3. Indira Varma Ellaria Sand
Indira Varma has been a mainstay on British TV for a number of years now, but if you're watching this across the pond, you'll know her from one thing in particular Rome. Varma portrayed Niobe, wife of main character Lucius Varenus. While she was good in the role you don't get into HBO dramas if you aren't I'd argue that to remember her for just this one part is to do her a disservice. Frankly, Varma is excellent at playing formidable women, and nowhere was this more apparent than in the BBC's recently-ended What Remains, where she played Elaine, one half of a lesbian couple and all-round horrible person. Hers was the most powerful performance in the cast, bending her lover to her will and intimidating anybody who dared cross her. She's also played powerful, sexually confident women in shows such as the BBC's courtroom drama Silk and has picked up plaudits for her efforts. So really, I can't think of anyone better to play Elaria Sand than Varma. She's exotic enough to look like she's from Dorne (her father was Indian, her mother Genovese Italian), she's strikingly beautiful and she's at her best portraying strong female roles. Ellaria a bastard and mother of the youngest Sand Snakes possesses a wise head, a boatload of sexual confidence and is seen by others to be a strong person you're not likely to cross anytime soon. Again, if you've seen What Remains you'll know that Varma can portray harsh confidence with aplomb, so I couldn't be more excited for this.