2. Daenerys Targaryen (Game Of Thrones)
Game of Thrones, the HBO fantasy epic based on George R. R. Martins literary series (
a topicIve writtenabout extensivelyin recent months), lacks traditional heroes and villains, as the vast majority of main characters have a grey moral code and both positive and negative characteristics. If forced to choose one de facto heroine, however, few would choose a character other than Daenerys Targaryen. The mother of dragons has transformed from a meek and impressionable woman into a formidable queen, and Emilia Clarke has received a number of plaudits for her portrayal. She was not the first actress to play the character, however. That was Tamzin Merchant, the actress best known for her role as Catherine Howard in Showtimes The Tudors. No official explanation has ever been given for her recasting, though looking back it does seem somewhat bizarre that an actress with costume drama experience was replaced by one whose only credits at the time were an episode of Doctors and a SyFy original movie. A handful of other roles in Game of Thrones were also recast between the shooting of the unaired pilot and the first episode (which was almost identical to the pilot but featured the new actors for continuity reasons). The most notable of these is Catelyn Stark, the matriarch of the Stark household who was played by American actress Jennifer Ehle in the original pilot before being replaced by Northern Irish actress Michelle Fairley for the series.