Remember when the Harry Potter franchise seemed to employ every single living British, Irish, and Scottish actor? The same went for Game of Thrones, the ensemble of which seemed to expand episode by episode as we met more Starks, Boltons, Lannisters, Greyjoys, Tyrells, soldiers, mercenaries, and just random extras.
All of which is to say — we’re going to recognize actors from Game of Thrones in other media for years to come, especially in British productions, and so it goes that every episode of Chernobyl inspired in me the reaction, “Hey! It’s that guy!” And so, without further ado, all the actors who made me say, “Isn’t that the guy from Game of Thrones?”
Actor: Karl Davies
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant worker Viktor Proskuryakov in Chernobyl
Alton Lannister, the cousin Jaime kills, in Game of Thrones
Actor: Ralph Ineson
General Tarakanov, who helps get the lunar rovers, in Chernobyl
Dagmer Cleftjaw, the Greyjoy man who turns against Theon, in Game of Thrones
Actor: Mark Lewis Jones
General Pikalov, who drives the truck out with the dosimeter, in Chernobyl
Shagga, the Stone Crow who fights alongside Tyrion, in Game of Thrones
Actor: Jamie Sives
Sitnikov, the nuclear engineer who is forced to look over the side of the power plant to confirm there is no nuclear core left inside, in Chernobyl
Jory Cassel, Ned’s man who Jaime kills, in Game of Thrones
Actor: Donald Sumpter
Party man Zharkov with the cane in Chernobyl
Winterfell’s Maester Luwin in Game of Thrones
Actor: Josef Altin
Exclusion Zone soldier who shoots the cow to force the village woman to leave in Chernobyl
Night’s Watchman Pyp in Game of Thrones
Actor: Michael McElhatton
Prosecutor Andrei Stepashin in Chernobyl
Very bad man Roose Bolton in Game of Thrones
Actor: James Cosmo
Miner in Chernobyl
Night’s Watch Lord Commander and Jorah’s dad Jeor Mormont in Game of Thrones
Plus, BONUS people from The Terror, because I will never stop talking about that show!
Actor: Jared Harris
Nuclear expert and exiled party man Valery Legasov in Chernobyl
British Navy abandoner and Tuunbaq survivor Francis Crozier in The Terror
Actor: Adam Nagaitis
Heroic/tragic firefighter Vasily Ignatenko in Chernobyl
Stolen-identity cannibal and Tuunbaq victim Cornelius Hickey in The Terror
How many of these actors did you recognize? And have I told you to watch The Terror? Hey! You should watch The Terror!
Image sources (in order of posting): HBO Media Relations, YouTube
