Editorial speculation: Character cuts

George R. R. Martin recently mentioned a number of the characters who’ve made the show, so I thought it high time to open a discussion about the characters that might not — and more importantly the story changes these cuts might beget.

This is not meant to be a negative post; cuts are inevitable within a story of this magnitude, and there are simply certain details that, in the larger scope of things, don’t truly have the impact others have (though that too is subjective). They’re coming, and I’m still looking for a Tom Bombadil. It’s not easy finding him.

Since George has said they are casting the earlier episodes first, I’ve listed the unmentioned (early episode) characters in their probable order of appearance. Note: Flashback characters were not included, as we literally have no idea how those will be handled. Character spoilers aplenty, so if you’re not caught up with the series, read at your own risk. Onward!

YOREN: Met by Benjen and co. en route to the Wall. Yoren basically plays a small “messenger” role, with little importance until the end of the season … though someone has to be the man who rescues Arya after her father’s beheading, else her story changes dramatically.

RAST: One of two “rapers” (DAREON may be the other) accompanying Yoren to the Wall. The only real use he serves is to show Jon the hard truth about Castle Black recruits, and to be a bully. Virtually unimportant in the bigger scheme, though he has so few lines, and the darker side of recruitment needs to be shown … so were it me I would at least keep a Rast-like figure.

BRAN’S ASSASSIN: Absolutely necessary if you want Catelyn to have those nice scars (and for Summer to get his first real kill), though his identity is thus far negligent. Dies quickly. My vote: Tom McCarthy cameo. Or Brad Pitt.

SER BARRISTAN SELMY: Barristan the Bold holds the rare honor of appearing on both continents, and while I could see the story easily survive without him … I’d rather not. Few are the characters capable of keeping aloft the torch of true honor after Ned’s demise (you could argue Davos or Jaime are semi-capable in later seasons), and his turn as Arstan gives the Daenerys tale a much-needed flash of that. Necessary? Not entirely. Beloved? Wholly.

SER ILYN PAYNE: Arrives along with Renly and Ser Barristan on the Kingsroad. He has no lines (and never will) and should thus be easy to cast. In the leaked pilot script there is mention of King Robert’s headsman, so someone has to play that role. Why not stick to canon? Payne should be a keeper.

MICAH: A nice add to the relatively small corpse count in the early episodes, we meet the butcher’s boy sparring with Arya. Micah disappears until the Hound finally drags his corpse in. Not vital, but without him you just have Joff picking on Arya for no real reason, and you have no one to show us how brutal the Hound can be. Micah doesn’t even need lines aside from nervous stammering.

CAPTAIN MOREO TUMITIS: He basically just drops Catelyn and Ser Rodrik off at King’s Landing. A negligible character save perhaps for showing the humor in Catelyn outsmarting his greed. Not necessary.

SER ALLISER THORNE: Someone needs to be Jon (and Tyrion’s) foil at Castle Black, why not him? Again, no reason to go against canon. Without a Thorne in his side, Jon’s story is made less interesting. There will very likely be a Thorne.

HALDER and TOAD: Just more faces to add. You could technically give Grenn and Pyp their lines and just keep these two characters as nameless, voiceless Castle Black recruits, and the story wouldn’t be damaged much at all. I’ll argue Rast and Dareon are much more important than Halder and Toad.

DONAL NOYE: The one-armed blacksmith would seem at first glance to be necessary, but in truth you could probably dispense much of his wisdom through the Old Bear if needed. The only real thing lost is a quality death, since both Noye and Mormont die in completely different (yet violent) ways in later seasons.

SER JAREMY RYKKER: Not necessary, and you could get any guy to get his head twisted all the way around by Un-Jafer. (Is it just me, or does anyone else picture Jonathan Frakes playing this guy? It’s the name, I know …)

LORD STEWARD BOWEN MARSH: Love to see who might get cast as the Old Pomegranate based on the ability to go red-faced on command, but I could see him getting cut. Easily.

MAESTER AEMON: Others might argue his usefulness, but I see this wise man as completely necessary to the story; he is literally the last Targaryen on Westeros, and he dispenses a lot of wisdom the Old Bear simply wouldn’t have. Besides, someone’s hand releases the raven that soars through the show’s opening sequence–it might as well be his. Plus there’s gotta be a maester at Castle Black, unless they have Mormont pulling double-duty. You lose a lot if you lose Aemon.

MORMONT’S NOISY-ASS RAVEN: We’ll see if they decide to make ravens talk or not. It could either be great or extremely cheesy. I imagine they’ll at least try. Here’s to hoping they don’t get Gilbert Gottfried for the voice-over.

VAYON POOLE: Ned’s steward is probably unnecessary as a recurring character with lines; I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “random steward” cast who then dies messily after Ned gets betrayed.

JEYNE POOLE: Take her, leave her, doesn’t matter; Sansa’s best friend could probably be a virtual non-speaking part aside from occasionally bawling her eyes out. Her eventual “portrayal” as Arya is interesting though, and likely has future ramifications.

GRAND MAESTER PYCELLE: It would seem a waste to not have a maester of some sort on the Small Council, so why not a grand one? Why not Pycelle? If they’re getting cut-happy they could merely minimize his role, but without him you lose the beard-stroking, pontificating old fart archetype that would seem to be a no-brainer in court. Plus Tyrion’s eventual “barbaric barber” act on him is awesome.

SYRIO FOREL: I will jump on the Syrio bandwagon by saying his role is both small and interesting enough to keep without putting any sort of dent in the bank. Without him, how does Arya learn her unique style? We lose Sansa’s “You must be a terrible dancer” line, we lose Arya chasing cats, hopping around on one foot … We lose many of the things that make Arya Arya. Just so. They need to cast Syrio.

OLD NAN: She’d be nice to have but not vital. I have a feeling that even if there’s no actual “Old Nan” role, we will see a Nan-like figure at Winterfell on occasion. George’s description of her toothless mouth opening and closing in wordless horror after Theon’s betrayal sticks with me. For me, that’s a cinematic moment.

HODOR: Hodor! Taking him away would necessitate a completely different mode of travel for Bran, not to mention losing the cool scene in which Hodor gets warg’d, not to mention the eventual reveal of Hodor’s untold backstory which I personally believe will be a pretty big revelation in the books. I get that it’ll be tricky to take someone with a one-word vocabulary seriously—the role walks a fine line between intentional and unintentional comedy—but with the right emotive actor it could draw raves. Hodor? Hodor. Hodor!

TOBHO MOTT: The arrogant master smith is needed only if Gendry (below) is introduced. If no Gendry, no Mott … and you could technically have Gendry found without his master in sight. 100% necessary? Mott’s not.

GENDRY: Someone has to show up as one of Robert’s bastards. Even if the powers-that-be decide to only cast a few of them, Gendry tops that list … and Gendry’s physical appearance is part of what helps Ned get to the bottom of the royal heir mystery. Plus he’s a great foil for Arya. I don’t think they lose Gendry.

JANOS SLYNT: Not completely necessary but nice to have around as a villain. Someone has to command the guards that betray Ned — again, why not stick to canon? And if Slynt gets cut, we’d also lose another non-Thorne thorn in Jon’s side when Slynt is eventually sent to the Wall.

LORD BERIC DONDARRION: This role could be easily minimized (or not shown at all) in the first season; all you would really need is a knight riding by in purple with lightning bolts on his shield and voila! Instant fangasm. They could then re-introduce him (with an actual face) in future seasons, once his story gets going. Is he completely necessary to the story? They lose Un-Cat’s traditional origin if there is no Beric. I say keep the man.

LORD JASON MALLISTER: His only real use is to show us the arrogance of nobility when he overlooks Catelyn on the road to King’s Landing, so he’s not vital. But it’s a smart enough scene (and a small enough role) that keeping him / leaving him would seem negligible.

MASHA HEDDLE: The Crossroads Inn innkeeper is a small enough part to keep. Shouldn’t be too hard to cast, and she doesn’t have a lot of lines. Might be harder getting the actress to constantly chew something with red dye in it. Tyrion’s “A room, a meal, a flagon of wine, that was all I asked” line to Masha’s hanging corpse is still classic.

THOROS OF MYR: Another important part of the future Un-Cat story, Thoros is in the same boat as Beric Dondarrion. They’ll either skip him entirely and give Catelyn a different ending, or (more than likely) just show him from afar in season one, giving us the real Thoros later.

SER HUGH OF THE VALE: Short-lived GREGOR victim, likely kept in due to monstrously short screen time. No lines! David Benioff cameo?

SER LORAS TYRELL: If you include any of the Tyrells you almost have to include Ser Loras. Cutting (pruning?) the Knight of Flowers would put the skids on more plot devices than I can count; if you have a Renly, I think you need a Loras. There could be an argument made that Loras might be shuffled to a future season, but why lose the visual spectacle you could hook with him now?

BRONZE YOHN ROYCE, SER BALON SWANN, HORACE and HOBBER REDWYNE, JALABHAR XHO, et/al: I have a feeling we’ll see more than a few knights and nobles without having them actually named. I will keep my handy Westeros Heraldry guide (kudos to Ran and co.) close by for the best approximations of any “random knight” I spot riding past my screen.

• Published on 05/10/2010 at 3:58 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 5:14 PM CDT