Tamzin Merchant on her experience of playing Daenerys in Game of Thrones' scrapped pilot

Tamzin Merchant is an English actress, known for her roles in Pride & Prejudice (2005), The Tudors (2009–2010), Salem and Amazon's Carnival Row. But what many might not know is that the actor was originally approached for the role of Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series Game of Thrones. For 10 years not many people knew about this trivia until now, when the actor has herself talked about the same.

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Tamzin Merchant played Daenerys Targaryen but was recast before the pilot aired

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly a few days ago, Tamzin Merchant who stars in Amazon's Carnival Row had clarified that she was not excited to play the part of Daenerys. She stated that shooting the pilot episode of the series was a great lesson for her. She added that she learnt to stick to her instincts when she is choosing an acting project as even though she had signed the contract for Game of Thrones, she never was excited to play the part. That is why she was reluctant to go ahead on her contract, but when she still went ahead, she found herself feeling terrified while shooting the pilot scene. However, she completely supports Emilia Clarke's portrayal of Daenerys and states that its a testimony to what Emilia had done with the role even though she never believed in the role for herself.  

After Tamzin was recast for the role of Daenerys, the part went to Emilia Clarke. So, the viewers never saw Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen, because the pilot scene for which she shot was scrubbed off before it went on air. On the other hand, Emilia who was unemployed at the time when she came for her GoT audition, aced her audition and finally got the part. Her portrayal earned her four Emmy nominations as well as the Britannia Awards for British Artist of the Year in 2018. 

Game of Thrones is a popular American fantasy drama series, created by David Benioff and DB Weiss. Game of Thrones cast included Sean Bean, Michelle Fairley, Richard Madden, Kit Harington, and Emilia Clarke as the lead characters. The series depicts many storylines simultaneously.

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