The Actor Replacement In Game Of Thrones Season 6 That Bothered Some Fans
Fantasy has found a home on television in the modern-day, something that would've likely never happened without "Game of Thrones." The HBO adaptation of author George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" ran from 2011 to 2019 and became a small screen staple in no time. Not to mention, it catapulted the likes of Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke into the pop culture stratosphere, won numerous awards, and even led to the creation of a handful of spinoff titles that will take viewers to new corners and eras of Westeros.
Still, for as successful as "Game of Thrones" turned out to be, it did have to contend with the odd bump in the road throughout its tenure. After all, its final season stirred up some serious controversy within the show's fandom, resulting in much of its mainstream relevancy disintegrating as soon as the last episode concluded. This is arguably the most extreme and well-known example, but it's far from the only one. For instance, "GoT" hosted several recasts over the years, with each generating some amount of chatter among its legions of fans.
Of all of the "Game of Thrones" actor replacements, this one from Season 6 caused some mild irritation in the viewer base. Here's who got the recast treatment and why it upset so many people.
Many didn't like the Night King's recasting
Names like Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) built strong cases to be the main antagonist of "Game of Thrones," but that honor went to another: the Night King. Introduced in the Season 4 episode "Oathkeeper," this stoic, enigmatic figure commanded armies of the undead and threatened to take over the known world. Richard Brake took on the role until Season 5, before stuntman Vladimir Furdik replaced him for the final three seasons — a move that numerous "GoT" fans didn't like and weren't afraid to voice their frustration over online.
When the Night King recast happened, the "Game of Thrones" Reddit community had a lot to say about it. "Personally I think Richard Brake played the character really well in the limited appearences he had. I think his version was a lot better than the one in season 6 (played by Vladimir Furdik)," wrote TorpedoHippo, and other users such as HouseHeisenb3rg and Byzon1 expressed similar feelings in threads of their own, prompting discussion in all corners of the site.
"Yes! Richard Brake was SO much better imo," commented a-fray in TorpedoHippo's thread, echoing a sentiment that many shared. Although, not everyone who joined in on these chats was as bothered by the actor swap. For instance, Raidoton replied to HouseHeisenb3rg, "Yes it's a different actor. But I don't think he looks better or worse than the previous one," and Clubtropper added, "I guess I like them both, so the only problem for me is pure continuity," under TorpedoHippo's original post.
No matter where you stand on the Night King debate, there's no denying how cool (pun intended) his overall design is. If anything, it's too bad we didn't get to spend more time with the character before his death in Season 8, regardless of who donned the icy blue makeup.