15 Secondary Game Of Thrones Characters We Can’t Recognize Off Screen

14. The Hound – Rory McCann

The Hound has been out of focus for the last couple of seasons, but that changed entirely with the back half of season 6. It’s easy to see that the actor plays the Hound (if you get past that smile we never see in the show), but he has to go through wigs and prosthetic makeup to make it look like he’s been severely burned and scarred as a result. According to him, filming always means that he has a much earlier call time to account for hair and makeup. “I’m in a grumpy mood anyway before I walk on set because I feel like I’ve done my day already before the other actors arrive, because it takes so long to put my face on,” he told Hollywood Reporter. As a result of being burned when he was a child, the Hound hates fire. However, season 7’s premiere shows him looking into a fire, fascinated at what’s about to happen.

13. Melisandre – Carice Van Houten

Carice Van Houten didn’t have to go through any major transformations to play Melisandre, but when you look at her, it’s actually kind of hard to recognize her as the same woman. Van Houten, 39, looks younger than she actually is, but she doesn’t have the same ageless look that Melisandre does. However, Van Houten does a great job portraying the complex character that is Melisandre. One great example of that is during the season six premiere, that shows her finally letting down her hair, not to mention her skin and clothes as well. In order to show Melisandre as an old woman, she did facial prosthetics and wore a different wig. She talked about it to EW, mentioning how interesting it was to play that. “It’s changing and I really like it. We see her from a really different side of her now. We see somebody whose whole belief system is tumbling down. She’s completely confused, and I really like to play that. After all the security and strength and pride, now we see something completely different. I’ve been really waiting for this moment.”

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