Elizabeth Olsen Auditioned For Daenerys On 'Game Of Thrones': "It Was Awful"
Elizabeth Olsen is best known for playing the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Wanda Maximoff (AKA The Scarlet Witch), most recently in Disney+'s WandaVision. What's less well known, however, is that Olsen had also been in the running for another well-known fantasy character.
Before she got the call from Marvel, Olsen auditioned for Game of Thrones' Mother of Dragons herself, Daenerys Targaryen.
Olsen’s Worst Audition Ever
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Olsen shared her Game of Thrones experience:
"I auditioned for, like, the assistant to the casting director in a small room in New York with just a camera on me and them reading the script. I was doing the Khaleesi speech when she comes out of the fire. It was awful. I didn't get a callback."
Olsen's ill-fated Game of Thrones audition isn't new news — the actor shared the story previously in a Vanity Fair interview: "They didn't know if they wanted a British accent or not. So, you did it in both. It was terrible," Olsen said. "Anytime someone says, 'Bad audition story.' That's one I remember."
Khaleesi vs. Wanda?
Emilia Clarke of course went on to play the Khaleesi of the Great Sea of Grass, the Unburned, the Queen of the Andals, the Queen of Meereen, and a whole bunch of other honorifics that are just as long as they are impressive. Clarke did an incredible job owning all of Daenerys' titles, however, and it's hard to picture anyone else in the role, even Olsen.
Horrible audition aside, Olsen clearly recovered and has her own signature character with Wanda. I'd still love to see Olsen try to play Daenerys Stormborn in some form though — maybe the next time she hosts Saturday Night Live they can throw in a skit where she plays the Mother of Dragons with or without a bad British accent.
The real question, however, is who would win in a fight: Khaleesi or Wanda? The answer is obviously Wanda — she can bend reality! — but I bet Daenerys and her dragons would make it a close one.