Game of Thrones Casting for Season 8 Begins! 

casting time! Can we glean anything about the final season of

from the hints that leak out from casting notices? Perhaps!

Our sources tell us a casting is taking place this week in the UK, and they were wonderful enough to share with us two new

The first role we’ve learned about is for a Northern Girl. The character will be around age 8, but they are open to seeing actresses older than this, up to age 10. The role is described as being a straight-talking Northern-accented girl, someone remarkable for her dauntlessness and integrity. According to the write-up, she’s been brought up in a family of soldiers and shares their fearlessness. The part is said to be a “very nice stand-out part for a strong-minded young girl with a fighting spirit.”

The role of the Northern Girl is currently set to shoot during the week commencing November 

is also searching for a Boy aged 8 – 12, with a physically fit and agile look, someone with a good, distinctive face. He’s described as being from a poor background, a boy who has to fight to make his way in the world. The description we saw mentions that they need an actor who can “completely own the scenes that he appears in,” hinting at multiple scenes. No coloring or height was noted, for what it’s worth.

The young actor is currently scheduled for filming the last week of November and the last week of December, but as always with

What do we make of these new roles? The top role sounds remarkably like other Northern girls we already know, doesn’t she- especially Lyanna Mormont. Is this new character possibly another member of the same family? There are other Northern houses though, and presumably as the White Walkers’ army moves south and devastates the North, we’re going to see some of them fall, most likely. Perhaps this girl is a member of one of these falling houses.

The other possibility, one we can never rule out with these child casting calls, is the idea of another flashback-vision sequence. We saw Lyanna Stark before as a child, and she fits this description well enough. This could be her at an even younger age.

As for the boy, no accent or coloring was specified, which points away from the North. A poor child indicates to me that he’s more likely to pop up in King’s Landing, or even Essos should the show venture back there for some reason. The Westerosi capital is a more likely bet, since the place is crawling with poor children- especially little birds!

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it’s that wonderful time of the year again ^^

Jesus I have chills.I want to cry.This is the last time we are gonna do this.But anyway I love Jon’s kingdom.All his lords and ladies are children.I mean better them than the spineless annoying grown ups that he has.Anyway he should open a kindergarten especially now that he might become a dad lol.

The boy sounds like a young Littlefinger, even if that doesn’t make sense unless he is needed in flashbacks.

Northern Girl, 8-10 y.o. – the most obvious, yes, Lyanna Stark.

Boy, 8-12 y.o. – hmm… Varys?

I’m just amazed at the momentum all you wonderful people at WotW have been sustaining, with the great articles day by day. Thank you so much. I don’t feel nearly as bereft that Season 7 is done as I thought I would. I know that you kept us all going through the last off-season, and for that I am grateful. Now we are already at casting calls. This may not be sooo bad, but I’ll be interested to see how I feel if we go too much longer than a year. Thank you Sue!

As for the casting calls, haven’t a clue. But I tend to think you are correct in that at least one of them is from an area close to the wall that has to defend itself, or decide how and when to flee. I doubt that they’d film any more of Lyanna Stark, or an even younger Lyanna Mormont, so this is a new character, probably similar to the frightened girl that pledged allegiance to Jon, after he spared her life.

The character of the young boy sounds really interesting. Calling for someone who can “own his scenes” means a lot of action, or defiance for this kid. Maybe the book readers will have a better idea. The casting director always does a superb job in getting to the essence of a child character and finding someone that fits the bill. Can’t wait for pictures.

only reason I thought of Varys instead of littlefinger was the hair color unspecified, but LF would be a cool flashback as well

Now that the Wall has been breached, there will certainly need to be scenes in which Our Heroes get intel from refugees about what’s happening at the front of the WWs’ line of march. Winterfell should be packed with people as the northernmost holdfasts fall.

Hmmm… A daughter of Tormund perhaps? Maybe that’s not likely but at least there has been mention of him having daughters. Other than that possibility, if it’s not a Branvision scene, it seems a little odd to introduce yet another young headstrong young girl like Arya and Lyanna were. (barely any Lyanna in S7).

What sort of past vision could be necessary that would have a young version of a known North character?

The boy… a Branvision scene of the Night King when he was a boy. *shrug*

Another Mormont girl and a little bird, IMHO.

I’m voting for a Wildling girl too. It would be even better if it were a daughter a Tormund. Regardless, the North is going to be overrun with saucy headstrong girls as well as wights and walkers.

Maybe the boy is part of the Golden Company, in a perverse nod to the whole Young Griff storyline?

Love this part of being a fan – thanks for keeping us all updated.

It doesn’t seem likely to me that they’d cast a girl that can look 10 to play a younger Lyanna Mormont when Bella Ramsey is already a young looking 13 year old. She could fit just fine in a scene that supposedly was a few years ago, and not quite sure why such a scene would be necessary anyway.

There are so few peasant/lower-class characters in the series that I think that, if the White Walkers are sweeping through the North, it would be good if the girl or boy were from such a class background. The Long Night doesn’t just affect the nobles. The girl being from a family of soldiers doesn’t necessarily mean they’re nobles; her family could be longstanding guardsmen, for instance.

My best guess is that neither is a flashback character we’ve seen before or there would be much more specific physical descriptions to match the existing known actor. I love the idea that the Northern girl will be from a house that will fall to the White Walkers, a house of soldiers – implying badasses but followers rather than leaders – so not House Stark. The boy sounds exciting and like someone we don’t yet know.

If this is hinting at a Bella Ramsey recasting, the Internet is going to burn. That little girl is far too iconic at this point to be replaced by another actress.

Thronetender: so this is a new character, probably similar to the frightened girl that pledged allegiance to Jon, after he spared her life.

I didn’t mean that the newly cast girl would be frightened, just that she’d be a new character, much as the other young girl was a new character. as Sean says, being from a family of soldiers doesn’t automatically mean they are nobles. None of the Lannister soldiers that Arya came across were of noble birth, just young boys fighting because they were enlisted, or joined. Easy to see how a young girl from a poor family could grow up with older brothers and cousins who have been soldiers for one noble or another.

Does anyone think the WW are going to head in the direction of Winterfell, or will they just make a straight line south? How far do you think they will have gotten when season 8 opens, or do you think they will open with them just having gotten through the Wall?

The girl could perhaps be Lord Manderly’s granddaughter (Jon and Daenerys’ first stop in the North is at White Harbor and they should show it to give us a sense of how northerners will react to the Targaryen queen)

The boy sounds A LOT like Bronn! but we’re never going there so he could be anything from a flashback Varys to a Golden Company urchin who trains to be one.

If this is hinting at a Bella Ramsey recasting, the Internet is going to burn.

It’s not. An age range of 8-10 is younger than Ramsey was when she was first cast, let alone when we last saw her.

Northern girl? Hmm…Glover’s daughter? Or another Mormont?

Boy? Flashback to Varys before he was cut, and then what he hears in the flames?

Thronetender: Does anyone think the WW are going to head in the direction of Winterfell, or will they just make a straight line south?

What I would love most (and know that I am not going to get) is for the wights just to wander around in all directions randomly, getting used to their new space. Doesn’t work with the WW-driven hivemind concept, of course, but the idea makes me smile.

Hard to say, but I think it would be good strategy for the Night King to bypass Winterfell and head South, causing chaos and destruction along the way. A scorched Earth policy, if you will.

This way the Night King would force everyone out of defensive positions if they want to stop the Army of the Dead from taking over and allowing their army to get even bigger. Otherwise, everyone would sit in their castles playing defense while the Night King increases his army size without much resistance.

Basically, force the opposition to go on the offensive in exposed positions rather than be defensive.

Thronetender: How far do you think they will have gotten when season 8 opens, or do you think they will open with them just having gotten through the Wall?

Taking into account their previous movements I would guess they’ll be back north of the Wall standing around. 😛 My honest guess… I can see them opening with a scene of Tormund, Beric and a few others arriving “up top” at Castle Black, having ‘sprinted’ the entire way along the Wall. Then sending out ravens with one arriving to Last Hearth just before they’re swarmed. After that their speed will be slow enough to allow our ‘heroes’ to do what they need to do. 🙂

They better be making some Scorpions and dragonglass bolt heads. I don’t think the NK is going to worry about burning down castles.

Me!! With the right amount of make-up, I’m sure I could look 8-12 again. And if it would be Young Varys they’re casting, I’m more than willing to part ways with my clockwork orange…

Northern Girl, 8-10 y.o. – the most obvious, yes, Lyanna Stark.

YES! We *need* Varys background story, and Meliandre hinted that both she and Varys will be important close to the end, so I think/hope we will get background on both of them.

It is possible that the girl might be Lord Glover’s relation since he mentioned he didn’t want to train “little girls” to fight. Cool if the “little girl” is the one who saves Glover.

I like the prospects of a Varys flashback. Maybe we’ll see what he heard in the flames. However, it could be an LF flashback or just a new character.

How the show is going to handle the military conflict is a big question mark. I’ve long thought that we’re going to see a long-term siege of Winterfell in the books, and some of the comments in the show in the past season suggest that too (e.g., Sansa’s discussion about people retreating to Winterfell). However, giving the Night King a dragon, to me, means that he should be able to nuke any fortification quite easily.

In truth, it seems to me like we should very rapidly get some sort of dragonrider battle where either the Night King is defeated by Dany (and possibly Jon) on Drogon and Rhaegal or the Night King wins and pretty much wins everything from there. But that doesn’t seem like how it will go, since this season has to go for six episodes.

It’s possible we’ll get some sort of mutual deterrence where Jon and Dany’s dragons are stationed at Winterfell (the “fleet in being” concept, to refer back to naval warfare) and the Night King is elsewhere, and the two sides are reluctant to engage in direct confrontation initially.

El niño puede que sea Gendry Baratheon o Davos Seaworth.

I thought of Wylla Manderley too though the show has curtailed Lord Manderley’s story (and gave an iconic part of it to Arya in the show – don’t want to spoil anything for anybody who hasn’t read the books but might do so after the show ends). Then these roles could be show only characters I guess.

A flashback with gendry…. I got nothing for the northern girl, probably a new character.

Maybe they flash forward to Jon amd Dany’s children 😲

That did cross my mind in respect of the girl, in terms of some sort of short jump into the future. Though the call for a “Northern” girl makes that seem less likely. Jon’s accent notwithstanding, I would expect Miracle Baby to have the same City accents that her mom and most of the rest of the cast has.

Young Varys, young version of a servant of the Many Gods, young Lord of Light, young Azor Ahai…some who had to be nimble and survive by his wits.

couldnt the boy be Young Sandor? when his face was pushed in the fire?

The Alys Karstark Rule: the time spent reading the description of a role is almost always longer than the character’s actual screen time.

The issue about timing is quite important really.

The support is only just heading north and Dany and Jon are still enroute by sea.

If the army of the dead has got through the wall, how fast could they travel south and be at Winterfell before anyone could arrive to help? They’re not going to really face much opposition that’s going to hold them back – remember, nothing so far has done that.

In fact, the tactic of sending more soldiers against this army is shortsighted since any dead are immediately raised to increase the enemy’s ranks.

You have to use a more targeted strategy which uses focused attacks on the Whitewalkers themselves or you’re just pissing resources down the drain.

No, I don’t see how they can make a convincing case for Dany and Jon arriving at WF with their armies with enough time left for them to meet, have meaningful reunions and discuss tactics before the enemy finally arrives.

Well, they could just forget logic and sense altogether I suppose and put plot first.

The NK has a dragon and can effectively fly all the way to WF and lay waste to it well in advance of the rest of the army and before Dany and Jon were even aware.

I wouldn’t be half surprised if they arrived to find that WF had already fallen.

Strategically speaking, the best thing to have done would be to send the refugees south and form a defense at the neck since it’s the best chance they have.

I know people want a battle at WF but I don’t see it as a great place to mount an effective defence – this is not a normal army they’re fighting in any sense of the word. If Wun Wun could smash the doors of WF down on his own, how long do you think they could hold against a group of wight-giants?

What’s more, WF was a place the small folk would travel to during winter in order to seek food and shelter around the castle. During a siege, everyone has to go inside the castle – you can’t fit thousands of people inside WF – it’s not that big. That’s why they should be sending them south while they army lines retreat back behind them attempting to protect the small folk, until they can reach a place where they can fortify.

I also think that the northern girl should be Glover’s grand-daughter, cause he metioned her in ep 701. As for the boy, I lean towards a little-bird. Kings Landing must have some plot apart from Cersei plaing with Euron and someone on Team Targarian United should be doing something about this malicous couple. This is where little birds come into play.

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