Game of Thrones could have been a lot different if Elizabeth Olsen had been cast as Daenerys Targaryen, but for better or for worse, she failed her audition. Particularly famous for her role as Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision, Olsen is certainly among today's most popular stars. It first took some shortcomings to find great success, as the actress first had to bomb an "awful" audition for a coveted role that later went to Emilia Clarke.
At this point, it's almost impossible to imagine anyone other than Emilia Clarke in the role of Daenerys. There has been some unrest over the way the series ended, but every fan can agree that Clarke absolutely killed that role. Even so, Elizabeth Olsen recalled in a recent interview with THR how she personally tried to get the role during the casting process more than a decade ago. She admitted that her read was "awful" so she wasn't surprised when she was passed over. From the interview:
"Yes, I auditioned for Game of Thrones. 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."
All's well that ends well, as Olsen has since become a household name without the need to appear on Game of Thrones. In her THR interview, the actress also details how her casting as Wanda Maximoff in the MCU just came to be as the result of a general meeting with Joss Whedon. She originally signed on for two movies and a cameo when she was first cast as the MCU's Scarlet Witch and ended up starring in her own hit series WandaVision on Disney+ this year.
Oddly enough, Clarke just might end up meeting Olsen's Wanda Maximoff in the MCU soon enough. It was recently reported that Clarke had been cast for a mystery role in the upcoming Marvel series Secret Invasion for Disney+. There's no information about who she'll be playing, but Clarke has suggested that she'd be lucky to spend the next decade reprising this role in other Marvel projects. It could just be a matter of time before she's sharing the screen with the actress who auditioned for her same role on Game of Thrones.
Olsen will return as Wanda in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Sam Raimi-directed sequel that's due to be released in March 2022. Meanwhile, Olsen has been picking up other big roles as well. She will play axe murderer Candy Montgomery in an upcoming limited series Love and Death for HBO Max. The streamer hasn't yet set an official release date for the series.
As for Clarke, fans can look forward to seeing her in the upcoming series Secret Invasion on Disney+. She is also attached to star in the upcoming fantasy movie The Amazing Maurice with Hugh Laurie and Himesh Patel. This news comes to us from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/awards-chatter-podcast-elizabeth-olsen-wandavision-1234971072/|The Hollywood Reporter.