The best casting is of course Peter Dinklage; even George R.R. Martin has said this numerous times. It’s like the role was written for him, and I would imagine that as Martin writes further in the series he partly is envisioning him.
Though one of the things I wish they would not have changed from the book is that I wish they had severed his nose at the Battle of Blackwater; they wouldn’t have to show it but occasionally, the rest of the time they could keep it covered with a gold or silver tip, but it would better explained why Sansa and other women were so repulsed by him after the battle.
His father is also brilliantly cast. I really only knew the actor as "Numpsay" from Golden Child, but he’s a brilliant Tywin.
Worst casting so far: the actor who played Xaro Xhoan Daxos was completely wrong. It’s not just that they changed his physical appearance and his orientation, but that I never felt he had the intelligence and craftiness to become the richest man in an ancient city. Breaking Bad was on when I was reading the books and I actually pictured Giancarlo Esposito’s Gustavo Fring, though a younger Ian McKellan might also have worked.
Second worst casting, but luckily he’s a minor character so far: Illyrio Mopatis. He’s supposed to be disgustingly fat and with a personality that’s bigger than his waistline and Liberace-esque in his love of bling; instead they cast this guy who looks more an out of shape Gepetto. The role begs for Ian McNeice or at least an Ian McNeice type (if there is one) to replace the original guy once Mopatis becomes a major player again.
Biggest disappointment: omitting Tyrion’s role in the Battle of the Green Fork.
What are some of your likes/dislikes of book v. series?
I think the casting has been ridiculously outstanding. I agree with both your criticisms, but both characters really get so little screen time I don’t care at all.
My biggest gripe would have to be the who Qarth storyline. Dany only gets like 5 chapters a books, and apparently her character is a draw so they wanted more screen time, but that was painful. I wish they could have done something with the House of the Undying, but I realize that wasn’t really doable.
Omitting the Tower of Joy flashback with Ned was also disappointing, but if Jon’s parentage never plays a big role than I’m ok with that.
I also really don’t understand why they haven’t had Robb and Catelyn learn about Bran and Rickon dying. That changes both their motivations significantly in a way that makes them less sympathetic. I worry that’ll reduce the impact of the RW.
This. Catelyn’s decision to release Jaime makes much more sense when you realize she’s doing it to save who she believes to be her last two remaining children.
I don’t understand why we’re still being denied battle scenes. It’s season three, it’s a smash hit, can’t they up the budget!? I was so looking forward to a Fist of the First Men throwdown. Blackwater was good, but they should have included the imp’s chain. Re-assigning the armorers was such a character moment for book Tyrion.
I think Emelia Clarke is stunning and youthful, but she’s a lightweight in regards to her acting chops. She IS NOT bad; but she’s in a show with much, much better. The girl they cut and recasted must have been horrid.
Asha/Yara doesn’t work for me. They needed someone more physically imposing: a valkyrie. I can’t buy her throwing axes and commanding reavers. Also, I’m disappointed with the art direction for the Pyke men. They’re generic pirates in gray sweatsuits. They should have been much more Viking-based.
The Arya/Tywin scenes in season 2 were a great addition, as was the Robert/Cersei conversation from season 1.
I do miss Strong Belwas, but maybe he’ll be introduced later. It’s not a huge deal, though.
Re-casting Gregor Clegane from the 1st season to the 2nd was a mistake (or possibly the first guy was unavailable)- the 1st season guy was tall, huge, and intimidating, whereas the 2nd season guy was just tall, IMO.
Killing the tickler removes one of the best scenes of the series. Not letting Cat know about Bran and Rickon makes her a lot worse than in the books, and that’s saying something. Also, the season ending cliffhanger at winterfell last season was a total mess.
I wish they’d do more with Varys as master-of-disguise; he’s even fooled Tyrion.
And I thought Pod was very miscast. He’s a weird little boy in the book; in the miniseries he’s a plump pimply teenager. Brienne is well cast but, as usual for a screen adaptation, more attractive than her book counterpart, while Jamie Lannister and Melisandre are attractive but not as jaw droppingly beautiful as in the novels. (I understand Stannis’s wife, daughter, and fool will be on the show.)
Joffrey was perfectly cast; you believe him both as evil and as inbred. In fac, he’s such a perfect bastard that I’m hoping they make his death more painful in the series than it was in the book.
I’ll be interested to see what Dorne looks like. I’m hoping it has a Moroccan or Moorish feel.
Robb’s also a lot madder at her in the series than in the novels, where he has a “you set Jamie Lannister free, but, I broke my betrothal and married Jeyne Westerling, let’s call it even!” attitude.
Speaking of, they’ve completely changed the character of/beefed up the role of his wife.
I was just thinking the other day. With such a massive and talented cast, the budget must be huge before any other sort of production value is factored in. I don’t think any other channel is capable of what HBO is doing. ABC’s Once Upon a Time tries as does Starz with Spartacus, Pillars of the Earth, etc. but those are mere fractions of what GoT is working with.
He wasn’t available. He left to do some stuff for Spartacus and The Hobbit, and I think his scenes were almost all cut from The Hobbit, and I don’t think he did much on Spartacus, either. So…yeah, bad decision on his part.
He was available for season 3, IIRC, but the producers probably didn’t want to pull a “Becky” from Rosanne and bring the original back after the recast.
It sucks they’ll also have to recast Ilyn Payne next season. The actor who plays him has terminal cancer.
Wilko Johnson, the actor who plays Ilyn Payne, has announced that he is terminally ill. I wonder if they’ll recast him or just reassign his role to other characters.
Now that you mention it, they could have his later scenes of training with Jaime be someone else, but in the books it was important it was Ser Ilyn.
Firstly, because Jaime was embarrassed by the training, and by training with a guy who can’t talk (and probably can’t read or write,) there was less of a chance to get found out.
And secondly, it provides a little characterization for Ser Ilyn. Poor guy as just sort of shoved into his role, and kind of like The Hound, just accepted who he was and what he was doing. His scenes with Jaime showed he was capable of having a friendship and not just stuck being an executioner.
Plus, I really want to hear what “clacking” laughter Ser Ilyn always had sounds like.
But I’ll accept it being someone else, because Wilko looks so damn perfect for Ilyn, that a recast would be worse than for The Mountain.
The Red Wedding is going to have to be done as “by the book” as possible to make the readers happy. And not to be unnecessarily gory, but we want to see the direwolf’s head on Robb’s body.
That chapter is the reason why this series is on HBO. I’m fairly confident it’ll be done well. The writers are fine with using many lines of dialog directly from the books.
I’m not sure if we’ll see Catelyn kill a retarded kid though.
Probably won’t get her thoughts either, which are the saddest lines. “Not my hair, Ned loves my hair.”
One of the things better on the show than the books is that all the kids are aged up. It’s one thing to imagine Jon Snow doing shit in your own head at 14, it’s another thing all together to see an average 14-year old boy doing it. Or Robb. Or Dany. It’s all creepy and hard to believe enough with their new ages, so their book ages would be unwatchable on tv. (I get through the books pretending their years or months or something don’t match up to Earth 24-hour, 365 cycles and they’re all a couple years older in Earth time).
Generally I’m happy with most of the changes, except for the extra sex and violence. There didn’t need to be bonus rounds what with the source material.
