While the highly anticipated 4th season of Game of Thrones is still a ways out, the filming has already begun and new casting news is abound. Aside from that, we also have some other fun stuff, but let’s start with the news…
CASTING
The Red Viper – Pedro Pascal
A major player in the last half of the 3rd book, Oberyn Martell is the first representative we meet from the ruling powers of Dorne. In the 4th season he’ll likely be a big part of the Tyrion scenes as he arrives in King’s Landing. At the end of June the casting for this much-anticipated character was reported, and our Red Viper is Pedro Pascal (Lights Out).
[quote]“This was a tough one,” say showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss about the casting. “The Red Viper is sexy and charming, yet believably dangerous; intensely likable, yet driven by hate. The boys love him, the girls love him, and he loves them all back. Unless your last name is Lannister. We found a fellow who can handle the job description and make it seem effortless. He wasn’t easy to find and he won’t be easy to stop.”[/quote]
Now there were some online rumblings about ethnicity, as some (confused) readers seemed to think the character was black in the books, and since the internet loves getting pissed about nothing, George RR Martin was forced to come out and defend the choice on his blog:
[box_light]I wasn’t present for Pedro Pascal’s audition, but I understand that he really killed it with his reading. And since his casting was announced, the producer of another TV show on which he appeared recently has written me to say how terrific Pascal is, and to congratulate us on the casting. So I suspect that he will turn out to be a wonderful Red Viper.
I do know that David and Dan and HBO do favor having a racially and ethnically diverse cast on the series. It is true that we’ve lost several black characters who appear in the novels (Chataya and Alayaya, Jalabhar Xho, Strong Belwas), but to balance that, characters like Salladhor Saan and Xaro Xhoan Daxos, both white in the books, have been played by black actors. Missandei as well, though in the books the Naathi are golden-skinned, not white.
As for the Dornishmen, well, though by and large I reject one to one analogies, I’ve always pictured the “salty Dornish” as being more Mediterranean than African in appearance; Greek, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, etc. Dark hair and eyes, olive skin. Pedro Pascal is Chilean. (Check out Amok’s version of the Red Viper, that’s how I saw him. Or Magali Villenueve’s beautiful and sexy portrait of Princess Arianne).
When and if the show introduces Prince Oberyn’s daughters, the Sand Snakes, I expect we will see the same diversity as in the books, ranging from Tyene (blond and blue-eyed) to Sarella (light brown skin, as her mother was a Summer Islander). And I expect that the crew of the CINNAMON WIND will all be cast with black actors… assuming, of course, that Sam’s voyage remains in the story. [/box_light]
Unknown – Octavia Alexandru
This pint-sized 10 year old cast been cast in the next season of Game of Thrones, but no announcement has yet been made as to who she will be playing. However, speculation has been running rampant, most commonly that she will be with Jeyne Westerling or the waif in Bravos. I don’t see the Westerling role, if even included, they’ll go for an actress who is over 18. The waif is very possible, but we’ll just have to wait and see…
Unknown – Mark Gatiss
This bit of casting we just learned about this morning, and I’m pretty happy about it. Like with Octavia Alexandru, his role hasn’t been announced yet, however I’m just happy he’s there. For those of you not in the know, Gatiss plays Mycroft Holmes on the BBC brilliance know as Sherlock. In addition to the role as Sherlock’s older brother, he also writes and produces for the show, as he has also done in the past for Doctor Who.
Early speculation would have him playing Mace Tyrell, the Lord of Highgarden, and father to the Knight of Flowers Loras, and soon to be Queen Margaery. Though imagined much fatter in the books, I have faith Gatiss can pull of whatever role is put in front of him.
That’s all the new casting we have for the moment, but there are a few other things. First, to celebrate the release of GoT‘s 3rd season on the streaming service BlinkBox, there was the appearance of a giant, extremely cool, dragon skull on a beach in England…
We also have a look at the real Iron Throne as envisioned by George RR Martin from Wired.
And finally, in the vein of the Game of Thrones: Our 5 Favorite GoT Parodies post we did a while back, here are couple more videos you might enjoy…
That’s it for today, check back soon for more GoT News as it happens…
Grizzly Bomb 