missing ‘game of thrones?’ Here’s what to watch with your favorite ‘got’ Stars
The golden age of TV is upon us, and all Thrones stars whose characters are set in major house dynasties — Stark, Targaryen, Lannister, Tyrell — are also gracing Hollywood’s biggest sets.
From X-Men to 300 to the Justice League, these blockbusters may help pacify your desire to re-live that George R. R. Martin classic (whether you liked the ending or not.)
Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) – Terminator: Genisys, Spike Island, Dom Hemingway
Wave goodbye to Daenerys’ blonde hair, fire-breathing pets and flowing garments. The Queen of Dragons was a newcomer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the fifth installment of Terminator.
Clarke plays Sarah Connor, who waits for Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) to travel back in time in order to prevent Judgement Day. The movie follows a different storyline than the first Terminator film, with the trailer announcing “The rules have been reset.”
Moving from Hollywood to Manchester — Clarke delivers a heart-fluttering performance as a charming school girl named Sally in Spike Island, a story about a wannabe rock band on a journey to deliver their demo tape to their heroes.
In the cheeky crime comedy Dom Hemingway, the four-time Emmy Award nominee plays the estranged daughter of Jude Law’s title character, an ex-con looking to get his money in the streets of London. While the flick may not dish out enough Emilia, at least her character’s father isn’t the Mad King.
Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) – Justice League, Aquaman, Fast X, Conan the Barbarian
Although the Dothraki king died many moons ago, Jason Momoa suited up to play the king of Atlantis in The Justice League franchise, starring in the 2017 Justice League blockbuster, his own title film Aquaman, as well as Zack Snyder’s Justice League that came out in 2021 on HBO Max.
More recently, the 43-year-old Hawaii native plays the new villain, Dante Reyes, in Fast X, the latest of the Fast and Furious saga.
Almost un-shockingly, there’s a peculiar link between Momoa and Arnold Schwarzenegger beyond the hinge of Emilia Clarke; Both played the title character in Conan the Barbarian. Momoa’s version debuted in 2011 while the original featuring the Austrian-born body builder came out in 1982.
There’s also plenty of Momoa in Road to Paloma, a film which he directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in alongside his ex-wife Lisa Bonet.
Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) – X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Station Agent
Since his breakout role in The Station Agent in 2003, Peter Dinklage catapulted into fame portraying the charming, wine-loving and quick-witted dwarf Tyrion Lannister.
The New Jersey native has since starred in X-Men: Days of Future Past as the genius Dr. Bolivar Trask who develops the Sentinels, the massive robots that evolved into killing machines.
Though his character is supposed to be a super villain, he brings a familiar, undeniable charisma to the mutant world. Many fans attribute his compelling renditions to his innate ability to identify with his characters.
“I’m not going to play my violin, but with my dwarfism, I’m a bit of a mutant. I can’t move metal or anything, but I thought of it as self-loathing,” Dinklage said in a Telegraph interview regarding the X-Men movie.
Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) – The Imitation Game, Alien³, Last Action Hero, Rabbit Hole
Surprise, surprise, Charles Dances plays a hard-ass.
The 76-year-old’s drill sergeant approach that we love-hated in King’s Landing seamlessly transplants into The Imitation Game, where he plays Bletchley Park commander Alastair Denniston, the higher-up who commissions Alan Turning (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack the Enigma Code.
This year he acts opposite Kiefer Sutherland in a new espionage thriller called Rabbit Hole, available on Paramount Plus.
Before Westeros, the Worcestershire-born actor/director was widely known for his work in 1992’s Alien³ and Last Action Hero, which released the following year. He also appeared as the Master Vampire in Dracula Untold.
As baneful and morally twisted as Tywin Lannister was, if truth be told, the Iron Throne was never the same without the Machiavellian patriarch standing beside its swords.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) – Against the Ice, Oblivion, The Other Woman, Headhunters, Mama
Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau — who we recognize most comfortably as Jaime Lannister — co-wrote and starred in the 2022 adventure film Against the Ice, based on a true story about Denmark’s ill-fated 1909 polar expedition. It’s available now on Netflix.
In the sci-fi thriller Oblivion, Coster-Waldau had a minor role as Sykes, a battle-calloused weapons expert who assists Jack Harper (Tom Cruise). The picture takes place in a post-apocalyptic future when the Earth’s surface is considered inhabitable, and Sykes is part of an underground society that holds a well-guarded truth about Harper’s reality. Though the flick received mixed reviews, everyone praised its acting and special effects.
In 2014’s The Other Woman, the Oath Breaker shattered his marital vows and slays a swath of women starting with Cameron Diaz and a bikini-clad Kate Upton. Coster-Waldau’s character might be equally deceptive as his GOT crusader, but he’s a lot less likeable in this chick flick.
He also starred in the German production Headhunters, which debuted at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Horror junkies won’t want to miss his performance in the supernatural movie Mama, where he leads alongside Jessica Chastain.
Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) – 300, 300-Rise of an Empire, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Brothers Grimm, Pride Prejudice and Zombies
Before she stepped into the cunning, incestuous role of Cersei Lannister, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Lena Headey was a different kind of queen in the cinematic masterpiece 300.
As the wife of Leonidas, Queen Gorgo of Sparta reflected a noble voice of reason against a corrupt Greek law system.
The movie was followed up with the less impressive 300: Rise of an Empire, starring, to no surprise, only a few of the original characters.
Fascinatingly enough, the actresses behind the Lion Queen and Mother of Dragons played the same character in the Terminator franchise. In 2008-2009, Headey starred as Sarah Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the TV spin-off of the films where she kicks robot ass as the warrior mother of John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance. Two seasons of the TV show aired before it got canceled.
Other notables: The British actress landed her first big budget film in 2005’s The Brothers Grimm alongside Matt Damon. You’re also able to catch Headey in Pride Prejudice and Zombies, a parody of Jane Austen’s classic tale.
Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger) – The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, The Dark Knight Rises
The actor behind the least trustworthy man in Westeros embarked on another villainous chapter in The Maze Runner Chapter II: The Scorch Trials.
Infamous for his portrayal as Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, Aiden Gillen will star as Janson AKA Rat-Man in the second installment based on James Dashner’s best-selling sci-fi novels. Think Hunger Games in a desert dystopia, or perhaps a better version of Divergent.
On a separate note, you’ve probably seen Gillen for a fleeting moment in The Dark Night Rises as the CIA agent in the heart-pounding opening scene. Maybe this will jog your memory:
CIA Agent (Gillen): Well, congratulations! You got yourself caught! Now what’s the next step in your master plan?
Bane: Crashing this plane … with no survivors!
Gillen has also been in a number of TV series such as Charlie, Love/Hate and Gay as Folk. One of his most popular TV roles was on another HBO series, The Wire.
His previous work with the network bode well for him landing the pivotal role of Littlefinger, but it didn’t hurt that early film roles like the villain in Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson proved he could play the bad guy well.
Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell) – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2, The Riot Club, Long Way From Home
Actress Natalie Dormer shaved half her head to become the revolutionary partner of Katniss Everdeen in the The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2.
The role carries delightfully similar undercurrents to Margaery: In Thrones, the Little Rose represents the pinnacle of benevolent royalty trying to undermine Queen Cersei, while Cassida of Suzanne Collins’ series is an insurgent aiming to take down the corrupt Capitol. In both, Dormer’s sly nature and renegade prowess make her a force to be reckoned with.
The 41-year-old English actress also plays a scandalous accomplice in The Riot Club, and a lovely romantic in A Long Way From Home. In addition, she has some minor screen time in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) – How to Train Your Dragon 2, Gunpowder
You know nothing, Jon Snow. Except how to convey fury, sadness and longing in the twitch of an eyebrow.
Though we can’t quite appreciate Harrington’s visual subtlety in the animated adventure How to Train Your Dragon 2, it makes for an uplifting change of pace from the constant gloom of the Wall.
The English actor does the voice of Eret, son of Eret, an animal trapper who tries to help Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) avoid destruction by dragonfire. The playful flick emphasizes Harrington’s goofy side, as opposed to his dragon-slaying side.
While How to Train Your Dragon 2 and GOT are lightyears apart (there’s no skulls exploding like a super nova in the former), both draw attention to the issue of hereditary legacy with a slightly medieval tone. A silly off-course trapper in one, a bastard in the other, Harrington depicts an underestimated disappointment who doesn’t want his past to dictate his future in both.
Another riveting ride is the HBO Max 3-part miniseries Gunpowder. Here Harrington stars as a young Catholic nobleman who conjures an explosive plot to kill the king of England.
Richard Madden (Robb Stark) – Cinderella, Barmy Aunt Boomerang, A Promise
Like his character’s half brother in the show, Richard Madden (Robb Stark) undertook softer endeavors, this time as Prince Charming in 2015’s Cinderella.
The fairy tale brings real actors into the mix, borrowing many ingredients from Walt Disney’s 1950 animated musical film of the same name. Madden starred beside Lily James, who plays Cinderella, on the quest to the ball.
Despite the difference in target audience compared to Thrones, the re-imagined tale was a smash among stroller mobs and those looking to relive their childhoods.
Additionally, the Scottish actor is known for his role in 1999’s Barmy Aunt Boomerang and 2013’s A Promise.
Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) – X-Men: Apocalypse, The Staircase
The X-Men directors must think fondly of GOT characters, as the actress who played Sansa Stark was cast as a young mutant in 2016’s X: Men: Apocalypse.
Twenty-seven-year-old Sophie Turner here acts as Jean Grey, the telepathic mutant who has the power to move objects with her mind. The story occurs several decades before the events of the original trilogy.
Turner also stars in a HBO Max Original TV Show The Staircase as the daughter of a writer convicted of murdering his wife.
Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) – The Falling, Pistol, Heatstroke
English actress Maisie Williams cemented her first lead role in The Falling, a coming-of-age mystery drama set in a rural British girls’ school in the late 1960s, where she played a troubled student at the heart of a mysterious fainting epidemic.
Williams also portrays punk rock icon Pamela "Jordan" Rooke in Pistol, a biopic about the Sex Pistols. The series premiered on Hulu in 2022.
If you’re looking for more adventures featuring Arya Stark, the 26-year-old has, well, fairly limited options. Williams appears in Heatstroke as the daughter of a research scientist (Stephen Dorff) who must fight to stay alive in the unforgiving African desert. Her role still showcases a lot of the actor’s raw grit, but lacks the compelling nature found in the second Stark daughter.
Sean Bean (Eddard “Ned” Stark) – Lord of the Rings, Goldeneye
One of the few Game of Thrones actors who had achieved recognizable success before tackling the HBO series, Sean Bean made a perfect transition to Eddard Stark from Boromir, the brawny warrior in the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers and The Return of the King).
In both the George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien stories, Bean’s characters display a similar relentless valor and devotion to the kingdom.
Let us take a moment of silence to honor the late Boromir as well as the late Ned Stark, who were each cut down too soon by enemies in not-so-different fantasy lands.
The 64-year-old actor has relished in a long career, with more than 70 movies on his shelf. In many of these films, however, his character tends to die, which led The Nerdist to dub Bean a “walking spoiler alert.” He was, after all, dropped on a satellite dish in Goldeneye and shot through the neck in The Island.
To support the claims, you can take a look at a graph comparing the death rate of Bean’s characters to other actors’ roles.
Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The Others, Philomena
The Red Wedding may still be seared in our minds from GOT Season 3, but if you’re in the mood for witchcraft and wizardry, you can relive Michelle Fairley as Hermione’s mum in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
The muggle mother provides another snapshot of parental love and longing for her child, not unlike Catelyn Stark’s in Thrones.
Born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, Fairley launched into the international spotlight for her role in The Others alongside Nicole Kidman. She’s also known for Sally Mitchell in 2013’s Philomena.
