If It Weren’t For A Bad Accent, We Would Have Had An Olsen As Khaleesi On ‘Game Of Thrones’
Think what could have been!
Rumours about the disastrous Game of Thrones pilot have been circulating for years now.
According to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners of the fantasy epic, the thing is so godawful that it’ll be kept locked up in a deep dark vault for the rest of eternity. Indeed, it was so poorly recieved by HBO at the time, that the television studio gave the pair the funds to totally remake it.
Desperate to right their wrongs, the creatives changed up the slightly dorky high fantasy tone, remade a lot of the costumes, and, crucially, recast the role of Daenerys, booting original actress Tamzin Merchant and replacing her with Emilia Clarke.
Well, according to a recent interview in Vulture magazine, Merchant wasn’t even the first choice herself — Elizabeth Olsen, younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley — was once considered for the pivotal ‘Game of Thrones’ role, but ruined her own chances with a Godawful English accent.
elizabeth olsen in red velvet suit. that’s it, that’s the tweet. pic.twitter.com/g841xHRFGu
— cas ⧗ (@natswanduh) May 17, 2019
“When I first started working, I just auditioned for everything, because I like auditioning,” Olsen told the magazine of her early stab at ‘Game of Thrones’. “And I auditioned for Khaleesi. I forgot that. It was the most awkward audition I’d ever had.”
According to the Olsen, she was presented with a monologue from the first season’s climax, featuring Daenerys “making this speech to thousands of people about how she’s their queen.”
The finale of Game of Thrones is just one hour of Daenerys trying to rebuild King’s Landing with ramen noodles and sandpaper
— Jules (@Julian_Epp) May 19, 2019
But soon the problem became apparent — Benioff and Weiss weren’t actually sure how they wanted the character to sound, so instructed Olsen to utter the lines in both a British accent, and her regular, twangy voice. “You did it in both,” Olsen said. “It was terrible. Anytime someone says, ‘Bad audition story.’ That’s one I remember.”
So there you have it: even high-ranking Hollywood players have their own bad days at work. Don’t feel too sorry for Olsen though — after all, it was only a short time later that the actress found herself cast in another massive franchise.