Two weeks ago the Game of Thrones casting leak floodgates opened and now today we have more information for you fans hungry for season 6 news.
In addition to the dozen roles listed previously, Game of Thrones is now also on the hunt for an actress to play a very specific type. Since some viewers are particular about their spoilers, we’re going to tuck all this info below a cut.
According to the casting breakdown provided by our sources, the show is looking for a young woman approximately 18-22 years old of any ethnicity to play an “impactful role” in season 6. It’s noted that the part requires a lot of days filming between Oct. 14th and Dec. 7th.
Here’s where the role gets very specific: the actress needs to be very short – about 5 feet tall or shorter. They’re asking for “striking facial features,” eyes that are far apart if possible, and someone with a “child-like physique.” They need someone who is charismatic and has the ability to handle action scenes as well.
A description so exact screams Child of the Forest to us. We previously met the mysterious beings only briefly, when Bran and his party came across one just as they reached the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave in the season 4 finale.
The Child of the Forest we met then was played by young actress Octavia Alexandru. If the role being cast is a Child of the Forest, we don’t know if this new older actress is replacing Alexandru or playing a different character. It’s possible they wanted to take the Children in a different direction and cast someone older with more experience who is able to work more hours. Perhaps they will bring Alexandru back and and we will see several Children?
Bran Stark was stated to return in season 6 and if this is a Child casting, that would confirm that he is coming back on schedule.
What say you, readers- can you think of any more possibilities for this casting breakdown?
Interesting!
If Bran taps the Weirwood maybe this could be for flashbacks involving CotF as well.
Interesting. Just hope they don’t copy True Blood’s fireball throwing sequence again
Speaking of casting, have we already seen the “Winterfell Worker” they cast for this season (who resembled Arya)? Did she show up and I’ve missed her, or will she be in episode 10?
Definitly sounds like a Child of the Forest. It’s hard to tell what her role will be since Bran’s chapters are basically all caught up except for the Weirwood Web stuff. It’s also interesting that she’ll be a big part and have a lot of action scenes.
Nice! I’m glad to see Bran’s storyline will be picking up. I’m really excited to see where his stuff goes because it definitely has a lot of potential.
Also, the request to be good in action scenes is interesting as well. Could they possibly be on the move again this season?
Edit: Damn, I messed up my email when posting this, oh well haha.
I’m curious about this bit and its potential implications for Bran’s storyline in the show (and potentially for TWOW as well):
And now for everyone’s favorite game: baseless speculation!
Given that Martin indicated that Bran would return in TWOW, and given that Bloodraven’s cave is surrounded by wights by ADWD, Bran III and the show, will there be an attempt by the Others to breach the warded cave? Will the Others use some sort of ritual to breach the cave? Mayhaps they’ll use a blood sacrifice, foreshadowing a blood sacrifice to bring down the Wall at the end of TWOW or S06?
I have a lot of questions on the “ability to handle action scenes” bit from the casting.
Darquemode,
That would actually be really cool. That would be a nice way to inform the show watchers who and what the Children of the Forest really are. There could even be a flashback to the War of the Dawn and maybe learn more about the Others this way.
how tall is 5 feets in meters?
Why do so many people complain about the fireballs? It’s basically how they saved Bran and Co. in AFWD and they obviously needed fire to efficiently destroy the wights. Such a silly thing to complain about.
It really seems pretty obvious that this is all about a child of the forest. However, if that were true, I can´t quite grasp in what way this could be an “impactful role” (assuming “impactful” isn´t an exaggeration).
The only candidate I could think about would be:
What could be another logical explanation is Bran looking back to the very beginnings of Westeros, seeing the original children of the forest and the Others interacting long before the Andals invaded. This would truly be interesting and impactful since it could possibly provide crucial information for Westeros in general and the Night´s Watch especially.
Interesting stuff, anyways, especially the part mentioning “action sequences”. I dare not speculate what this might foreshadow…
BryndenBFish,
That’s definitely a possibility. They have to have something in the show to bring down the Wall. They seemed to have skipped the Horn of Joramun route, although there was a horn with the cache of dragonglass, but they didn’t address it on the show.
Fedejru,
1.52 meters.
Fedejru,
About 1.5 meters
Hope TWOW is out next year or every shocking death/scene next season will be “gratuitous fanfic for shock value only” lol.
Fedejru,
1.5 meters
Or maybe it’s referring to events from TWOW that we don’t know about yet. We really can’t speculate based on book knowledge any longer, except for background info. At least not in Bran’s plotline.
To be fair, Alexandru was only in one scene, and it is two years now, so it might make sense to recast here.
It’s very nice to hear that there will be progression in the Bran story. It is also really exciting not knowing where it will go.
Alex Stroup,
My thoughts exactly.
It would explain the emphasis on action scenes.
Maybe something like live action version of the BluRay Histories explaining the history of the White Walkers, The Children of the Forest and the Battle for the Dawn. It would be awesome to witness it through Bran’s eyes via the Weirwood!
Out of Topic:
Rating for Episode 9 : 7.14 million (3.7)
http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/06/final-adjusted-tv-ratings-for-sunday.html
A slight increase from episode 8
Interesting, I hope they won’t recast Octavia though, it was nice having our first romanian actor in GoT, I don’t want her to go 🙂
We basically have to resign ourselves to the fact that the show is finishing before the books. And I’m assuming that things that we’re supposed to find out in TWOW, we’ll find out next season. Like GRRM said that we’ll find out about Jon’s parentage next book, so we’ll find out next season? And if so, how will we find out? And how will Jon find out? Even if Bran sees this, how would he communicate it to Jon? Gaaaahh so many questions!!!
Delta1212,
True, almost everything from now on is in speculation-territory. I´m just a bit shocked by the mention of “action sequences”, since I personally saw Bran staying in the warded cave for quite the whole of TWOW. Interesting that Bran´s story seems to get an action-aspect a lot sooner than I expected.
I mean, it is quite scary what this might foreshadow. Bran may never even be
The alternative is that she is one of Arya’s new faces, but yeah… I think she’s a CotF and most likely a recast Leaf since they really don’t need another CotF speaking role.
It’s a bit anniying, though, that all the CotF are female in the show (at least so far). Hopefully they get some male CotF extras at least. And hopefully the next time we see Bloodraven, they’ll pimp him out and make him more tree like. The root coming out of his eye has to happen.
And my guess for the fight scene is this: relatively early in the season, Jon trecks out beyond the Wall (or maybe he gets thrown out there?) and ends uo being chased by wights. Then the CotF save him and lead him to Bran- which is where we see him for the first time since season 4. Because, as I said many times already- I simply can’t see the show opening up season 6 as if Bran never disappeared. The only proper way to reintroduce him after skipping a season is through another character and storyline, and to show how much he’s changed (both physically and mentally). Just opening 601 with a random Bran scene in the cave would be equally stupid as starting a Rickon storyline in season 6.
Maceless Fan,
Because it looked ridiculous and cheap. If the effects were any good, maybe we could overlook the fact that she’s flinging fireballs. And it’s a shame since the rest if the scene was amazing.
Balerion The Cat,
She was pretty unrecognizable in the episode. Turns out they digitally altered her face for whatever reasons.
goodkinghenry,
I hope it never comes out. Just for the laughs.
ace,
Great numbers. The finale will probably have even better ratings. Can it near the premiere’s 8 million?
jentario,
And let me clarify why I think this will happen in the books and the show. Way back in AGOT, Old Nan tells the story of the Last Hero (the one who fights the White Walkers) and at the end he gets chased by them and saved by the CotF. Something about that scens felt like Foreshadowing to me, and it’s looking incredibly likely that Jon is the new Last Hero.
I liked Octavia’s casting test video better than her actual appearance as Leaf in ep10 last year. BR and the CotF need an upgrade. They came across as a budget-busted afterthought.
Sounds like they’re recasting Maisie.
Although I think this casting call is most likely for a CoF, I believe that there is another possibility too. She could be a Crannog(wo)man. I have suspected that House Reed will play an increasingly more important role as the epic progresses.
Maceless Fan,
When did GRRM say this???
I kind of assumed they’d recast them each year because they’re not supposed to age.
Maceless man… No it’s not a silly scene to complain about.
The scene looked ridiculous
But more importantly… The concept of hurling a fireball
that materialized out of thin air street fighter style
is what some people didn’t appreciate
Feet? Please use the metric system!
Couldn’t it be Arya/no-one with a different face?
For any casting gurus out there:
Has there any word at all on any casting of any of the other Northern lords? Or should we just give up all hope of anything resembling the GNC?
ratings are up again
http://headlineplanet.com/home/2015/06/09/ratings-hbos-game-of-thrones-rises-again/
jentario,
An excellent suggestion. It sounds like a great way to re-introduce Bran and demonstrate his importance to the upcoming battle of ice and fire.
sunday’s “Game of Thrones,” which was the ninth of the fifth season, posted a 3.65 adults 18-49 rating with 7.14 million viewers.
Good to hear “action scenes”
CoTF to start tearing it up in S6 and WoW!
As far as we know, they haven’t put out a casting call for anyone who is too fat to ride a horse yet…but we have our eyes peeled!
Brian,
You really could just chalk that up magic. They clearly would have access to it. How else would they have burned the wights more efficiently? And is the problem that you have that they used fireballs in general, or just how they looked?
Just one more piece of evidence that this show is simply no longer “appointment TV”! … oh, wait, “up”? … never mind, then… 🙂
Syrio disguised as a childlike woman confirmed.
Get hype!
http://nypost.com/2014/10/20/how-thrones-author-george-r-r-martin-got-his-game-on/ kdenn1020,
Patchface, if you’re reading this, you told me to ask you for more Season 6 spoilers after episode 9 aired. Well, episode 9 has aired, so I’m officially asking.
kdenn1020,
Well he said it in an interview some months back. But then again, he also said that if he didn’t reveal it in TWOW then definitely in ADOS. But that also sounds kind of pointless to say because it obviously has to be revealed in one book or the other. I would lean more towards D&D revealing it next season though, mainly because they seem to be going full throttle with the story. But as I said before, how will Jon find this out?
That’s not really an issue, facially. The Child’s face that we saw was CGI. They talked about it in the making-of video. And I think Alexandru is still not that big since she’s only about 13-14 and hasn’t matured all that much since GoT. Since they’re casting a petite woman, not another child, I think this is probably a case where they wanted someone more adult to work with.
Did you ever hear that theory that maybe the white walkers themselves built the wall to keep men and fire magic out of their lands? It’s interesting because the walkers can clearly do strange things with ice and the Wall is the strangest lol. Don’t know if I actually buy it myself, but it’s an interesting theory.
Definitely a CotF. They are not going to recast Maisie Williams. If she ever wears another face, it will be for a brief time. It’s not a Crannogwoman either. In the show universe they’re normal size. Neither Jojen or Meera were cast with actors that short.
With the physical description, Sasha Cohen who retired from figure skating for an acting career that never happened popped into my head. But that’s not a serious fan casting as she’s too old and too American for what the casting calls for and I have no idea if she can actually act.
The pool of actresses who are that petite and can do action is probably pretty small in the UK and Europe. I’m thinking they might have the best luck looking for an East Asian actress.
Fedejru,
1.524 meters
WeirwoodTreeHugger,
I was thinking that too…
Wonder if Rila Fukushima has a younger sister? XD
She has the look although she is a) too tall and B) busy filming Warrior and C) maybe too old?
Where that theory falls apart is in what the Wall’s magic actually does. It keeps the Others from going south of it. But it doesn’t keep men from going north of it. Why would they build a wall that restricts their own movements but not the movements of men?
Plus, I think blood magic was used to make the Wall, not ice magic. Ygritte says something to that effect and in
Hodor’s Bastard,
I wouldn’t have a problem with that person assuming that role even if it is changed. Though I am starting to worry that there won’t be any of that storyline at all and thus no roles to assume.
goodkinghenry,
I hope it doesn’t. If it does, everything will be ‘but it’s different in the books!’ We’ve had five years of that.
The Trollsen twins are around 5 feet tall. They should cast them!
Hodor’s Bastard,
With GoT’s present budget and increased emphasis on that particular storyline, I’m certain we’ll see a significant upgrade.
jentario,
Maybe it’s not Jon Snow who physically goes beyond the wall to meet Bran .. what if it’s Jon Snow warg into Ghost .. before the Red Witch restores him to his physical body (or the Banners wizard)?? Ghost meets Bran and communicates to him in another manner?
WeirwoodTreeHugger,
Very true. I like that theory more so because it also claims that the Night’s King married a White Walker as a sort of pact between their race and ours, but the kingdom of man reneged on the deal. The show seems to have done away with Coldhands but there are some that think he is/was the Night’s King. I actually think that Coldhands is the original last hero and through him, we’re getting a glimpse into what life will be like for the new hero. I’m probably wrong, but the mind wonders lol.
Anyone considering the possibility that this is a show version of Penny? Feel free to completely destroy that idea…. just a thought.
Nope, not in ‘mericah……
Sounds like a role for Kristin Chenoweth. She is over the age, yes, but on the other hand, she is an actual pixie.
Maceless Fan,
I definitely think it’s possible that men and WW made a pact at same point and that men did something to violate it. Whatever the WW are, they aren’t mindless and evil killing machines. They’ve come back for a reason and they have an agenda other than kill. I’ve seen theories that part of the pact for whatever reason (maybe because the Night’s King was a Stark?) is that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. So Rickard Stark’s Southron ambitions might be partially responsible for the situation.
I’ll put this behind spoiler tags to be safe
Fedejru,
5 feet is about 1.5 meters.
Balerion The Cat,
You’ll get to see later this year whether they’ll stick with Octavia and add another CoTF or replace her. Her agency or her resume will most likely mention if she’ll be in the 6th season or not.
I imagine they would just go ahead and straight up ask for a lady dwarf if they were casting Penny.
Also Maisie Williams is a bit bigger than 5 feet tall so I can’t imagine why they’d want someone ideally under 5 feet. Doesn’t make much sense for this to be any kind of other face for her.
WeirwoodTreeHugger,
That’s a pretty sound theory to me. When the Watch is at its lowest is when the Walkers seemed to come back. And I totally agree with you about the walkers not being straight up evil. Look at it like this: a very basic way that writers use to let a reader/viewer know if a character is generally good or bad is how they treat animals and children. Melisandre (who claims to be fighting for good) is willing to burn children alive if it suits her needs. When we saw that baby with the Night’s King (the leader of the supposedly greatest evil in the world), he turned it into a walker and didn’t hurt him at all. Walkers are just a different form of life but that doesn’t mean evil. They kill men, but men kill each other.
DEEPWOOD MOTTE is IN!
Holy s***… Good luck to Nina Gold and company with this task. How many actress 1’50 metres tall, with these extremely specific facial features and with experience in combat scenes can be available? Hardest GoT cast ever?
I think is very obvious that the character is a CotF in one or more action flashbacks.
Remember D&D words:
Turncloak,
OMG that’s so funny, when I saw that fireball I was thinking exactly the samething, it looked so cheesy, just as cheesy and True Bloods fairy sequence.
So funny other people felt the same thing.
High Sparrow,
Bran is not going to have a return scene in a cave!
I can almost guarantee his return scene is going to be from the eyes of Summer, and through those eyes we will be seeing the CotF.
I doubt we will have much scenes with Bran actually on camera, more like us seeing things through the eyes of Summer and the Trees and other things his mind can see PoV from.
I think if D&D do this right the Bran stroyline can be very interesting, they already created that Summer PoV cam for scenes (opening scenes of a prior season when the red comet was shown).
Sure, there needs to be a few scenes of Bran with roots growing into him and Meera caring for him but most of his scenes are going to be Summer PoV scenes and other weird PoV scenes, I’d bet.
Maceless Fan,
I noticed that in Hardhome, they didn’t attack until after the NW and Wildlings negotiated and Jon and Tormund failed to convince everyone to come south. After the massacre the Night’s King just let the survivors go. I do think they want to drive the humans out of the north. Maybe they wouldn’t have attacked if some of the Wildlings didn’t decide to stay at Hardhome.
A member of production once said we know Bran’s final destination. He is never leaving that cave. Ygritte would be so proud.
Do you have a source for that? Because if that’s true, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more discussion.
What if the Night King has the ability to express his own Warg like abilities to control his army of darkness?
Balerion The Cat,
Balerion The Cat,
Sint de acord! Translation : I agree!
Should there have been? I thought that both the book and the show made that pretty obvious. Becoming a tree-god is a lifetime commitment, and then some.
M,
Just you wait, he’s going warg into Robbwind and free the Greatjon then go on a rampage in the Twins.
that’s Maisie description right there. I remember seeing a photoshopped version of one of her pics where she’s made into Qasimodo and to be frank they didn’t have to alter it that much
Fedejru,
152.4 cm
I think it would be so disappointing to see if Bran sits in a cave for the rest of the series. I would like to see him, Hodor, Meera and the CotF be part of the final battle or resolution. Anyone thinks he’s going to be Bran-ymir Six Skins? I can see him returning to the cave at some point after the Long Night a la Bilbo leaving with the elves in Grey Havens in LoTR. It would be bittersweet.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4800564/
Found her! She has looks, she’s quite a good actress (Gotham), she’s 16, she’s 5’1″ (feets? dunno).
Meera’s gonna bust out with dark sister cos she is Jon Snow’s secret twin yo!
Jacob,
OMG!
D&D need to call this girl!
I was asking about the “member of production” who made that statement, and if there’s a source for it. And as the Stannis-burns-Shireen-in-the-books debacle shows, there’s a big difference between something we assume is likely to happen and a bona fide spoiler.
This sucks. That description above clearly indicates they are recasting the Mountain.
Jacob,
She even has the eyes, pure COTF material right there.
While we’re talking about Season 6 spoilers…there wasn’t anything about there being more filming in Seville, right? Does that mean no Doran and Areo for Season 6? Jessica Henwick in her recent interview also said that she didn’t know whether she would be back for Season 6, and it seems like she would know by now if she were. Are the Sand Snakes a one-and-done as well?
Arthur,
She plays the teen-aged Catwoman on Gotham!! She would be great!
Might be Meera…
High Sparrow,
I loved Bran having his own storyline and really wanted him to continue to have one in season 5, but his storyline was cut from it. And they can’t just bring it back as if it was never gone, that’ll just be jarring. So naturally, he needs to interact with other storylines to reopen his own. But I guess that with his powers, he could do so from afar.
Jacob,
Good call. She’s solid in Gotham and has a unique , kind of fae look about her. Good looking kid without looking too weird!
It’s got to be Children of the Forest hasn’t it? I mean the ethnicity thing is the only thing that throws me a bit but I guess they wear a decent whack of make up to make their skin colour kind of pixie/greenish!
There is a big difference. The former was something that people speculated might happen in the books. The latter is something that we were told in the last book. So, unless you were assuming that we were told a lie, that was “spoiled” 4 years ago.
Did he? Or did they basically escape? If the Walkers and their wights could get through Water, then the Wall is a humungus 2nd order idiot plot, isn’t it?
That plotline is a background to characters that are elsewhere in Winter, so don’t expect it to appear on the show.
Well…I fit the description, but there’s no way I can apply. Oh well, sucks to not be famous.
There’s no need of that. Bran story line can just go on. They only need set up what has happened in their absence. Stannis didn’t need to interact with a known character when he was first introduced, so, why would Bran need it?
Well if
character for S6 – course that doesn’t require the wide set eyes…
M,
My memory is clouded by what seems like a sea of Dothraki grass, but I think it was Deborah Riley in a behind the scenes video talking about challenges building sets for S4(?) and how some characters you don’t know where they’re going but we already know where Bran ends up (or his final destination). There was some discussion about it. Others interpreted it the same way.
Sue the Fury,
Can I ask why my comment has been covered? It’s basically speculation, I can’t find the spoiler…
Maybe he never finds out.
Bran isn’t the only thing we haven’t seen all season…
… We also haven’t seen the fucking Iron Throne! Not ONE scene this season!
Jacob,
I thought about the same actress while reading this. She was quite good in the otherwise shitty Gotham, she’s small (though not THAT small, I think?), she can do some action I’m sure, and her eyes are so far apart they may meet in the back of her neck. She has that fairy look, too, which is pretty much what the Children of the Forest are.
Ser Matt the Sullen,
Speaking of people we haven’t seen, what’s going on with Yara? I heard she was going to appear this season, but episode 10 seems to be pretty packed already.
Approximately 8.5% of female adults in the US are 5′ tall or less, so I’m assuming there might be that percentage of actresses meeting the height maximum, as well. As to the wide-set eyes, childlike features, and action experience, that would narrow the field further, but I imagine there are several fitting that description.
ace,
Her face is perfection, especially in that picture, every bit a Child of the Forest. But I’m not sure how flexible they’ll be on the height (5′ 1″ rather than 5′ or less) and age (16 rather than 18-22). For both, the call implies some flexibility, and she certainly has the face for it.
Arthur,
While I agree that there will have to be scenes establishing Bran in the cave, I always thought (while reading the books as well) that Bran can go a-wandering (and even fighting) through his own storyline primarily through Hodor, not Summer. Then we got the scene at Craster’s and I was convinced that that is the path that Bran will take. Seeing through the Weirwoodnet and acting through Hodor.
jentario,
René,
I think you’re barking up the right tree. Unless they’re going to CGI Maisie’s face, she’ll need a lookalike next season for sure.
OMG @GRRM’s dream casting
Derek Jacobi – Randyll Tarly
Brian Blessed – Wyman Motherfuckin’ Manderly
Sian Phillips – Lady Motherfuckin’ Dustin
Mark Rylance – Elder Bro
Actress features described almost fit Lily Cole. She’s too tall though. General looks, she’s very CoTF. Could also be for No One when Arya slips into a new face?
ZappaCreed,
thought so, too
Luka Nieto,
She’s 5’1″, little over demanded 5′. She even look small.
I know someone who can suits this description ! 😀
How do we proceed if we want to give it a try ?
Thanks 🙂
Your friend’s agent should respond to the casting call. If they like her look and body of work, she will get an audition.
Jacob,
I didn’t know she was so small. Then she is truly perfect! Hope they cast her.
King in the North Carolina,
Thanks for answering 🙂
The problem is that she doesn’t have an agent, we’re just students. Does anyone know how to contact them without having an agent ? 🙂
Fedejru,
1.52
Gabriele,
I’m sorry but I don’t see what you mean. Can you explain more, please ?
The part sounds like Camren Renee Bicondova the girl playing Cat women on Gotham would be prefect.
How i can send a video test for HBO / Game of Thrones?
Hmm. Agreed on the fireballs. I also had issues with the skeletal wights, since this was before we’d seen any other evidence of wights ever being skeletons. They could have mixed it up a bit, with some fleshed-out corpses there as well; instead we’d gone straight from the reanimated corpses of the dead to ‘only the hard bits that don’t rot remain’. The bonebags attacking Bran, Hodor and co. called to mind Army of Darkness, which, while fantastic in its own way, wasn’t the effect I think D&D were aiming for.
This post is a bit unusual for me… I don’t like to badmouth the series, so you can tell it must have bothered me! :O
I’d go slightly younger than that for
. Theon’s description of her has, pardon my language, a sort of a ‘tragic MILF’ feel about it. I’d love to see her in the series, though I don’t think it will happen. She does deliver one of my favourite lines XD