Game of Thrones: Can we talk about Harry Strickland?

Am I the only one who wants to talk about this? Hi to the five of you out there who, like me, have been thinking about Harry Strickland since Sunday night’s premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones. 

So Euron Greyjoy goes to Essos to hire the Golden Company on behalf of Cersei and he comes back with the militia and their Captain, Harry Strickland. At which point the only thing Cersei cares about are elephants. She’s so pressed about the elephants she obviously doesn’t see that instead of elephants, Euron brought her back something better: a snack!

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A post shared by Marc Rissmann (@marcrissmann) on Apr 14, 2019 at 7:09am PDT

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A post shared by Marc Rissmann (@marcrissmann) on Mar 25, 2019 at 4:31am PDT

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Harry Strickland, played by Marc Rissmann, is not unattractive. Right? Out of all the casting options they had here, they picked HIM!? Don’t talk to me about the books. I don’t care how Captain Strickland is described in the books. What I’m wondering about now is why they put a hunk in the role, a hunk who could totally have been cast as the Kingslayer Jaime Lannister once upon a time – and whether or not that’s going to matter. Because, like it or not, this is the sh-t they talk about and consider when they’re casting: can s/he act? Is s/he the right look?

What’s the “look” for Captain Strickland? Golden hair, tanned skin, tall and muscular, fills out his armour, low voice. Sex in his eyes. Captain Strickland was giving Cersei the sex eyes – why are they casting for sex eyes?!

Maybe I’m reading too much into this. But I have a hard time believing this is a throwaway role. You don’t have someone walk into scene with that kind of presence only to have him not show up again ever. Or maybe you do. This is Game of Thrones. They dispense with pretty people pretty easily. This f-cking show, am I wasting my time on this?