Fan casting is the reason Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss found the perfect Khal Drogo in Jason Momoa. Despite the character not surviving past the first season of the HBO series, Drogo remains popular among fans -- and for good reason. At the Austin Film Festival, Benioff and Weiss revealed their process for casting Momoa.
According to SYFY Wire, Benioff explained how the Internet played a role in the showrunners discovering the Hawaiian-born actor: "We had all these auditions and no one was quite right. And then, we're looking at some website that had 'Fan Casting of Game of Thrones.' A lot of it was kinda knuckleheaded, but some of it was really smart. And there was one person, or maybe a few people, who said, 'Oh, it should be this guy Jason Momoa.' And we'd never heard of Jason before -- and I apologize to the Baywatch fans -- but I haven't gotten around to it. But, I saw a picture of him, we both did, and I thought, 'Well, that really does look like Khal Drogo.'"
Momoa's audition also included his signature Haka, the ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield and at peaceful gatherings. The rest is TV history, with Momoa of course going on to portray the Dothraki warlord.
Game of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.