Kevin Also Blogs: Small Council: What was your favorite casting choice on Game of Thrones?

Game of Thrones has long been lauded for its casting, but which of the show’s casting choices impressed us most? Which characters were so well-cast that it’s literally impossible to imagine them being played by anyone else? What stars did HBO discover? The Small Council is in session.

COREY: This is a rather difficult question considering how well the show has done with casting overall. Top to bottom, the show is filled with more talent than any television show has a right to be. Spread the wealth around!

Anyway, if I was forced to choose one casting decision in particular that blew my socks off, it would Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister. HBO certainly did not discover Dance, as the man has been acting professionally longer than I have been alive. Still, his performance as the head of House Lannister is the stuff of legend.

With a glare that could melt glaciers, Dance effectively made us understand exactly why Tywin was the most feared and respected man in all the Seven Kingdoms. In the books, Tywin has a near-mythic reputation, and bringing such a character to life was a tall order. From the moment Dance appeared in the tent with Jaime, skinning that stag in “Baelor,” he filled it. Jaime is a powerful character, and yet we all bought him cowering before Tywin in that scene because Dance emanated menace, intelligence, and power.

Dance’s scenes with Maisie Williams in season 2 were the highlight of the year for me, and they were crafted exclusively for the show. Sure, the Battle of the Blackwater was thrilling, but watching Dance work with Williams was a treat. From his speaking cadence to his ability to convey emotions with a glance, Dance is a master of his craft. If there is one character I miss solely because I loved watching the actor work, it would be Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister.

My runners up would include Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell and Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane. Excellent performances from both, and perhaps more of a “discovery” than Dance.

DAN: Nina Gold is the casting director on Game of Thrones, and she and her team have done a smash-bang job on the show for years now. In my opinion, their biggest accomplishment is finding excellent child actors. Their most recent success is Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont, but they’ve been pulling off miracles since the beginning, starting with the Stark children.

Think about what a daunting task this must have been. You know that characters like Bran, Sansa, and Arya are going to have huge arcs on the show, so you have to hire a child actor with range. But children are fickle and changeable — who knows if youthful charisma will turn into long-term performing ability? But Gold and company got it right every time, and never moreso than with Maisie Williams as Arya Stark.

It helps that Arya is a character with a lot of presence — she’s a rebel right from the beginning, when she’d rather be playing at swords than knitting. Williams embodied that from the get-go — the sly smile, the messy hair, the cat-like scamper…there are a lot of characters in Game of Thrones, and at first it can be hard to remember their names, but one look at Williams as Arya and everyone knew exactly who that character was. She was that perfect a fit.

Since then, we’ve watched Williams go from a naturally charismatic actor to a consummate performer, and if possible, she became an even more perfect fit for Arya. Although she’s 20 years old, Williams stands just a hair over five feet tall, which allows her to convincingly play a character Arya’s age. And because of her dance background, Williams excels at the physical aspects of the work — swordfighting, chase scenes, etc — which is hugely important for Arya. Performance-wise, Williams is always layering anger just under the surface, and pathos just under that. Her ability to pull off so many conflicting emotions at such a young age is remarkable.

I’m gonna say it now: of all the great child actors on this show, I think Williams has the potential to become the biggest star.

SARAH: Anyone who reads these Small Council posts regularly probably knows that I’m obsessed with Arya Stark and with Maisie Williams, and she would genuinely by my pick for this topic. Dan got there first, which is fine by me, because she deserves as much praise as we’re prepared to heap on her.

For my choice, I’m going to stick with the child actors. While I agree with Corey that Charles Dance embodies the power and capability of the formidable Tywin Lannister with aplomb, naming an actor of such talent to your cast is never going to be a risk. A veteran like Dance will always bring their A-game, and Tywin was in safe hands from the start. With child actors, casting directors are always taking a gamble on whether the performer will grow into his or her role. Nina Gold went above and beyond reasonable expectations when she found the actors she did. I’d like to single out Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark as an example of inspired casting.

Not only do I think that Isaac physically embodies the Bran I pictured when I read A Game of Thrones, but I think he has a certain quality that really helps him to encapsulate the character. He presents himself as an old soul in a young body, and Bran is exactly that, a mixture of young and old. While he is willing to make sacrifices — like saying goodbye to Osha and Rickon — to work towards a greater purpose (a purpose that was thrust upon him without his consent), he’s also still a child, and on occasion he is rash, stubborn and even selfish. It takes a great deal of skill for an actor to embody such a layered character, and I think Hempstead Wright is perfect for this role.

Where Arya Stark is a character who is wild at heart and holds nothing back, much of what makes Bran who he is lurks beneath the surface, which is a necessity for the character, as he can’t rely on his physicality. Isaac Hempstead Wright’s gentle yet occasionally impassioned performance has breathed life into one of the more muted and fascinating characters in Westeros.

RICHARD: Lots of great choices above, especially regarding child actors, and the Game of Thrones casting directors have really been spot-on throughout the series. Pros like Charles Dance, Lena Headey and Michelle Fairley were inspired selections. Even the untried newbies like Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, John Bradley, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Maisie Williams, Kristian Nairn and so forth have all turned out to be gems.

This week’s choice is near and dear to my heart: Liam Cunningham as the Onion Knight, Ser Davos Seaworth. He came into acting later in life (after growing bored of his electrician’s job in Africa), and wow am I thankful he landed on Game of Thrones. Cunningham is capable of immense theatrical depth and he can dominate the screen simply with his facial expressions, and he was a perfect choice for the emotional, pragmatic and often conflicted Ser Davos.

Ser Davos is often the voice of moderation and reason in a chaotic and brutal world. Cunningham’s ability to express wry humor in the most dramatic scenes makes him fun to have on screen, as when he prepares to defend Jon Snow’s body in “The Red Woman.” “I’ve never been much of a fighter. Apologies for what you’re about to see.” And while Davos is our favorite gruff-as-a-teddy-bear uncle who jams money into our hands when our parents aren’t looking, he’s also a valiant warrior who fights for what he believes is right.

Although fully invested in playing the loyal, even-headed counselor, Cunningham has the chops for the character’s intense emotional moments, such as his heart-stopping agony and outrage when he learns who killed his teacher and friend Shireen. He was just a perfect fit. No one else could have delivered this season 6 teaser/trailer-worthy line like Cunningham: “The real war is between the living and the dead. And make no mistake. The dead are coming.”

I’m rooting for Ser Davos to survive as long as possible, for purely selfish reasons, because I’d truly miss his presence on the show.

RAZOR: Without a doubt, my favorite Game of Thrones casting choice has to be Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon. His dour expressions, matter-of-fact attitude, and overall look match the Stannis Baratheon I know from the books perfectly. This is helped by the fact that Dillane was perfectly suited, as an actor, to portray a man who takes little pleasure in life — he can deliver the best lines without breaking a smile.

From his penchant for being grammatically correct to his soft spot for his daughter (before having her burned at the stake) to encouraging Samwell Tarly to keep reading to his final words, Stephan Dillane played Stannis Baratheon to the hilt. It’s just a damned shame he wasn’t honored for his masterful work with an award.