With Season 6 of Game of Thrones officially over and only around 15 episodes (split between two seasons) left, the HBO producers are looking back that the series and everything they have done so far.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of the HBO adaptation of George RR Martin's Game of Thones sat down with Deadline to discuss a bunch of different themes of the shows, from Season 1 to the most recent Season 6.
One of the questions was about writing for Ramsay Bolton, whether it was fun or hard to get his character down. Instead of talking about the writing process Benioff explained that the actor behind Ramsay Bolton, Iwan Rheon was who really brought the character to life.
Weiss followed Benioff's statement up with how Rheon was nearly cast as Jon Snow, before the production team decided on him playing as Ramsay:
?We first saw him when he auditioned for Jon Snow. He was incredible and went down to the very end, in terms of our pick for Jon Snow. He’s an incredibly versatile actor. It was so much fun to write for him because he’s such a charismatic kid and he’s got such intelligence and a sense humor. He never just played Ramsay like the snarling villain. He put a little spin on every line and so it was great to write for him and to watch him perform, and especially in his last couple of episodes. That last scene with Ramsay and Sophie [Turner]’s Sansa probably goes down as one of our favorites. To watch the two of them alone, with the dogs…He could very well have been a boring character, because he’s so evil and beyond redemption. And Iwan kept him interesting the whole way."
Instead of playing Jon Snow, Rheon ended up playing one of the most despised characters in Game of Thrones: Ramsay Bolton. What a twist for Rheon, but either way, the guy did an incredible job of making us hate him.
