Looking back at the casting possibilities for major shows is always a treat and Game of Thrones is no exception. Avengers: Endgame star Elizabeth Olsen once auditioned to play Daenerys Targaryen and it didn't go all that well.
“When I first started working, I just auditioned for everything, because I like auditioning. And I auditioned for Khaleesi. I forgot that,” Olsen told Vulture. “It was the most awkward audition I’d ever had.”
Olsen read a script from the end of the first season where Daenerys walks into the funeral fire for Drogo and emerges with three dragons. “[From] after she just burned. And she’s making this speech to thousands of people about how she’s their queen," she said. "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.”
Game of Thrones eventually axed that closing monologue for Emilia Clarke, letting the birth of her three dragons speak for themselves. The lackluster audition didn't sour her on the blockbuster show though. “I’m just so deep in Game of Thrones that all I can think about is Kit Harington,” she said. “I mean, he’s just brainwashed me.”
Olsen recently starred in Avengers Endgame and has her own Disney+ series alongside Paul Bettany dubbed WandaVision coming with the company's new streaming service.
We'll never get to see what Olsen would've been like as the dragon queen, but it's fun to think about it. A host of other major actors auditioned for the epic fantasy including Jared Harris (The High Sparrow), Mahershala Ali (Zaro Xhoan Daxos) who also had a terrible audition, and Sam Claflin (Jon Snow).
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