# Game of Thrones: Daario Naharis recasting (Season 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072 "2016-10-29T23:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/1 "2016-10-29T23:39:21Z")
I’m finally watching GoT now that a friend gave me access to HBOgo. I just started the fourth season, and I’m shocked by the way they recast Daario Naharis, the assassin from Yunkai who helps Daenerys conquer the city. I know _why_ they recast the roll: the original actor got a better role in the Transporter movies. And it’s not shocking that they would choose an actor who happens to look different for the part. But they deliberately made the new actor look as different as possible from the old actor. The first Daario was blond, long-haired and clean shaven. The new one has black, shorter hair, and a beard. This must have been deliberate. From reading some of the old show threads, I know there was speculation that Daario was supposed to be a face-shifter like Jaqen H’ghar, the “murder genie” who helped Arya escape Harrenhall. But that apparently (as far as I know) wasn’t the case. It doesn’t help that IMO original Daario looked a little like original Jaqen and had some similar speech patterns. Why would they do this? It seems guaranteed to cause confusion, especially given the canonical existence of face-shifters in the show. The producers must have been asked about this at some point, but I don’t want to search for fear of spoilers. Please NO SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW AFTER SEASON THREE _except_ what is necessary to answer the question. If Daario _is_ a face shifter, you can tell me that, but don’t provide any other details, please. If you aren’t sure if something is a spoiler or not, err on the side of caution. Book spoilers up to the equivalent point in the story are fine, but nothing that would spoil anything in season four (after the first episode, which I’ve seen) or later. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/2 "2016-10-29T23:54:50Z")
It’s clear as [mud](http://www.eonline.com/news/692770/ed-skrein-game-of-thrones-1st-daario-explains-why-he-left-the-hbo-show-find-out-what-he-said), according to him. “Politics.” ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/3 "2016-10-30T00:26:48Z")
I actually prefer the second one. I recognized the actor from Treme and so maybe I was favorably inclined towards him. I felt like the role called for less of a “pretty boy” than the original actor. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/4 "2016-11-01T16:29:14Z")
If he was supposed to have changed his face in-universe, don’t you think Dany or someone who have mentioned it? If nothing else, that’s a helluva tactical ability to have on your side in a war. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/5 "2016-11-01T17:39:54Z")
I’ll say this… book-Daario had a blue three-forked beard, if I recall. And was a really cocky, swaggering sort of guy. Not “pretty” though. Neither actor really matches up to book-Daario in terms of GRRM’s descriptions, and both actors have aspects that they do better than the other. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/6 "2016-11-01T17:42:59Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’ll say this… book-Daario had a blue three-forked beard, if I recall. And was a really cocky, swaggering sort of guy. Not “pretty” though. > > Neither actor really matches up to book-Daario in terms of GRRM’s descriptions, and both actors have aspects that they do better than the other. _What part of “the books don’t exist” can’t you_–oh wait, this is MY thread! I like the books (what I’ve read of them, anyway)! I don’t remember anything about book-Daario, though. Thanks for the info! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/7 "2016-11-01T18:00:17Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’ll say this… book-Daario had a blue three-forked beard, if I recall. And was a really cocky, swaggering sort of guy. Not “pretty” though. Yeah, a lot of Essos people are described in the book as being really flamboyant and (literally) colorful in their appearance, like characters out of The Hunger Games. Obviously, they didn’t go with this stylistic choice in the show. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/8 "2016-11-01T19:11:40Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > If he was supposed to have changed his face in-universe, don’t you think Dany or someone who have mentioned it? If nothing else, that’s a helluva tactical ability to have on your side in a war. That’s my point! If you’re telling a story about vampires, you don’t give a character pale skin and long canines if you don’t want the audience to think the character is a vampire (even if its only misdirection). In a show with characters who can change their appearance magically, you don’t deliberately emphasize a character’s change in appearance and then not mention it and act like nothing happened! Why would you? I’m not asking why they cast an actor who didn’t look like the first actor. I’m asking why they _told him_ to grow a beard and wear short black hair, when they could easily have told him to shave his beard and wear a long blond wig. It’s not like the actor got to choose his own hairstyle and appearance. Even if he didn’t end up looking like the same guy, giving him blond hair and no beard would be a signal to the audience that he was meant in-universe to be the same guy. They did the opposite. It’s like giving Spock round ears and spiky hair just because you recast the role. Were they so pissed off at Ed Skrein that they didn’t even want a character who looked like him anymore? That’s the implication of **ganthet** ’s post and the linked article, I suppose, but I’d like more detail. What did he do to them? ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/9 "2016-11-01T19:51:30Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’ll say this… book-Daario had a blue three-forked beard, if I recall. And was a really cocky, swaggering sort of guy. Not “pretty” though. > > Neither actor really matches up to book-Daario in terms of GRRM’s descriptions, and both actors have aspects that they do better than the other. I think that the first one’s Fabio-esque long blonde hair fit the idea of book Daario better, though. All flamboyant style, no substance. Second Daario is much more restrained and feels like a complete person instead, and it sorta ruins the whole Dany/Jorah/Daario “love triangle” since one of the undertones is Dany choosing style (Daario) over substance (Jorah). In the show, Daario is superior to Jorah in pretty much every way. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/10 "2016-11-01T20:04:48Z")
Not only did the actors look nothing alike the personality changed completely also. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/11 "2016-11-02T14:22:58Z")
> [@ganthet](#): > > It’s clear as [mud](http://www.eonline.com/news/692770/ed-skrein-game-of-thrones-1st-daario-explains-why-he-left-the-hbo-show-find-out-what-he-said), according to him. “Politics.” Huh, until reading that article I completely did not recognize him as having been the villain in _Deadpool._. Even seeing pictures of them side by side, it’s hard to get past the lack of long, flowing blonde hair to recognize the same actor. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-daario-naharis-recasting-season-4/770072/12 "2016-11-02T18:42:20Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Not only did the actors look nothing alike the personality changed completely also. Until i got used to it, I head-canoned them as being different people.