As the world anxiously awaits the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones to make its debut in 2019, a casting call has surfaced that could be for the prequel series, via Lucinda Syscon Casting. Syson is a veteran film and television casting director whose credits include Wonder Woman 2 and Blade Runner 2049. The call made its way to us over the weekend thanks to Twitter user Joe Weaver, and is looking for a diverse cast to fill roles in a confidential HBO project.
HBO hasn’t given us much to go on in terms of the prequel series, except that Jane Goldman will be the showrunner, and that it takes place “thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones.”
The series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East, to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know.
The call is looking for the following roles to be filled:
- A – Series Regular. Male. Playing age 17-22. Mixed Race actor
- S – Series Regular. Female. Playing age 24-32. Black actress
- I – Series Regular. Female. Playing age 17-25. Caucasian actress
- F – Series Regular. Female. Playing age 16-23. Black actress
At first glance, there isn’t much here that alerts us to this being a casting call the Game of Thrones prequel, but taking a closer look we see that production on this confidential HBO shoot begins in “February 2019 onwards.” Recently, rumors began swirling that the prequel would start filming in February, at Titanic Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a place Game of Thrones has called home since the beginning, so it makes sense the prequel would film there as well.
The other clue this could be a casting call for the Game of Thrones prequel comes from HBO programming president Casey Bloys who spoke during the Television Critics Association press tour. Bloys mentioned showrunner Jane Goldman wanting a diverse ensemble cast, with strong female leads.
There are very strong female characters but it’s an ensemble, there [are] men and women. Jane is a very good writer, we don’t want to limit her to writing female leads. There are a lot of very complicated leads in [the pilot].
This casting call is definitely looking to fill diverse roles, with only one being a “mixed race” male, and the other three being for two “black actresses” and one “caucasian actress.” Finally, if you want to don your tinfoil hat and look even closer, each role is assigned a code letter. Put them all together and they spell ASIF, or, A Song of Ice and Fire. Let the insane speculation begin.
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones or Succession for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
