9 Actors Who Were Almost Cast In ‘Game Of Thrones’

If you know the history of Game of Thrones, you know that the original un-aired pilot of the series was a hot ass mess, requiring rewrites, recasts, and reshoots. Pride and Prejudice actress Jennifer Ehle was originally cast as Catelyn Stark, however after the first pilot she was swiped out in favor of Michelle Fairley. Ehele seems unbothered about the whole ordeal. She's since been in everything from NBC's The Blacklist to Fifty Shades of Grey.

Tudors actress Tamzin Merchant was another victim of the original GoT pilot. Though it's hard to imagine anyone other than Emilia Clarke as the Mother of Dragons, Marchant originally had the role. All of that changed when the entire pilot was redone. Since then, Merchant has gone on to slay on WGN America's Salem.

When it came time to cast the Wildlings beyond the Wall, who better to embody Mance Rayder than The Wire alum Dominic West? West told Digital Spy that he had been offered a part in Game Of Thrones (rumored to be the part of Wildling Chief Mance Rayder). However, West turned down the role because he was not too enthused about filming in Reykjavik, Iceland for six-months. He stated, "My problem is, I've got four kids, and at the moment, I'm reluctant to be away from home for a long time." All worked out in the end, West is now on Showtime's smash success The Affair and Ciarán Hinds snagged the role of Mance.

Can you imagine Outlander hottie, Sam Heughan as poor Loras Tyrell? When GoT was casting, Heughan auditioned for the roles of Loras and Renly Baratheon an exhausting seven times. However, the roles ultimately went to Finn Jones and Gethin Anthony respectively. This all worked in our favor, because Heughan now stars in another major show, STARZ's Outlander as the hunky Scottish dreamboat Jamie Fraser. We must say, we're much happier with him in this particular role.

Lily Allen's real-life brother Alfie Allen plays Theon Greyjoy on Game of Thrones, so it seemed only natural for the GoT showrunners to consider casting Lily Allen in the role of Theon's sister, Yara Greyjoy. However, after reading the scene where Theon feels up Yara on horseback, Lily was horrified. She went on to say there was just way too much incest going on for her to feel comfortable accepting the role. We don't blame her at all if this really was the case. However, Alfie went on to tell Vulture, that his big sis made the whole thing up. We're just not sure what to think about all of this.

EastEnders (UK) actor Danny Dyer claims to have been rejected for roles on Game of Thrones several times. Apparently, Dyer was going out for the role of the ill-fate Nights Watchmen, Pyper. It looks like Dyer landed the right gig at the right time.

Literally no one else could play the former Lord Commander Jon Snow like the delicious Kit Harington. However, Me Before You hunk Sam Claflin actually tried out for both the Bastard of Winterfell, and Daenerys's evil ass brother Viserys Targaryen, Though Claflin failed to get either role, he did grab the role of The Hunger Games champion Finnick Odair; not too shabby if you ask us.

Can you imagine The X-Files alum, Gillian Anderson in the role of fallen queen Cersei Lannister? After all, Lena Headey is literal perfection in the role. Still, we have to admit that Anderson would have certainly added her own flair to the iconic character.

English actress Izzy Meikle-Small is best known for her roles in the film Never Let Me Go and for the television series Ripper Street. However, when it came down for HBO to cast the role of Sansa Stark for Game of Thrones, Meikle-Small and Sophie Turner were neck in neck. Ultimately, Turner booked the role and we've known her as the eldest Stark daughter ever since.