10 TV Shows That Recast Major Characters (For The Better)
2. The Mountain - Game Of Thrones
Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane is the most imposing physical specimens in the entirety of Game of Thrones, but the character was actually recast twice across the series' run.
In season one, Gregor was played by Aussie giant Conan Stevens, but after Stevens headed off to appear in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movies, he was replaced by Welsh actor Ian Whyte for season two.
Though certainly tall, Whyte's thin frame didn't at all fit the written conception of the character or Stevens' prior portrayal, and so Icelandic strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson ended up taking over from season four onwards.
It goes without saying that Björnsson was given the bulk of the character's narrative meat, but even so, he was by far the most physically imposing of the three actors, and helped make The Mountain one of TV's most feared forces of nature.