HBO’s Game of Thrones has made its first casting hire for season 2:
Natalie Dormer, who memorably played the seductive and doomed Anne Boleyn on Showtime’s The Tudors, has been added to the fantasy drama’s regular cast.
Dormer will play Margaery Tyrell, a (minor spoiler alert) beautiful and shrewd young woman from the influential House Tyrell. She’s pledged to marry the late King Robert’s brother, Renly Baratheon, as part of House Tyrell’s support for his bid to seize the Iron Throne from King Joffrey.
In addition to The Tudors (where, appropriately enough for joining the decapitation-filled Thrones, her character was beheaded) Dormer is also appearing in the upcoming Captain America.
UPDATE: Here’s who will play Davos and here’s who is cast for Melisandre and Stannis.
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doomed Anne ‘Boylen’? you mean Anne Boleyn
She looks better as a brunette
Yeah, I barely recognize her as a blonde. What a wonderful choice, considering what her character’s story arc, I must shout
PERFECT CASTING!
they should cast an American than an other Brit, this really start to get on my last n****
please make them off my tv
Why should they hire an American? All the young American actresses want to go on tour, be clothing designers or are too talentless for this cast.
litho, is this the only thing you’ve got to say? You’ve had several comments saying the same thing. We get it, you don’t like the Brits.
Litho, why care if they are British? Natalie Dormer was flawless in the Tudors and she will make an amazing addition to the cast, can’t wait for season 2!
@charlotte, i dont hate Brits but i dont want them every where on America tv specially on GoT, i want some American on it.
Litho, you have yet to explain why they have to be American…
GoT would have been terrible in an American accent or a poor man’s American>British accent. Harry Potter is the best example of of casting brits instead of the original plan of casting and setting it in America(n).
There is a simple reason why most of the cast are Brits. It’s filmed in NORTHERN IRELAND! Long way from Cali, huh?
I don’t think is a perfect cast, she’s 28 and Margaery is 16 in the books, yeah, maby you can say that in the tvshow all of them are a little older, but 12 years is not “a little”, they should find a younger actrees to play Margaery, that’s what i think.
You do know Peter Dinklage (Tyrion) is american right?
Jason Momoa – Khal Drogo – is an American
“Harry Potter is the best example of of casting brits instead of the original plan of casting and setting it in America(n).”
Right. Good point. The Harry Potter movies were successful because of the acting. Good thing they used Brits. American actors and actresses couldn’t possibility have pulled it off.
Litho…
a) it’s filmed in Europe. That explains a lot, huh?
b) Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) = USA
c) Tyrion Lannister (Peter DInklage) = New Jersey.
And honestly, though I am American, I do agree with all of you. Most American stars are talentless attention hounds that would rather make some D-list movie that’s been made a hundred times, yet can be done in Hollywood, only a few miles away, rather than fly overseas to be a part of something new and worth watching.
(I apologize for my run-on sentence)
-Fire and Blood-
agreed.
Agreed!
agreed- totally washed out and pale as a blond!
Why most cast are Brit? this is not about Brit story, i am sick of those Brit actor and actress in American TV
Hello, they are filming in Northern Ireland.
Get over it! The Brits have been been acting long before us…they also generally appear to be better at it!
yeah that’s the fantasy convention, and the western historical story convention, is that english accent = old/mythic. but it would be nice to allow the dornish to have american accents or scottish or arabic would make sense.
as for acting, for every good brit actor, there’s a better english actor and vice versa. acting skills aren’t genetic. case in point, tyrion.
garret dillahunt has said he’d like a role, as a fan of the books, since before season one. hopefully he’ll get one. (jaqen?…)
but also, the classical style is more in line with the english accent convention. if there were a funny adventurous D&D-type show, you’d probably have to get a lot of americans.
though yes, i will always be slightly regretful that they didn’t give american or even southern american accents to a kingdom or two.
@Matibob, i dont care just i am sick of those Brit on my tv
brit actor, american actor*
why not Canadian
@litho, turn off the TV and open a book. You know this series was based on a book. Go read.
@litho your comment really makes you sound like a vapid narrow minded self absorbed prat. do you really think the only actors on tv should be american? or is it that you think no one else in the world that makes film or tv can make anything good? you really should watch more variety and then you may sound less idiotic.
American is just not epic enough.
Peter Dinklage is American.
Litho, why can’t the best person be hired for the job? And why do you even care? We’ve taken numerous projects that started out British and Americanized them. Get over yourself.
@Cathy, are you telling us there are not good American actors or actresses for this?
if you don’t care i care!
All you need to watch to see why British actors/actresses are getting work is watch the two versions of “Skins”. The British young actors are so much better its sick which is why so many of them are popping up everywhere now, including “Game of Thrones” Its all in the talent being produced and this country isn’t producing any of it. Face the facts.
Hate to be Un-PC here but, litho has a point when you apply it to the broader TV landscape. British actors have also taken over roles that are written as Americans, i.e. House, True Blood. This idea that there are no brilliant American actors is bogus. That’s the same nonsense they say about finding actors of color. I think Hollywood has this idea that Americans are perpetually stupid and have nothing of value or quality to offer.
litho doesn’t have a point. The show is filmed in N Ireland. IF an American actor wanted to participate in the show, they’d audition and relocate to N IRELAND. Obviously, it’s not the case. Plus, do you really want to see women in a medieval setting with 21st century boob jobs, tattoes and lip injections?? Or dudes that sound like they just rolled off the beach??
Who cares Brit/American – so long as they deliver and she stole the show on The Tudors so GREAT CHOICE!! BTW, I’m an American.
Jason Momoa is from Iowa. How American is that?
@litho: aren’t you a bit racist? These actors seem fine to me.
you are a piece of trash, no one cares where the actors are from, btw most british actors are far superior to americans. america is not the world in case you didn’t realize.
Sad to say, but I have much less lousy British movies, whereas Americans tend to bore me to death, pale acting, repetitive scripts, but the special effects are generally good. If they hired more Americans they’d have to waste more money on ironing their faces and purchasing botox. At least the Brits can act and do not fear age or looks. In the US acting seems to be plastic surgeons and the art of performing favors. FYI, I am neither American nor British.
Fantastic casting choice! Plus, she is much more striking as a brunette.
OMG, I love her! I saw her naked on “Tudors” alot and she is a cutie patootie!!! Count me in!
Natalie Dormer is a natural blond. She dyed her hair for the Tudors. Either way she looks great & is a gifted actor.
I saw that a lot of fans wanted her on the show. I never watched The Tudors so I can’t say one way or the other. But can we get Rufus Sewell for Stannis?
LOVE the idea !!!! Rufus would be perfect for the role.
The best choice for Stannis Baratheon is still Mark Strong, if you ask me.
If someone was going to play me, I’d have killed for it to have been Gerard Butler. Mark Strong is another good choice, however I feel like Rufus Sewell is the best actor for the price HBO would pay.
this isnt Brit story why cast Brit
Part of the story is roughly inspired by the English War of the Roses, fought between the Yorks (Starks) and Lancasters (Lannisters). I can assure you that the Yorks and Lancasters didn’t speak with anything like an American dialect. Do you still want to say “this isnt Brit story”?
I’m an American too, so please stop posting this inane drivel constantly, lest we confirm what most Europeans already have good reason to suspect — that we’re a bunch of mouth breathing idiots.
its a fake world you’re making up accents for, so why not maximize how much different demos can relate to different characters, via accents, skin tones, cultural trappings, etc.
you know what would be really weird? if there were a continent on another planet (which is what westeros is) and they somehow had upper-class english accents. and spoke english.
I don’t know lawrence…if there is a ruling elite in a medieval society that functions like medieval Europe did, then it stands to reason that they should have a standard dominant/preferred accent/skin tone/cultural trappings by region at least. So while it would be fine if Tywin Lannister had a different accent than Ned Stark (since they are elites from different regions), we don’t want everyone to just have a mish-mash of accents. If Ned Stark, Robb Stark, and his vassal Greatjon Umber all had hugely different accents, that wouldn’t make a lot of sense.
Your second point is absolutely ridiculous. You say that because it’s a fake world, it would be really weird if they all spoke English. No. It would not be really weird. Because this is a story written by an American author and made for consumption by human beings on planet Earth in the real world. So he used the English language. He also used human beings as characters — using your line of reasoning, it should be “really weird” that there are human beings on Westeros, since there probably aren’t any other human beings in this big universe of ours.
I’m sure your fantasy show which has A) no human languages and B) no humans would be amusing, but I think I’ll pass.
well in this country, people in minnesota don’t really sound like people in california or new england or mississippi. so it just doesn’t make sense for the accents to be so similar from the north to the south in westeros, but hopefully the dornish won’t sound english. not too mention, there were three great historical invasopns of westeros from three completely different regions in the east: the first men way back when, the andals a while ago, and the valyrians fairly recently. so they all sound the same. now, none of the countries on the fake planet are english. this is a wholly created world. so in an edgy show that features anachronistic language and multiple storylines in multiple countries, it’s oddly conventional to go, eh, they’re all english. as a filmmaker, you want to use as many tools as thoughtfully as possible, and so far, the accents are thoughtless. as for the english accent being more epic than the american, again, that doesn’t really make sense, because it’s all in how you use it. if you’ve ever played an epic video game rpg, you can see, all accents can be epic. but if you want to say certain accents are definitively better than others for different reasons, then you could say the american accent is more visceral and better for visceral action. isn’t there action in this? for a genre based on the idea of creating a world with its own rules, it’s seems to undercut the spirit of the genre by going, um just make everyone talk like i, claudius. but yeah i’m sure they love the english accents in france and germany.
also just pragmatically, a lot of americans tune out when they see stuffy classical acting and english accents.
how do you care where people are from? the most important thing is they nail the character! if they’re great at it and make me forget the differences from the book (age-etc), it’s ok with me.
well I think it could be good to have more accent differentiation but to a Brit, those accents from North and South DO sound hugely, MASSIVELY different… and they do come from different parts of the country. Peter does a great ‘posh’ English accent. Ser Jorah has his soft Scottish accent. I notice there aren’t any Aussie accents..should I be annoyed?
Someone has obviously made a decision on how they want people to sound, otherwise Tyrion would have his natural American accent. Any how I love the series, love the books.
OMG!!! Rufus Sewell would be Extremely Awesome as Stannis – all that no-nonsense arrogance is right up his alley! – somebody cast him, please!!!
Awesome! She was great in The Tudors, very excited about this casting. WTG!
Americans who tune out on a show due to Brit accents have a special name. Wankers. For every decent American actor there are 2 UK actors their equal or better. BTW I was born/lived in NYC, now in Virginia.
She’s older than I imagined the character.
Isn’t everyone older on the show than in the book, though?
Yes, it makes sense considering Jon and Robb are 14 in the first book. Kit Harrington and Richard Madden are obviously older than that. Everybody was aged a bit. Ned Stark was supposed to be in his mid-30s but Sean Bean is obviously older.
In case of choices like Sean Bean and Lena Headey, I think it was just a matter of being right for their parts. I think the kids being cast older was planned. With Jon and Rob it would’ve been hard to sell a pair of 14 year old bad asses. With Dani it wouldn’t have been legal to cast a 14 (12?) year old, unless they cut all her nude/sex scenes. I’m not sure about Dani’s age in the book since it’s not in front of me at the moment.
Dany is 13 in the book. They would obviously have has to age her up, you are correct, or cut out 75% of her story due to content. All of the kids are aged up, even Rickon (the youngest Stark), who is supposed to be 3.
Prior to the show’s release, I believe they stated that all characters would be aged 3 years from what they were in the book.
By aging the characters a bit, the physical changes as the actors themselves age would less obvious, given the amount of time between seasons.
I don’t really have a problem with that, but Margaery is suppose to be like 19 then, and Dormer is pushing 30. Should make the interactions between her and Joffery interesting.
Yeah I agree Charlotte. I feel like Dormer is a bit too old as well. It’s gonna be very strange in the scenes from book four when she’s ******* to ******.
I think she’s gonna look a little to older. Maby with Renly will be ok but with Joffrey i think i will be very strange. Also, book 1 was one season but books number 2 and 3 are much longer that book 1 so i think at least 2 seasons for each book. That means that for the moment of her wedding with Joffrey she can be 33 years old or something like that. I really think they should change her for a younger actrees.
I’m all for timeliness but at least edit a story before posting it. It should read “…shrewd woman” not “women”.
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No, it WAS Anne Boylen-she was Jewish, and chanmged her name, to appear less “ethnic”, lol! And yes, she looks MUCH better brunette, and without clothes!
ummm no she wan’t. she was a protestant
irony detection fail…..
Er…even if brutony was being ironic, Anne Boleyn was Catholic. He had to get divorced to marry her. The act started the Reformation in England
anne boleyn was definately NOT catholic. As queen she kept an english translated bible in her chambers for her staff to read and was adamantly anti papist. She is (and was then) regarded as a very important influential person in the english reformation.
Jon smith is correct.
Er, yes, the English reformation, that would be the thing that was a reaction against catholicism. Historians are in disagreement about the level of influence she had over the reformation itself, and indeed what her beliefs were. It was Henry VIII’s decision to divorce Catherine and marry Anne that led to Roman Catholicism’s decline in England. And the historians don’t agree about the level of choice she had in getting married either, some arguing she pursued him and others claiming she was harrassed.
Started off as Catholic. And although Henry eventually adopted Protestantism to marry her- elements of Catholicism was still kept in. It wasn’t until Elizabeth I (after Mary and Edward VI) that the Protestanism of the Church of England became solidified. At that time- it is hard to say what religion someone was- it was a time of transition. But yes, she is considered a primary reason for England’s switch to Protestantism. (Don’t forget lots of other reasons- there are theories that the Pope would have granted the divorce but the Holy Roman Emperor Charles who had captured the Vatican was Catherine- the first wife- cousin. So he was trapped)…history lessons
Dream Game of Thrones Cast
Stannis – James Purefoy (Rome)
Davos – Chris Eccelston (Doctor Who)
Melisandre – Indira Varma (Rome)
Rheagar Targeryan – Tom Welling (Smallville)
Mance Rayder – Michael Sheen
I see Eccelston as Stannis not Davos, but he would never do a role like this because is to big (time wise), e jumped out Doctor Who after only on season.
i would DIE if christopher eccleston would sign on. i don’t care if he’s joffrey’s servant #2. anything would rock.
LOL, Sarah!!
YES to James Purefoy as Stannis. A million times yes.
purefoy should be mance imo and strong should play stannis ftw
Just keep in mind they have a very tight HBO budget, so some of the people you mention are out of their price range.
Also, Tom Welling would make a HIDEOUS silver/blond haired guy.
Should have been Melisandre
Tricia Helfer would be a perfect Melisandre
THAT is some great casting. I was thinking Sean Young for Melisandre but yours is better.
Sean Young? You must be real old, Josh.
I love the idea of Tricia Helfer as Melisandre!
Tia Carrere would still make a great Melisandre (check her out in “Kull the Conqueror”)
I’m only 31. I saw an article about how she wanted to do a comeback and I thought, hey! Red witch.
I think I imagined Melisandre older, but that just changed for me the INSTANT I read this! Tricia Helfer would be fantastic. Of course I also thought Osha was old until I saw the actress playing her, and then it was so perfect it just didn’t matter (sorry I don’t know her name; also, it took me a while to place her as the actress who also plays Tonks in HP.)
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I think Jaime Murray would be a good choice for Melisandre. She’s in Spartacus though, correct? So she’s probably all tied up.
SPOILER. She died in Spartacus. However, I don’t think she’s right for the role of Melisandre.
Natalie Dormer was amazing as Anne Boleyn, she was my favorite thing about the Tudors, except when Henry Cavill was naked of course.
I hope she dies her hair back to brown in Game of Thrones.
i’m not sure but i think the character is blonde.
Margaery Tyrell is brunette in the books.
As is Natalie – she had to dye her naturally blonde dark black for the Tudors.
Agreed!
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is she a series regular???????
Not really. She’s relevant to the events of book 2 but never really appears. Much bigger role in books 3 and 4. But then again, we never get to see anything through Renly’s eyes in the books and that’s a possibility in the show so that may give her a bigger role.
Oooh, I like the idea of seeing things in Renly’s camp if it means we get to see Brienne of Tarth that much sooner.
also, minor spoilerish, she later claims she never slept with renly, which suddenly makes a LOT MORE SENSE since we know renly was just banging her brother.
Do we know that? Or was that just red meat for the HBO audience?
Renly/Loras have always been written as a gay couple in the books, it wasn’t an HBO invention. It was somewhat subtle, but the clues are there and GRRM has confirmed it in interviews years ago, etc.
I read all of the books more than once. It was far more than subtle. Plus, GRRM is not subtle about anything else including the sexual appetites of the other characters, so why here? There are two or three comments that could be taken that way, mostly by Stannis. I’d love a link to that interview, but it seemed to me like HBO took a web rumor and ran with it.
It’s there. Trust me, Renly and Loras are gay in the books. Of course they don’t come right out and say it at any point — that wouldn’t be politic. But there are many many hints throughout the books.
renly/loras gay scene in series out of place from a book readers perspective although maybe alluded to it was never confirmed anywhere. Even little fingers comment at the tourny was more than you get in the book but was fine the shaving scene was way over the top and changed my perception from the book
Oh, please. It is pretty obvious in the books. Stannis comments on the facts a lot, all the Tyrells clearly know and aludes to the fact in several converstations. But Renly and Loras are not POVs, and GRRM is pretty subtle when it comes to information about people that are not POVs.
Also, GRRM confirms it, so it’s really not up for debate.
I don’t even remember her having any lines! The books are very 3rd person subjective, and she’s more referred to than present. Obviously she’ll have lines now, but she’s not important. She’s marrying a guy who is a gay lover of her brother. She is a beard, basically, although it is MUCH less obvious in the books.
Well she has plenty of lines in the third and fourth books
@Joao — Margaery Tyrell is brunette in the books.
thanks, i was having troubles remembering.
Great news! A lot older than Margaery is supposed to be, but Margaery has always had the poise and the shrewdness of a much older woman (probably because of Olenna’s couching).
And with an acress like Natalie Dormer, it may mean that the Tyrells get more screen time. I like the sound of that.
I’ve been gaining interest in this show from from all the EW articles, but Natalie Dormer has sold me on watching it next season.
You should watch the first season if you’re committed to the second one now.
I agree with FloodOne – watch the first season, you won’t be disappointed.
Margaery Tyrell becomes a very important character over several books. Dormer is an excellent choice for this role. A little older than the character in the books, but several of the younger characters in the novel were aged up for the series, and appropriately so considering the content of the story.
Was hoping to see her as Mel, but I’m just glad she’s on the show!