Editorial speculation: Character cuts II

Continuing from this post, where I only scratched the surface, I’ve now dug all the way to the bottom of the barrel for possible “named” roles which have the potential for being cut.

To my eyes there are more than a few roles that can be dropped from GAME OF THRONES altogether, or at the very least shuffled off to future seasons. We already know that Desmond is out, and there will be many more.

So here are my notes on the rest of season one’s potential record-breaking cast. Again, spoilers abound. Beware.

LANCEL LANNISTER: Cersei has to eventually cheat with someone, so why not a relative we already know about? You could make a case that Lancel doesn’t need to be introduced in season one, but someone also needs to be the one who gives King Robert all that wine so the giant boar can make spaghetti out of his groin. I have a feeling Lancel will be minimized rather than taken out altogether.

ANGUY: Yes, he wins the archery competition. Still no reason to show him yet unless they just want to tickle the fans. I think they may move him to later seasons or just cut him.

SER WILLIS WODE: When Catelyn takes Tyrion captive at the Crossroads, Wode is one of the men who stands for her. So even if we get no actual “Willis Wode,” we’ll probably get a nameless lookalike, as well as some nameless Frey and Bracken men.

CHIGGEN: Does Bronn need a counterpart and a partner? Someone that makes a short appearance only to be quickly killed by mountain clansmen? Probably not. It would be nice, but not if I was looking at my bottom line.

DESMOND: CLIPPED! This is the Stark guard who loudly boasted, “Every northerner is worth ten of these southron swords” … and who Arya then later finds in a pool of his own blood. If we’ve lost Desmond, hopefully his infamously boastful line has been given to some other sucka’.

THE BLACKFISH: Necessary to story? In the bigger scheme of things … probably not. You could easily do Catelyn’s trek to the Aerie without him, even shuffling him off to future seasons if needed then (the standoff with Jaime is excellent). Extremely cool? Oh yes. And I like that Catelyn has someone to confide in, either way, so I would personally keep the Blackfish.

LORD NESTOR ROYCE: Unneeded this early in the story, save for having a “lordly” face at the Gates of the Moon. Shuffle him off to another season if we’re keeping him at all.

MYA STONE: Robert’s first bastard; as far as Baratheon bastards go, Gendry’s still number one—but she’s a close two. I would keep her. Plus she’s kind of cool in a tomboyish sort of way, and there are too few “kind of cool” female roles in GoT. There is the chance she could just be thrown over to a much later season (she has literally no appearances in book 2 or 3), but I think it would be kind of cool to see her as a teen in season one and then as a young woman years later. Small, single-episode appearances for some unknown actress might be do-able.

LADY LYSA ARRYN: 99.9% necessary … and that 00.1% is if they’re skipping the Aerie altogether. And how do you even do that? I don’t see them skipping it for any reason aside from budget. I’m going to make a huge, ginormous, bold, left-field prediction and say Lysa’s in.

LORD “SWEETROBIN” ROBERT ARRYN: 98.8% necessary. When we see this seven-year old kid sucking on Lysa’s tit, we immediately get the real picture of her unbalanced nature.

SER VARDIS EGEN: 95.5% necessary, else who will Bronn kill? Short-lived dude, short-lived role. If we can’t get a Patrick Stewart cameo for Syrio, he could play the quickly-splatted Ser Vardis.

MAESTER COLEMON: The Aerie’s maester isn’t a huge role, but every keep needs its maester. The role of Colemon could be relegated to nodding and bowing and saying nothing, but there should be a maester.

WIL and HEWARD: Two Stark men slated to die at the Kingslayer’s command. My guess is they will be nameless dudes in Stark livery, and will count themselves lucky if Ned or Jory even mentions their names.

BABY BARRA and her WHORE MOM: Little Barra is the youngest Robert Baratheon by-blow, and Ned continues his Jon Arryn quest by locating the whore and her baby (both of whom Cersei later has murdered). I could actually see them keeping part of this in—especially since it leads right up to Ned’s confrontation with Jaime.

COHOLLO, HAGGO, and QOTHO: Khal Drogo’s bloodriders have thus far been seen but not heard, but that changes mid-season when we may get to see what a royal penis Qotho becomes. None of Drogo’s other bloodriders really need lines, but Drogo should have at least one real bastard amongst his men. Plus it helps us really root for Dany’s bloodriders when it all goes south at the end.

OSHA: Apparently the name is out there, so I’m going to go on the assumption they’re actively casting this role (even though we haven’t seen any actual Osha lines). Good! We like Osha; she needs to tell Bran his brother is marching the wrong way, and needs to take Rickon off to … wherever the hell she took Rickon.

STIV and HALI: Of the wildlings that accompany Osha, these are the only two named ones – and the only others with lines. Hali could likely be cast without lines and still die her gruesome death-by-wolf-disembowelment. Stiv probably needs to be cast for his antagonistic mouth and to be shot through the throat by Theon.

MORD: Big dumb Eyrie turnkey who abuses Tyrion? Hell yes, keep him. I love that the dude ended up buying gold teeth with his Lannister reward. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding all that Tyrion owes him. A Lannister pays his debts.

SER LYN CORBRAY, LORD EON HUNTER, and LADY ANYA WAYNWOOD: Not at all necessary to the story yet, unless they’re really looking at some serious continuity. I would personally just insert Random Eyrie Lords into the scenes, and worry about the Corbrays and the Waynwoods when Littlefinger is forced to worry about them in the A Feast For Crows adaptation.

GUNTHOR, SHAGGA, CONN, TIMMET, CHELLA, et/al: It’s really anyone’s guess how they amalgamate the mountain clans. I’m pretty sure we’ll see them in some form, Shagga especially. How many there might actually be is anyone’s guess, but Tyrion needs his mountain dudes. I’ve always imagined some promo poster with Tyrion standing all noble looking in the foreground, with a leering pile of tall, muscular, screaming clansmen looming in the background. Caption: “Size Matters.”

SER AERYS OAKHEART and SER PRESTON GREENFIELD: Their first mention comes late in the book, but they should be at least be represented by unnamed figures in white cloaks. Neither has any real lines, so casting these roles with different people, season to season, really depends on how detail-oriented the show runners want to be with the Kingsguard. Another solution is to simply have the Kingsguard wear helmets with full visors.

LORD KARYL VANCE, SER RAYMUN DARRY, and SER MARC PIPER: These Tully bannermen come to King’s Landing to bitch about THE GREGOR despoiling their lands. Might be nice to put actual faces to these names, but really, they’re not necessary. One thing to consider, however, is the fact that Vance and Piper later attend the Riverrun gathering in which Robb is made King in the North. So for continuity I’d at least keep the same faces.

FAT TOM: Another Stark guardsman destined for slaughter. I could see them using Fat Tom in a comedic way, have Arya outrun him a few times, and then shock us when he gets skewered. He doesn’t need many lines; he just needs to be slightly dumb and run out of breath a lot.

THE CRONES of the DOSH KHALEEN: Keep ‘em. Dany eating a horse’s heart is a pivotal moment, plus having a bunch of old women screaming “The stallion who mounts the world!” is awesome, what.

SEPTON CELLADAR and FIRST BUILDER OTHELL YARWICK: Castle Black just won’t be Castle Black without these two distinct and valuable luminaries. Just kidding. Snip.

LORD ROOSE BOLTON: This is tricky. Bolton has a huge presence and makes his first appearance in Winterfell’s great hall with all the other Stark bannermen (see below), but his role is extremely minimal in A Game of Thrones. Were it me, because of his distinct appearance, I would have him make an appearance in GAME OF THRONES, along with a few of the others. He’s Roose Freaking Bolton. I know it stretches the cast list even more, but we need to see that Robb has some pretty badass support when he’s declared King in the North. Speaking of which…

THE GREATJON: “Your meat … is bloody tough!” ‘Nuff said. He stays. Are you going to tell him he’s out?

LADY MAEGE MORMONT: I say keep her too. There’s the possibility she could also be amalgamated with her daughter Dacy, but keep at least one of them; nothing says “The North” like Butch Chick With Axe.

LORD RICKARD KARSTARK: I’m on the fence with him too; Karstark’s fury (and eventual downfall) at losing his sons to Jaime’s sword is pretty cool, but in the end he could just be another northern name. I like how they could potentially set up his sons’ (HARRION, TORRHEN, EDDARD) introduction with their treatment of Bran, so from a storytelling purpose seeing them getting killed a few episodes later is nice. I could see them keeping this.

LORD ROBETT GLOVER, LORD MEDGER CERWYN, and LORD HALYS HORNWOOD: No need to have these men be anything other than a couple of fierce faces. A few “Aye!”s, a few shouts of “King in the North!”, and their work here is done.

WINESELLER ASSASSIN: Dany’s first would-be killer will probably make his brief appearance, especially since they seem intent on rounding out Dany’s story with extra scenes and details. There’s no reason they’d leave him out.

LORD WYMAN MANDERLY; SERS WYLLIS and WENDEL MANDERLY: Big fat guy and his big fat sons ruling in (too much) comfort over White Harbor. I guess big fat knights are funny. I could see them getting cut too.

SER HELMAN TALLHART, SER GALBART GLOVER, SMALLJON UMBER, PATREK MALLISTER, DARYN HORNWOOD, DACY MORMONT, ROBIN FLINT: No need for specific roles or any real lines for this gaggle of mostly-faceless young knights serving under the Stark banner.

SER KEVAN LANNISTER: I like that Tywin has his brother as second-in-command, and I think they’ll keep him on at least as a yes-man. We’ll see if he has as much influence in future seasons as he had in A Feast For Crows.

SER DONTOS: Sansa saves this drunken knight from the chopping block, and he becomes her Florian, so I would think him necessary unless they’re telling that part of the story a completely different way. However, I could see them shuffling him (and his entry scene) off to another season; his presence really does nothing for the first season.

LORD GYLES ROSBY: I would shuffle the “cougher lord” (future coffer lord–get it?) off to future seasons as well. He does nothing here.

SER STEVRON FREY: Our first of many potential Freys. Well, someone has to ride out to greet Robb and Catelyn. Necessary? No. But why not? We need more than a few Freys. Dude’s never going to be Lord of the Crossing, either.

LORD WALDER FREY: I’m giving the “Late Lord” a 99.9% chance of being in the series, and there’s an only slightly smaller chance he gets moved to another season. Pretty sure we’ll see ol’ Walder. Heh.

OLYVAR FREY: Robb’s new Frey squire. Why not? I don’t think he has any lines.

EROEH: A young girl Dany saves from rape, only to have her get it in spades (and her throat cut as an extra bonus) once Khal Drogo falls. Dunno if they need Eroeh, but she’s tragic enough that I’d keep her. However, they do need…

MIRRI MAZ DUUR: She’s in. C’mon.

PODRICK PAYNE: Good chance he’s in, though I could also see Pod pushed off to season two. However, consider that if we have no Pod–we also have no one to blame. Is it too early to start a “Save Podrick” effort? We need to get the Blame Pod campaign started early.

SER ADDAM MARBRAND: One of Jaime’s childhood friends, and a Lannister loyalist. He’s a nice crony to have around, though having him appear only in a brief flash during the episode 8 battle seems a waste, especially if the series makes him the eventual Captain of the Guard at King’s Landing in later seasons. I say give ‘im the Dondarrion treatment during season one: stick a helm on his head and a Marbrand symbol on his shield, show him to the fans, then shuffle the real actor off to a future season.

HIGH SEPTON: If not the High Septon, then a septon. Someone needs to preside over (and be horrified by) Ned’s beheading. It doesn’t necessarily need to be the same septon the crowd kills in A Clash of Kings, but that would be cool. Continuity.

SER HARYS SWIFT: This Lannister bannerman eventually becomes the bloody Hand in A Feast For Crows, but is it necessary to introduce him here, where all he does is sit and complain about all the victories Robb has won? Probably not. As in most cases, consistency is nice, but not if I’m close to breaking the bank.

SER EDMURE TULLY: Not as needed here as much as he is in future seasons. I could see him getting shuffled off to season two, or even cut if they decide to minimize the Riverrun stuff. I find him a rather funny dichotomy to Catelyn, so I’d keep him.

LORD HOSTER TULLY: Catelyn’s sorrows continue to pile; no reason not to have him add to them with his eventual death. Keep him. Plus he should be involved in more than one flashbacks, if they utilize those.

LORD JONOS BRACKEN and LORD TYTOS BLACKWOOD: These two Riverlands rivals can trade silent glares and bark for King Robb without having any real lines. I’d show them and their liveries to the audience and move on.

*

Yep, that’s a lot of people. 77 more potential roles added from my first post’s number of 36, plus the 19 GRRM and others have confirmed they’re looking for. Then add the 25 roles they’ve already cast (Ned, etc.), and the number climbs to 156 potential speaking roles in season one of GAME OF THRONES. I’m gonna say that puts season one of THE WIRE to shame.

And of course keeping all these roles is not happening. If I have to guess, I’m saying a full half of these roles will be speaking parts; the rest will either be shuffled away to future seasons, minimized to eye-candy, or removed altogether. Alas, poor Desmond, we hardly knew you.

• Published on 05/17/2010 at 4:04 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 5:14 PM CDT