Huffington Post’s Maureen Ryan recently interviewed Dominic West, best known as Jimmy McNulty on The Wire, about season two of BBC’s The Hour and, oh, that time he turned down a “lovely part” on Game of Thrones. *RECORD SCRATCH*
“I was offered something on Game of Thrones and unfortunately, I hadn’t seen it, but my nephew and his father said, ‘Gosh, Game of Thrones is the only great show on!’ [Ed. note: take that, The Hour] And I felt terrible, because I’d just turned them down,” West said.
He hasn’t read the books, so the name didn’t stick in his head. But he did say that taking the role — a substantial one and similar in stature or importance to Sean Bean’s Season 1 character Ned Stark, according to West — would have involved being “in Reykjavik for six months.” (Via)
Considering nearly every substantial role has already been cast for season two, except one, and he would have had to go to Reykjavik, which is where Game of Thrones shoots the Jon Snow and Sam scenes, West was likely offered the part of Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall. Not to spoil anything, but Mance does have a juicy centerpiece midway through A Storm of Swords in which he continually crashes his car into a cement column. WEST WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT. The f*ck did you do, indeed.
