How did HBO so perfectly cast Game of Thrones?

Game of Thrones was one of my most highly anticipated shows, and boy has it delivered now that we have hit the halfway mark of the show’s first season. I’ve been a big fan of George R. R. Martin’s books and I was eager to see how HBO was going to take the epic novels and put them onto the small screen. The makers of the show have done a fantastic job. There is no network on television that has the production values of HBO. Just look at the amazing sets and costumes on this show, or the multimillion dollar Atlantic City that the network built for Boardwalk Empire. It’s impressive. I think the thing that has impressed me most about Game of Thrones so far, though, has been the casting.

In the early stages of production, I was following the casting announcements on Martin’s blog and rumors from around the web. It was hard to tell just how strong the cast was going to be at that point, but after half a season I am amazed. Most of the casting is good, and the casting that isn’t good is eerily perfect. I just don’t understand how HBO has so perfectly recreated some of these characters from the books. I have started re-reading the novels (because I am that obsessive), and it all just confirms how I felt. With the slight exception of all the characters being a bit older in the television series, which was almost a necessity, everything is perfect. Let’s face it, I don’t think anyone wanted to see a 13 year old Dany getting it on with Khal Drogo. That’s just a tad too creepy.

The amazing casting really became crystal clear to me this morning when I was checking on Martin’s blog and saw this post on some of the new miniature models that are for sale. I looked them over and noted to myself how much they look like the characters from the show. Of course, a paragraph later Martin himself pointed out that they don’t look like the actors because they are specifically not modeled after the series (because the miniatures company doesn’t have rights to model characters from the show).

What I can’t figure out is if this amazing casting should be attributed to the casting folks for the show, or if Martin’s characters are just so well developed in the books that it was easy. I have a feeling it was a little bit of both. I mean, Maisie Williams is Arya Stark. I can’t imagine that anyone else could play that role right now. Other standouts for me include Harry Lloyd, whose Viserys practically jumped off the pages of the book, and John Bradley who is an absolutely perfect Samwell Tarly.

With the promise of a season two already in the books, I’m going to be eagerly anticipating the casting announcements of all those big characters from the series’s second novel.

Clacked by Bob Degon
on May 18, 2011 @ 14:45 EST5EDT