The Game of Thrones Role Melisandre’s Actress Almost Played

Before she became Game of Thrones’ enigmatic Red Priestess, Carice van Houten was almost cast as a completely different character — a near-miss that reshaped her fate in Westeros.

Here is a fun little what-if from Westeros: Carice van Houten was not supposed to be the Red Woman. At least, not at first. Before she started lighting swords and beliefs on fire, the Dutch actress was almost wearing a crown.

The role she almost had

Back in 2012, van Houten told Vulture that the Game of Thrones showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, reached out to her about auditioning for Queen Cersei Lannister. The timing was terrible, and the moment passed.

"I thought the queen would be a great part. They asked me to audition, but I couldn’t do it because I was shooting something else."

That sliding-doors moment is wild to think about. If she had been free, we might have lived in a very different Westeros.

Enter Lena Headey, destroyer of wine and reputations

The Cersei role went to Lena Headey, who proceeded to make the character a cold, compelling menace for eight seasons. She racked up five Emmy nominations along the way and cemented Cersei as one of TV's most memorably terrifying villains. No notes.

How Carice found the Red Woman

Fate rerouted van Houten to Melisandre, a character who was less about palace politics and more about unshakable belief. Melisandre was convinced she was serving the Lord of Light, even when that faith pushed her to do the unforgivable - most notably burning Shireen Baratheon. It was a performance that made the character one of the show's most mysterious presences from the first moment she stepped on screen.

The exit that stuck the landing

After helping take down the White Walkers in The Long Night, Melisandre walked out into the snow, removed her magical necklace, aged in seconds, and faded away. It was a quiet, eerie goodbye that landed with viewers and felt exactly right for a woman who lived and died by conviction.

So yes, Carice van Houten almost played a very different kind of queen. Instead, she got a role that let her set the tone, the sky, and occasionally entire armies on fire. I think we won anyway.