A Battlestar Galactica Star Lost Out On A Major Game Of Thrones Role

Casting can be a tricky thing, and sometimes multiple performers would do a great job in a particular role, leading to a whole bunch of "what-ifs" from fans after the fact. In the case of the sprawling cast of the HBO epic fantasy series "Game of Thrones," based on the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of books by George R. R. Martin, there were several cases of big-name stars who almost ended up playing one of the many characters in the world of Westeros. One of them, it turns out, was "Battlestar Galactica" star Tricia Helfer, who played the Number Six Cylon variants on the SyFy series. In a post on the website formerly known as Twitter from 2010, Helfer revealed to a fan that she had auditioned for and lost out on the role of Cersei Lannister, which ultimately went to actor Lena Headey. 

Helfer, who also voices the tragic villain Sarah Kerrigan in the video game "Starcraft II," knows a thing or two about playing complex queens and honestly would have been a fascinating pick for the complicated and fiery Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She definitely looks the part based on the novels and has the cold, calculating thing down pretty pat from her time on "Battlestar Galactica," so the casting really could have worked. And as for Helfer? She refuses to watch "Game of Thrones," but not for the reason you might think.

In an interview with IGN from 2014, Helfer shared that she refuses to watch "Game of Thrones," but it's not because she wasn't cast; rather, it's because she's not interested in the show. As it turns out, she loves the book series so much that she wants to wait until George R. R. Martin finishes the story himself. Since Martin still hasn't finished the next book, "The Winds of Winter," as of 2025, it's likely she may never get around to watching the series. Given how poorly fans reacted to the (admittedly mixed) ending, maybe she had the right idea. 

What's wild is that Helfer isn't the only big name who almost starred as Cersei, because Gillian Anderson was also apparently in talks for the part, though she turned it down because she wanted to spend more time with her young children. That's right, Dana Scully from "The X-Files" was almost one of the most important characters in one of the biggest fantasy shows in television history, which would have been absolutely bonkers. Honestly, things ended up just fine in the end because Headey was absolutely perfect as Cersei, giving her depth and pathos even when the screenwriting didn't. And Helfer got to star as Lucifer's mother on "Lucifer," which might be the biggest evil queen character of them all, so ... everybody wins?