WinterIsComing.net has confirmed that 6’9″ tall Icelandic strongman Hafþór “Thor” Björnsson will be portraying Gregor Clegane, The Mountain That Rides, in the upcoming fourth season of Game of Thrones.
According to WiC:
Thor was on set in Belfast earlier this August, and […] he is currently in Dubrovnik with the rest of the cast, preparing to film scenes for season four.
Hafþór will be replacing Ian Whyte in the role. This is not the first time this character has been recast. Conan Stevens portrayed Ser Gregor in the first season, but was replaced by Whyte in season 2. Read more about Conan’s take on the role of The Mountain in our extensive interview with him.
This news comes right on the back of another recasting, that of Daario Naharis. How do you feel about this change? Will it matter, given Gregor’s role? How does Hafþór compare to Conan and Ian? One thing is for certain – he’s certainly the right size for the job!
Author’s Note: I had been expecting something like this to happen with The Mountain. It seems as if Ian Whyte was used as a last minute replacement for Conan Stevens, as Whyte is something of a resident stuntman for the show, and would have been on hand. However, Hafþór seems much more suited to the role. He definitely has the right physique and look, and hopefully this means we’ll once again see the ferocious monster that we have missed since season 1!
Game of Thrones Season 4 will premiere in spring of 2014. We’ll provide an exact air date here when we have it.
16 comments
As long as they don’t recast Jaqen, I’m good.
Conan Stevens was perfect, imo. He was vicious and ruthless in season 1,
plus he actually looks like Sandor’s brother. Bjornsson looks nothing
like The Hound and comes off as kind of a dumb oaf, which Gregor is not. This was a terrible recast (again…)
Picture doesnt make him justice really, dont think people realise the sheer size of this man! At 400 lbs he has a sixpack and he goes up to 440 lbs sometimes.
I wonder why they didn’t ask Tom Cruise?
Especially after he proved that he’s the embodiment of Reacher…
Why not recast Conan Stevens?
With such a huge cast I think we’re luck to have avoided any major recasts/deaths/quitings etc. I’d say Daario was the biggest one so far followed by this debacle. Luckily both were in the early phases of their appearances. Let’s just hope they don’t have to swap Bran or Hodor or something.
Definitely. I’d say we should almost expect that one of the major roles will be recast though…with a cast this big and 7 or 8 projected seasons it’d be a miracle if it didn’t happen!
3rd times the charm!
Haha exactly! This guy looks brilliant, I can’t believe he’s only 24!
Steroids are a helluva drug, thats why
Steroids are a helluva drug, thats why
Just because you have a small penis, doesn’t mean everyone does steroids.
And if you look at him, he hardly looks like a product of steroids – looks like a full training weightlifter to me.
at competing at this lvl as a pro strongman you only eat chicken and train hard. sterioids are only for bodybuilders and other pro sports right? no…
Its funny how all fatasses claim that fit people all use steroids. Like it was some kind of black magic that you inject and become Hulk right next.
Of course Thor would be extremely fit and big even without steroids, but within the pro circuits of Strongman steroids are a prerequisite. The same within bodybuilding. He would still be great without it, but he wouldn’t reach 120% of his potential.