Game of Thrones casting under way in Sevilla

CASTING for the popular television series Game of Thrones is under way in Osuna, near Sevilla.

Andalucía is to step in for the fantastical location of ‘Dorne,’ a region of author George R. R. Martin’s novels which has still to be seen portrayed on screen.

Residents of Osuna and its environs also seem determined to play the part of Dornish extras, although the casting directors seem to have placed some restrictions on who fits the bill.

To take part as an extra in this fifth season of Game of Thrones, the darker the better: it appears that blondes don’t have all the fun when it comes to this particular casting process.

Marta, one young finance student from Osuna, speaking to the Spanish paper 20 Minutos, said: “They saw me and straightaway said ‘You’re not allowed in.’

“But I’m going to dye my hair and come back to try again.”

Bad news for fair-haired women from Sevilla Province, but men may be in more luck, as organisers have forbidden muscular men or men with long hair from taking part, leaving their more scrawny counterparts to enter the limelight. 

People with tattoos were also discouraged to apply for a role in the hit-series, which needs 2,500 extras (1,250 men and 1,250 women) to portray the part of ‘Dornish’ citizens during the filming of the next season which is due to get under way on October 10.

The selection process began at 8am on Tuesday, although hundreds of people spent the night camped outside the sports centre where the casting is taking place. The first extra to secure her 15 minutes of fame was Alegría León, a doctorate student from Camas who arrived at 8pm the previous evening to ensure her place at the front of the queue.

Many of the aspiring hopefuls don’t know anything about the TV show. Sergio, an unemployed electrician in his 20s, said: “The only thing I know about the series is that there are dragons.

“I’ve never seen it, nor know what it’s about or anything.”

At €50 per day, the money is not bad, although many of these young hopefuls do not seem to realise how long and hard the work will be. Knowing how hot Sevilla can get, even in mid-October, the 12-hour days standing in the hot sun, wearing make-up, a wig and quite possibly armour may make some of these new ‘Dornish citizens’ think twice about being briefly immortalised by the camera.