GRRM speaks again: Casting on-going

In his latest Not A Blog post, Martin updates us on the casting front. Things are moving along, and they are casting roles roughly as they appear in the story:

Yes, casting is on-going for the HBO series, so I’ve been seeing a lot of tapes. No, I won’t say who, but it’s been fun. Some actors are household names who would be recognized by any film or television fan, some are veteran character actors, some are brilliant young newcomers. A wealth of choices. There are a lot of fine actors out there. On the other hand, some of these roles are very challenging, to say the least. (No, there are no obscure hints there). Parts are being cast in roughly the order they will appear in the show, so right now we’re mostly concerned with filling parts for the pilot reshoots and episode two. Characters like Lord Tywin (who does not appear until my episode, episode eight) and Shae are not going to be cast until much later in the process. It’s not always going to be the most familiar names who get the roles, either.

Hear Me Roar: All well and good, I am glad things seem to be going smoothly, but we would like to get the first few roles cast and announced soon. Mayhaps the producers are stuck on Dany, and a flurry of news is going to follow that decision. It is encouraging to hear that there is a promise of yet more established names to take the roles. Personally, I would like to know whether they are casting Renly in the first season or not, but no hint on that either.

[P.S. This is the 300th post on Winter Is Coming! Thank you all and sundry, dear readers.]

UPDATE: In George’s latest Not A Blog post he mentions some of the roles being filled:

I’ve been looking at many audition tapes. Varys. Littlefinger. Pyp. Grenn. Sam. Ser Gregor. Renly. Bronn. Septa Mordane. Jory. The Old Bear. Even Marillion. And probably some other characters that I’ve forgotten about, writing this off the top of my head.

Some very hard choices await us. For some parts, a wealth of great possibilities, and no way to go wrong. For others, two or three strong contenders, then it tails off sharply. For a few, we have yet to see anyone who excites us, so the search goes on.

George also goes on to mention that he may or may not be able to give casting hints this time around, but will post those under his traditional “Froggy” avatar. Looks like the Renly speculation can be laid to rest (and let the Hodor speculation begin)!

As usual, the Rabbit had this added news first and was off and running long before anyone else was even awake. Go Rabbit!

• Published on 05/07/2010 at 4:49 AM CDT
• Last updated on 05/09/2010 at 4:27 AM CDT