Elizabeth Olsen Reveals She Auditioned to Play Daenerys on 'Game of Thrones'

Olsen said “it was awful.”

Marvel Cinematic Universe star Elizabeth Olsen recently revealed that she auditioned for a major role on Game of Thrones. When catching up with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress admitted she had tried out for the part of Daenerys Targaryen — a role made famous by Emilia Clarke.

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Unfortunately, it looks like that audition didn’t go too well either, as Olsen noted that she bombed.

“I auditioned for, like, the assistant to the casting director in a small room in New York with just a camera on me and them reading the script. I was doing the Khaleesi speech when she comes out of the fire. It was awful. I didn’t get a callback.”

This wasn’t the first time Olsen commented on her botched Game of Thrones audition, either. Back in 2019, when appearing on Live with Kelly and Ryan, the WandaVision star said the experience was so bad that she wished she had stopped the audition halfway.

“I should have [stopped it]. I think I would now. I’d be, ‘I don’t think I’m going to do this any justice… hopefully, call me back at a different time for something else.”

Despite not nabbing a role in the now-iconic show, Olsen was still able to make a name for herself by securing a role in 2014’s blockbuster Godzilla. One year later, she would become Wanda Maximoff in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the rest is history.

It turns out Olsen isn’t the only MCU star who totally blew their Game of Thrones audition. Mahershala Ali — set to play Blade — revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2017 that he bombed when he read for the part of Xaro Xhoan Daxos. “That was one of the worst auditions of my life,” he said. Despite the raw talent that Olsen and Ali possess, it looks like sometimes auditions are just as terrifying as they seem to be.

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