10 Controversies That Rocked Game Of Thrones

Recasting is a major issue in any production (consider the switch from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight). It's an especially big issue with a show like Game of Thrones, with a huge cast of characters that are sometimes hard enough to keep track of without actor changes.

While roles such as Tommen and Daario Naharis have been recast, perhaps the greatest offender has been the role of The Mountain, Gregor Clegane. The murderous knight has been portrayed by three different actors over the five seasons of the show thus far: in the first season, by guest star Conan Stevens, then in the second, actor Ian Whyte, who had already appeared in minor roles on the show. Finally, for the fourth and fifth seasons, strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who has placed in the top three of the World's Strongest Man competition for three years running, assumed the role. At 6"9 (205cm), he certainly looks the part.

While the show has often recast characters who had non-speaking/minor roles in previous seasons who were then coming to the forefront of the storyline, the fact that the Mountain was a fairly recognizable figure on the show, and the fact that it was done twice, made this contentious. 

Then again, who's going to argue with a guy that size?