Martin on Headey casting and the roles yet to be filled

Martin has checked in with his thoughts on Lena Headey as Cersei. He also explains his reasoning behind the three clues. Needless to say, they were close to impossible.

Lena is best known among genre fans for playing Sarah Connor in the recently cancelled Fox show THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. Sarah, of course, was played in the TERMINATOR films by Linda Hamilton, who was also Catherine on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Yes, that was the “Six Degrees” clue, with Sarah Connor as the link.

Lena also starred as Queen Gorgo of Sparta in the film 300, whence came my two “Gorgo” clues, one playing off the old monster movie GORGO (see below), the other off the actual historical Queen Gorgo, as chronicled by Herodotus, Father of History.

Also, in an earlier blog post, he gave us a list of roles still remaining to be cast:

Glad to see everyone so excited about the casting.

We’re not done yet by any means. Roles still to be filled for the pilot include Bran, Jory, Hullen, Jeyne Poole, Septa Mordane, Maester Luwin, Ser Rodrik, Grand Maester Pycelle, Khal Drogo, Magister Illyrio, and the threesome from the prologue, Gared, Will, and Waymar Royce.
And the ever-popular Red-Headed Whore and Nameless Eunuch.

Rickon, Tommen, Myrcella, and Beth will be non-speaking parts.

People are getting way ahead of themselves with suggestions for Varys, Littlefinger, Lord Tywin, Ser Barristan, Renly, Stannis, Melisandre, etc. None of those characters appear in the pilot, and some won’t appear until the second season.

Assuming, of course, that we get that far.

Winter Is Coming: Notice Sandor is not on that list. Further confirmation that the Hound has already been cast. Also interesting that Benjen is missing from that list. We know from the leaked script that not only does he appear in the pilot but has a few lines as well. Perhaps in a subsequent rewrite those lines were removed? Or perhaps he’s already cast? Or, most likely, George just forgot to mention him. Jeyne Poole and Beth Cassel didn’t appear in the leaked script either, yet are on Martin’s list. So rewrites are certainly not out of the question.

• Published on 09/03/2009 at 8:45 AM CDT
• Last updated on 09/03/2009 at 8:45 AM CDT