While promoting the second season of her Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss, Elizabeth Olsen opened up about her early audition for Game of Thrones.
The 30 year old actress appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan on Thursday, where host Kelly Ripa asked her about auditioning for Game of Thrones, revealing she tried out for Emilia Clarke‘s iconic role Daenerys Targaryen.
The audition did not go too well, with the actress even admitting that she ‘forgot I auditioned for it.’
Thrones audition: While promoting the second season of her Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss, Elizabeth Olsen opened up about her early audition for Game of Thrones
Daenerys: The 30 year old actress appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan on Thursday, where host Kelly Ripa asked her about auditioning for Game of Thrones, revealing she tried out for Emilia Clarke’s iconic role Daenerys Targaryen
‘Someone had asked about a terrible audition story, a journalist, not a good time to remember something like that,’ Olsen began.
‘I was like ‘I actually really love auditioning, so I can’t really think of anything, and I was like, “Oh that’s right, I auditioned for Game of Thrones.”‘
She explained that the scene she read for was, ‘when Khaleesi was like burned alive and then starts making this huge speech.’
Terrible audition: ‘Someone had asked about a terrible audition story, a journalist, not a good time to remember something like that,’ Olsen began
Oh right: ‘I was like ‘I actually really love auditioning, so I can’t really think of anything, and I was like, “Oh that’s right, I auditioned for Game of Thrones”‘
‘I was in the smallest room with the casting director, they didn’t even have a reader, and that was the furthest I ever got. It was that bad,’ Olsen added.
Olsen didn’t give any other details about her audition, and it isn’t known if she auditioned for the original pilot, directed by Thomas McCarthy (Spotlight), or the re-shot pilot, directed by Timothy Van Patten (The Sopranos).
The original pilot, written by series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and was largely scrapped, with the pilot being re-shot with several roles re-cast, including Daenerys.
Smallest room: ‘I was in the smallest room with the casting director, they didn’t even have a reader, and that was the furthest I ever got. It was that bad,’ Olsen added
Original pilot: Olsen didn’t give any other details about her audition, and it isn’t known if she auditioned for the original pilot, or the re-shot pilot
In the original pilot, Tamzin Merchant (Carnival Row) originally portrayed Daenerys Targaryen, but she was replaced in the re-shot pilot by Emilia Clarke.
Other roles that were re-cast include Catelyn Stark, with Jennifer Ehle portraying the Stark matriarch in the original pilot, replaced by Michelle Fairley.
Aside from the roles that were re-cast, very little is known about the original pilot, though Benioff and Wess said in interviews they re-shot approximately 90% of the original pilot.
Original Pilot: In the original pilot, Tamzin Merchant (Carnival Row) originally portrayed Daenerys Targaryen, but she was replaced in the re-shot pilot by Emilia Clarke
Olsen, the younger sister of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, burst onto the acting scene in 2011, the same year Game of Thrones debuted.
The actress starred in three films that year, Silent House, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Peace, Love & Misunderstanding.
Four years later, she made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Scarlet Witch in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, reprising that role in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
She’ll return as Scarlet Witch, a.k.a. Wanda Maximoff, in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, in theaters in 2021, and the Disney + streaming series WandaVision, also debuting in 2021.
Acting debut: Olsen, the younger sister of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, burst onto the acting scene in 2011, the same year Game of Thrones debuted
