Forming the 'Game of Thrones' Fantasy Band: 12 Cast Members With Musical Chops
Our long wait is (almost) over. A year after the Season 5 finale that launched a thousand fan theories, Game of Thrones is preparing to enter new territory in its sixth season, which debuts Sunday, April 24 on HBO. For the first time in its history, the series will venture completely off book, as the writers have lapped the release of author George R.R. Martin’s final two novels. So now, both readers and newbies will be on the same proverbial page when we return to Westeros, Dorne, and points beyond.
As viewers count down the days to Game of Thrones’ return, we here at Yahoo TV are launching our official countdown: #GoTIsComing. Check back here every day over the next month as we explore all of our favorite (and a few of our least favorite) people, places, and things about television’s most addictive show. From Direwolves and Dragons to the shows most hideous deaths and imperiled characters, we’re going to indulge or GoT obsession with the same fervor that Cersei imbibes alcohol. So raise a glass and toast the impending arrival of a long, cruel, and bloody Westerosi winter.
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Game of Thrones is already well-known for bringing entire bands from the real world into the fictional realm of Westeros. The Hold Steady and the National have contributed original compositions to the show, Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody appeared as a soldier, Coldplay’s Will Champion played a drummer in the Red Wedding episode, and Sigur Rós even appeared as a full band for the Purple Wedding.
But the show’s producers are missing a golden opportunity since so many of the actual cast members are already accomplished musicians. Here is our ultimate fantasy band made up of Game of Thrones characters, complete with a breakdown of the musical exploits of the actors in the real world.
THE ROLLING THRONES
The Rolling Thrones are currently on tour with their signature Country and Westeros sound. They’re led by the scruffy but charismatic Bronn, whose smooth tenor doesn’t quite match his sell-swordexterior. Though no longer a bachelor, tales of his exploits with groupies are legendary.
Lead guitarists Daario Naharis and Jorah Mormont are great individually, but it’s only a matter of time before clashing egos backstage force one of them to leave the band entirely. Rumors that the friction is a result of a fight for the affections of rhythm guitarist Daenerys Targaryen are unconfirmed but wouldn’t be surprising; her magnetic stage presence marks her as the probable breakout star of the group.
The band features a multinational group of backing vocalists: Astaporean Grey Worm (whose castration has gifted him with a glorious contralto range), Northerner Ramsay Bolton, Asshaian priestess Melisandre (who also designs pyrotechnics for the stage show), Dothraki bloodrider Qhono, and southerner Dickon Tarly.
The accordion of wildling Osha lends a distinct north-of-the-Wall vibe to the band’s sound, and the beatboxing of Bran Stark, along with his manservant Hodor’s electronic beats, brings a unique hip-hop element seldom heard in Westeros.
Bronn (Jerome Flynn)
Nobody’s first thought when they see the winningly cutthroat Bronn is “He belongs in a British pop duo like Wham! or Jedward.” And yet in the ’90s, Flynn was half of Robson & Jerome, whose covers of “Unchained Melody,” “I Believe,” and “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” all topped the U.K. charts and set young girls’ hearts aflutter. He’s still setting hearts aflutter, but that’s usually because he’s stuck a knife into them.
Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke)
There’s no pleasing some people. As Clarke told the Wall Street Journal, a drunk man accosted her once, “And he said, ‘Please, Mother of Dragons, sing me ‘Happy Birthday.’” She did, and he repaid the kindness by badmouthing her work on Thrones. “It’s impossible to please everyone.” If you missed her Broadway debut in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you can hear the Mother of Dragons on the Dom Hemingway soundtrack.
Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman)
Though Huisman’s voice is best known stateside from his work on Nashville, he sounds much more exotic in his native Dutch. Daario has already attracted Daenerys with his swordplay; maybe if he breaks out a guitar, he can win her heart?
Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen)
Glen can certainly hold his own against Huisman when it comes to country tunes, but that’s not where his heart lies. “When I am not working and being a father,” he told the Express, I play the guitar and I would like to sound like James Taylor.”
Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson)
Under the stage name Raleigh Ritchie, Anderson has released an EP, with a full album due out later this year; his music is R&B with a bit of an electronic influence. “I really enjoy doing Game of Thrones,” he told Gigwise last month ahead of his performance at the Glastonbury Festival, “but making music is f—-ing everything to me.” Good attitude to have, considering the average lifespan of characters on the show.
Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon)
Though his second EP features a full band, Rheon’s first and third are solo acoustic guitar affairs. Maybe because his backing band keeps getting the skin flayed off them? No telling, but he doesn’t need them. Though he cites Oasis and Radiohead as influences, the singer-songwriters who inspire him (according to an interview with The Music Ninja) are all American: “I really like Ray Lamontagne, Joe Pug, and Bon Iver … not sure if I sound like any of them.”
Melisandre (Carice van Houten)
Though she’s been singing all her life, van Houten told Milk Made that her career as a musician (her album See You on the Ice was released in 2012) was by no means certain. “The trouble is that I have a sister who is also a singer and an actress. Growing up there always seemed to be this strange unspoken rule that I would be the actress and she would be the singer. So now I can finally let that go and begin to let it out in the open.”
Qhono (Staz Nair)
Nair was once part of Times Red, a band competing on the British version of The X Factor. Though quickly eliminated, Nair proved to be a lot more than a pretty face and a decent singing voice: He’s also a set of stunning abs. The relevant footage is at 1:20:
Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright)
Though he hasn’t recorded anything officially, this commentary track from the Season 2 Game of Thrones DVD set proves Hempstead-Wrighthas got the skills to pay the bills.
Hodor (Kristian Nairn)
Though he’s been a professional DJ for at least the last dozen years (he’s got a residency at Ireland’s biggest gay nightclub, Kremlin), Nairn told Thrones fansite WinterIsComing.net that his first love was metal. “Everything from proper glam stuff like Poison, etc., right through to thrash and death metal like Sepultura and Obituary,” all bands that foreshadowed his eventual work on the HBO show.
Dickon Tarly (Freddie Stroma)
Though not classically trained, Stroma showed off his singing and guitar-playing chops in A Cinderella Story. He also got tricked into a bit of beat-boxing, but don’t worry, Isaac — your role in the band is safe — Stroma’s friends still mock him for his attempt. “Damon [Santostefano, the director] looked at me and said, ‘Freddie, can you beat-box?‘” Stroma told Collider. “And I said, 'Do I look like I can beat-box?’ So, we ended up putting that in the script.”
Osha (Natalia Tena)
“A diverse range of genres from cumbia to dub step, ska to Balkan beats, mixing them up into a whirlwind of tropical gypsy sounds” is exactly the type of music you’d expect a wildling to make. Tena’s fellow Thrones actress Oona Chaplin not only stars in the video for Molotov Jukebox’s first music video (Tena sings and plays accordion for the band), but she also helped inspire the song. “[Oona] came up with a line from the chorus,” Tena told This Is Local London. “I thought, ‘Let’s just make London a woman,’ and it just came out.”
Game of Thrones Season 6 premieres Sunday, April 24 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Read more of our #GoTIsComing coverage:
‘Game of Thrones’ Peril-o-Meter: Who Dies Next?
‘Game of Thrones’: 11 Classic Tyrion Lannister Insults For Every Occasion
‘Game of Thrones’: Everything You Need to Know About the Direwolves of House Stark
‘Game of Thrones’: 10 Characters Who Were Recast
‘Game of Thrones’: Cersei and Wine, a Love Story
‘Game of Thrones’: 10 Best Dragon Moments
‘Game of Thrones’: 10 Characters We Want to Come Back to Life
‘Game of Thrones’: 10 Characters Who Really Need to Die
‘Game of Thrones’: Bran Stark Is Back (and He’s All Grown Up)
Quiz: ‘Game of Thrones or Donald Trump?
‘Game of Thrones’: Who Is on Arya’s Kill List?
‘Game of Thrones’: A Traveler’s Guide to Dothraki — How to Speak So You Don’t Get Your Head Cut Off
‘Game of Thrones’: The 10 Best Action Sequences
‘Game of Thrones’: Dive Into 7 Crazy Fan Theories
A Brief Guide to the Religions of ‘Game of Thrones’
‘Game of Thrones’: Theon Greyjoy’s Past, Present, and Future
‘Game of Thrones’ Quiz: Why Is Sansa Frowning?
'Game of Thrones’: Liam Cunningham Debates the Perils of Being a Likable Character
