Casting is well under way for season 3 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and though rumors and whispers are running around about which roles are being sought—we can pretty reliably say that Daario Naharis, Shireen Baratheon, and Edmure Tully are among roles being sought, that Brynden Tully (aka the Blackfish) also seems likely from details we’ve picked up from a recent (now vanished) audition video, and of course significant roles for this season such as Mance Rayder are also being sought, while it certainly sounds from the show that the character of Ramsay Snow is going to be needed.
It’s notable that the casting for extras is also underway... and a detail rather caught our eye:
And men or women that are over 18 and that are under 5ft in height.
Now, perhaps these are stand-ins for children being sought. I had also considered the possibility that these might be to show younger Unsullied (since one supposes that having been rendered eunuchs early, they would tend to be shorter than average), though in retrospect that seems unlikely, especially as women are being sought… well, if there could be bearded Riders of Rohan played by women, one supposes the show might find a use for women in some shots to fill the ranks of the Unsullied. So, who knows? But still, that 5’ or under is quite specific, and isn’t likely to fit the vast majority of the Unsullied, so it seems a stretch.
Perhaps more likely is that these could represent the wildlings called Hornfoots, for the fact that they don’t wear shoes even in the snow, since they’re described as quite small. But… why seek extras in NI for them? Surely if we see them this season, it will most likely be in Iceland, unless the production intends to move back to shooting in the “Haunted Forest” (and so in Northern Ireland) later in the season.
Which leaves one more possibility: crannogmen. Some spoilery material follows:
Hard to say, but it will be interesting to see what transpires. We’ll be keeping an eye on more casting news… and should point out that it was not much further into May last year when GRRM started to bring out Froggy the Gremlin with his casting clues as various roles both minor and major started to be filled.