The race for power in Westeros almost had another face.
If today Emilia Clarke is inseparable from Daenerys and her three dragons, she was not the first choice of production.
Indeed, it is the British actress Tamzin Merchant who was to lend her features to the heiress of the Targaryen dynasty.
But the grueling filming of the pilot dissuaded the young woman from continuing the adventure.
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In 2011, HBO adapted George RR Martin's series of novels for television.
Among the many characters Daenerys stands out.
First a submissive woman, sold by her brother to a barbarian chief in exchange for an army, she takes control of her destiny over the seasons until she invades the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, Port-Réal.
Tamzin Merchant should have been the one nicknamed "The Mother of Dragons" in
Game of Thrones
.
In an interview given to
Entertainment Weekly
, she confides that
"shooting this pilot was a great lesson"
.
Read also“They spoil all spontaneity”: Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) regrets the use of intimacy coordinators
At the time of filming the pilot, the actress did not have much experience.
“
I only had my instincts.
What interests me are the stories and the hard-hitting characters.
What, for me,
Game of Thrones
has never been
”says Tamzin Merchant who then tried to disengage from his contract.
Catastrophe for the production which must rethink its casting.
“
Pretty persuasive people tried to convince me to come back.
But I found myself naked and scared on a horse in Morocco, and the animal was clearly more excited than me,
” she says today.
She has no regrets about the worldwide success of the series.
She even acknowledges that Emilia Clarke
“made this role iconic”
.
Salem
,
Supergirl
,
Carnival Row
Since then, Tamzin Merchant has made a name for herself in
The Tudors
as Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII.
In 2014, she joined the cast of
Salem
, for the three seasons that the series lasts.
She plays Anne Hale, a young innocent in the first episodes who turns out to be a witch.
In 2016, Tamzin Merchant filmed a few episodes of season 2 of
Supergirl
before being in the credits of
Carnival Row
opposite Orlando Bloom and
Cara Delevingne
.
The first season is currently available on the Prime Video platform.