an American I obviously don’t have. (I’m from New Jersey like Dinklage though, and I mean, I can do my best to imitate…the Spice Girls always gave me lots of practice…xD) But, I’d already submitted myself just for the luls, ’cause why not? ^p~

    Totally agreed w/ Clob!
    People turn down roles all the time, often for good reasons, though when you’re starting out it’s probably a good idea to accept as many as possible. I’m sure they weren’t initially saturated with people wanting to be in the show…but my, how things change. x) I did read the Naomi Watts rumor; she’s good, it’s just that I sometimes seem to have some trouble seeing her as anyone but Rachel from The Ring. *-*’

  21. “Diversity” in Hollywood now means “more black actors”.

    Westeros has almost all white characters in the GoT time frame. So having actors of different skin colors has to make sense for the story line. It would be weird to see a prequel with a diverse cast and then randomly a mostly white cast for the series later on in the time line. As long as everything makes sense and the acting is good, I am happy.

    I don’t have huge hopes for this series. Catching lightning in a bottle twice is nearly impossible.

  22. Everything I post lately gets stuck in moderation! 😡

    James Hibberd is reporting that Naomi Watts has indeed been cast in the prequel.

  23. Sue the Fury:
    spacechampion,

    Lucinda Syson has a great track record, and most importantly has worked with Goldman a ton. Her understanding of the creators’ styles and needs is important. She’ll do just fine.

    I’m sure she will. I wasn’t being serious. Just a moment of love for the first part of GOT that was universally praised, all those years ago. The casting! Now here we are again…

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