Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen, a name that you have trouble spelling, definitely definitely not me, is one of the central players of Game of Thrones, but she, of course, wasn’t the only person auditioned for the part.
According to a recent Vulture interview, Elizabeth Olsen, of Scarlet Witch fame, also went out for the part, though according to her it did not go exceptionally well.
“When I first started working, I just auditioned for everything, because I like auditioning. And I auditioned for Khaleesi. I forgot that,” she said. “It was the most awkward audition I’d ever had.”
She went on to explain that her audition script was the speech given by Khaleesi at the end of the first season. “[From] after she just burned,” she said. “And she’s making this speech to thousands of people about how she’s their queen. They didn’t know if they wanted a British accent or not. So, you did it in both. It was terrible. Anytime someone says, ‘Bad audition story.’ That’s one I remember.”
Fortunately for Olsen, she missed out on the part and scored big in the Marvel Cinematic Universe instead, trading out the opportunity to play a woman whose merits as a character pop culture will debate forever for… another woman whose merits as a character pop culture will debate forever. Huh.
The last episode of Game of Thrones airs today on Foxtel. Get ready.