Casting Season Two: Brienne
The long awaited casting speculation posts have returned! No, we haven’t gotten an official season two greenlight, but we are doing this now in anticipation of a quick greenlight after the series premiere draws a huge audience. We’re going to get things started with perhaps the toughest role to cast in this second season… Brienne of Tarth. The debate is, will they go with an unknown who matches Brienne’s description exactly? Or will they go with a more well-known actor who maybe isn’t quite as ugly as Brienne is described in the books? Let’s take a look at some popular fan suggestions.
Katee Sackhoff – A popular fan choice due to her role as Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica. She has the right athleticism for the role, although at 5’6″ she isn’t quite as tall as an ideal Brienne. Some might say she is too pretty, but that can be fixed with makeup. If the production even wants to fix it, there are many who believe we might get “Hollywood ugly” for this role. The other big strike against her? She is American. However, I suspect she will audition. Her best friend, and fan of the books, Tricia Helfer will probably encourage her to. But I don’t know if she will ultimately be cast.
Miranda Hart – A popular British comedienne, Hart is best known for her BBC sitcom Miranda. At 6’1″ she’s definitely got the size to play Brienne. But maybe not the athleticism. She’s also not blonde, although that isn’t essential to the character and could easily be fixed in any case. The thing is she’s already got a successful sitcom on the BBC, would she really want to leave that? And she’s more of a comedic actress, how would she handle the really dramatic stuff? She does have one prominent backer though — Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell) has tweeted his feeling that she would make a good Brienne.
Eva Damen – This Dutch actress is a newcomer to the Brienne casting discussion. Her name first popped up when she began an active online campaign for the role a la Conan Stevens. She looks to have the right physical attributes: tall, athletic, and with stage combat training too. Despite never appearing in anything but Dutch productions, her resume says she can speak English and do a British accent. But she is very inexperienced, is her acting talent sufficient for a major role? This sort of online fan campaign has worked before, in a similarly unique role, so maybe she has a shot?
Gwendoline Christie – A British actress and model, Christie has numerous stage credits to her name, as well as a handful of film and TV appearances. Her most notable feature is her height, at 6’3″ she would tower over all but a few of the other cast members. She also matches Brienne’s description in the books almost exactly: blue eyes, freckled and blonde. She has the size, the looks, the acting experience, and judging by who she is following on her Twitter account, is aware of the show. She just might be our Brienne.
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