The second season of the wildly popular fantasy series Game of Thrones will start filming later this summer.
Many fans are wondering which actors will be added to the cast to take up the roles introduced in the second book of the Song of Ice and Fire series.
George R.R. Martin recently announced on his blog that the actor to play Brienne Tarth was found during the first round of casting calls. Yes, the gigantic and awkwardly pretty Gwendoline Christie will play the part.
Brienne is an important character in the series, as her story tangles up with several other characters, especially Jamie Lanister.
She is, in the novels, described as a freakishly tall, and not particularly attractive blonde woman. She’s also a tough woman who wishes nothing more than to be a knight, and her fighting prowess is among the best in Westeros. Her most important actions may not be in the second novel, but knowing how much focus will be on her later, it’s important that she be well cast.
Gwendoline Christie is by no means an ugly actor, but, at 6’3”, she does have the height, and her face is plain enough that a bit of bad makeup can give her a poor complexion easily, which will be enough.
As with the other supposed-to-be-ugly character, Tyrion Lanister, the producers don’t seem to have placed a high priority on locating an actually ugly person for the part.
Apperently Christie came into the audition already costumed and pre-uglied because it was an immediate reaction from the show’s creators.
“This was another one of those cases where there was hardly any debate,” Martin explained in the blog post. “The day the first batch of auditions went up for the role, we looked at a dozen actresses who were reading for Brienne and one actress who WAS Brienne.”
“Gwendoline gave a great reading, and her look was just perfect. No, when she auditioned, she did not look she does in the photo above,” he continued, referring to her headshot, which he also posted. “She came in looking… well, like Brienne. It’s a thrill to have her join the cast.”
The New Season of Game of Thones will premier on HBO in spring of 2012.
