George R.R. Martin was originally set to cameo in the Game of Thrones episode, but it never came to be. Though. he did eventually appear in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015), the author never featured in his own hit series.
He was about to be seen in his one and only cameo in GOT, playing a guest at Daenerys Targaryen’s wedding feast. But when actress Emilia Clarke replaced original Daenerys actress Tamzin Merchant, his cameo got axed.
Emilia Clarke’s Takeover Scrapped George R.R. Martin’s Cameo in Game of Thrones
The author filmed a cameo in 2009 for GOT episode 1 as a guest at Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo’s wedding. It was the scene where Martin could have appeared in the Game of Thrones pilot.
For the scene, he was also completely dressed up in costume as a Pentoshi nobleman. For that, he was given an “enormous hat and really big balls,” as what Martin described in his blog (Not a Blog).
That unaired pilot was shot in Morocco, which was heavily criticized by fellow scriptwriters because there were many scenes that had to be worked. So, when the pilot was reworked with the script, several scenes were reshot completely, including Dany and Drogo’s wedding scene.
It was the only cameo Martin was about to have on the show when Tamzin Merchant played Dany. But when Emilia Clarke came in to reshoot the wedding scenes, Martin’s appearance was also cut from the final scene.
The screenwriter later shared that standing around in full costume at the Moroccan wedding of Daenerys and Khal Drogo for hours at that time was tiresome and gave him “a helluva backache.” Anyways, later, he was again given another chance for a cameo in the series, but this time, he refused.
George R.R. Martin Was Again Offered a Chance to Feature in Game of Thrones Season 8
Nearly a decade later, George R.R. Martin was again offered another chance to feature as a cameo in Game of Thrones‘ final season. As Martin said with Entertainment Weekly:
“David and Dan invited me to a cameo in one of the final episodes, which I was tempted to do. But I didn’t think just for the sake of a cameo I could take the time to return to Belfast.”
But this time, the author’s declined himself. Why? Because he was busy working on The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. And that’s why he distanced himself from the TV series.
