Game of Thrones Could Have Been a Skins Reunion
With only two episodes left, all the Game of Thrones marginalia is coming out now. The latest Thrones tidbit comes courtesy of Nicholas Hoult, who, earlier this week, shared that he had competed with Kit Harington for the show’s lead.
“I think I auditioned for Jon Snow,” Hoult told Page Six at a screening of Tolkien, in which he stars as the titular author. “I remember it because I was filming Clash of the Titans at the time, so I had long hair extensions. They gave me a ponytail and also a very patchy fake tan. So I remember being like, ‘This is probably not what they’re hoping for.'” Of course, Hoult continued, “It obviously wasn’t.”
If it had been, it would have changed the course of recent history; Harington would never have needed to complain about his struggles with the role, and even may not have ended up meeting, let alone marrying, his Game of Thrones costar Rose Leslie. But as Jezebel pointed out, it also would have made for a strange, unexpected crossover with another cult TV show: Skins, the British series about the lives and exploits of teens growing up in Bristol. From 2007 to 2008, Hoult starred as Tony Stonem, which along with his About a Boy turn, is one of the roles most identified with the actor.
Hoult left the series in 2008, and, reprieved from playing Jon Snow, went on to franchises like X-Men instead. But another alumnus of Skins‘s first generation had better luck making the leap to Westeros: A few years after Joe Dempsie played Chris Miles, he was cast as Gendry Baratheon, best known as the other person in season 8’s much-discussed sex scene—though it should be noted that he also auditioned to play Jon Snow initially.
There’s another Skins alum in Winterfell: Hannah Murray bid adieu to her beloved Cassie Ainsworth for Game of Thrones’s Gilly, Samwell Tarly’s beloved. (Though she did reprise her role on Skins for two feature-length episodes of the show.)
It appears there’s a little Bristol in Westeros.
Hannah Murray as Cassie and Nicholas Hoult as Tony in *Skins.*
