Could This Set Be For Tyrion Lannister?

Over the weekend, I posted this picture of the new set in Croatia and started to speculate as to who it could be for. The production going to a totally new place suggests this is for something we’ve never seen before in our ever expanding world. Though we’re about to see the southern most area of Westeros for the first time, all the Dorne scenes are filming in Spain.

The other world that will be expanding rapidly is the continent of Essos. I originally thought maybe it was part of Meereen, but a commenter’s idea brought me up short and made me reconsider.

Book spoilers, speculation, and an important question, after the jump.

A couple of weeks ago, we got our first glimpse of Peter Dinklage, heading towards a quay for filming in a boat. Alongside this picture’s release, someone also snapped a picture of Ser Jorah, suggesting his and Tyrion Lannister’s stories had come together. (The lack of Varys being anywhere also suggests that at some point he and Tyrion have parted ways.) The suggestion I saw in the comments was this: were we looking at the slaver’s block Tyrion will find himself on before long?

The problem I had when I was suggesting these pictures might be a new part of Meereen was the scale. The ceremonial area I was thinking of from the books was much larger and grander than these pictures seem to suggest. But a slaver’s block outside of Yunkai? Now that’s something we both haven’t seen, and would fit the size and scale of the set.

There’s only one problem: Where’s Penny?

No, really. It’s not like she wold be easy to miss. A second person with dwarfism in the show would be spotted pretty quickly by those watching filming. The production hasn’t put out a press release announcing her casting, and there’s nothing out there on the internet suggesting she may be in the wings.

I consider Penny a pretty important character for Tyrion’s development, once he leaves the safety of Pentos and the last people who respect his “Lannister Privilege,” if you will. Once Tyrion is on the road with the Griffs–neither of which have been cast either, as far as I know–most everyone he encounters in Essos see someone who they would never consider respecting. It’s not until Tyrion runs into Jorah that someone figures out who he is, and not for Tyrion’s benefit either. But it’s Penny who really teaches Tyrion his “place,” as it were, in this new world where money and a last name no longer buy respect, and how to survive when one is nothing and only half a nobody to the people they meet. That she’s a woman who Tyrion befriends but does not become romantically involved with is also important for his development, as women to him up until now have either been unobtainable or whores.

Does anyone else worry we won’t see Penny? I’ve wondered if the production wanted to keep most of Tyrion’s new friends under wraps, considering the importance of the Griffs down the line. But even if the show is not announcing casting the people Tyrion meets down the way, Penny would be pretty hard to disguise.

So eyes and ears, keep me apprised. If you see anything about casting of Penny, or any pictures of a female person with dwarfism on set, give us a holler. She’s one character I really don’t want to see cut.

• Published on 09/10/2014 at 9:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:40 PM CDT