10 ‘Game of Thrones’ actors Marvel has wasted in the MCU

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode three.

Secret Invasion definitely isn’t coming up short in the shocks department, but the ongoing Disney Plus show might’ve just gone too far in its latest episode. Fans were thrilled for Emilia Clarke to join the MCU, in a role we eventually learned was Talos’ daughter G’iah, so needless to say the outcry has been immense following her apparent death and swift exit from the franchise in episode three.

While there’s bound to be a twist in the tale here, the threat that Clarke really could be bundled out of the cinematic universe before she’s really been able to make her mark is giving us unwanted flashbacks to all the other times Marvel has treated Game of Thrones stars the same way. Seriously, the House of Ideas has handed so many GoT veterans the short straw that you could argue the MCU has treated them worse than season eight. A bold claim, I know.

While we all pray Emilia Clarke doesn’t join them, here are 10 Game of Thrones actors who deserved much better than what Marvel dealt them.

Richard E. Grant

Richard E. Grant was an undoubted highlight of Loki season one, appearing as Classic Loki — a variant of the God of Mischief, clad in a wonderfully campy comics-accurate costume — in episode five. Sadly, there’s been no hint that he’s returning in season two, what with his grand sacrifice in his one and only appearance. And yet he managed to show up in three episodes of Game of Thrones season six as over-the-top actor Izembaro.

Rhys Ifans

Along with Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, Rhys Ifans’ Lizard definitely got the raw deal out of the many returning Sony stars in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Both of them were on voice acting duty only, with their characters remaining in CGI form throughout. Lizard, though, was particularly wasted, hilariously just chilling in a van for the whole middle of the movie. He’s served a lot better as Otto Hightower in GoT prequel House of the Dragon.

Jessica Henwick

On the one hand, Jessica Henwick was served much better by Marvel than she was in GoT, appearing in just eight episodes as Nymeria Sand. It’s no secret that Henwick’s Colleen Wing is the best part of Netflix’s much-maligned Iron Fist… and that’s why it still hurts that the heroine was cut down in her prime once the entire Defenders Saga was cruelly curtailed. At the end of IF season two, Colleen becomes the Iron Fist herself, but we’ve sadly never seen her in the franchise since.

Hannah John-Kamen

Ant-Man and the Wasp is somewhat of a forgotten middle child stuck between the highly enjoyable Ant-Man and the execrable Quantumania, but Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost remains a cult fan-favorite. We were looking forward to seeing her again at long last in 2024’s Thunderbolts, but rumors state she dropped out of the cast in pre-production. Let’s hope that turns out to be false, otherwise Marvel has thrown away one of its most sympathetic anti-villains with a unique power-set. At least John-Kamen got two appearances on Game of Thrones as Ornela.

Iwan Rheon

Casting one of Game of Thrones‘ best villains, Ramsay Bolton himself Iwan Rheon, as the main antagonist for ABC’s Inhumans must’ve seemed like an easy-win for Marvel, but sadly Rheon couldn’t do much with the underwritten Loki-wannabe that was Maximus, the treacherous brother of Inhuman king Black Bolt. Inhumans was put out of its misery after just eight episodes, and though Anson Mount returned as his superpowered sibling in Doctor Strange 2, there’s practically zero chance of Maximus making his own comeback.

Richard Madden

Just like how Eternals feels like a stealth Zack Snyder MCU movie, Richard Madden’s Ikaris is a brooding dark Superman figure who would probably enjoy a glower-off with Henry Cavill’s Kal-El. He’s honestly one of the most interesting characters in Chloe Zhao’s flawed but fascinating Marvel debut, so it’s a shame that he followed in his mythological counterpart’s footsteps (or, er, wing-steps?) and flew into the sun at the end of the film. At least it took three seasons for Robb Stark to be killed off.

Kit Harington

Eternals brought two Game of Thrones guys on board the MCU for the price of one. Unlike Madden’s Ikaris, Kit Harington’s rival for Sersi’s affections, Dane Whitman, got to live another day in the Marvel universe… and yet we’re not entirely convinced we’ll see him again. The film’s post-credits scene teased an unlikely reappearance for Black Knight in Blade, but rumors suggest Harington could end up being cut from that Mahershala Ali movie after all its production troubles. Plus, with the Eternals franchise seemingly dead in the water, it looks like Dane is destined to fall far short of the legacy of Jon Snow.

Peter Dinklage

Getting Tyrion Lannister himself Peter Dinklage in the MCU was a no-brainer, and it was a delight to see him turn up in Avengers: Infinity War. Sure, he was hamming it up, but he was playing a 50-foot giant dwarf palling around with a raccoon and a tree. Sadly, Eitri’s 15 minutes of Marvel fame faded immediately and he’s not returned since. The tragedy is Dinklage actually shot a cameo for Thor: Love and Thunder but it was left on the cutting room floor (more on that movie in a moment).

Natalie Dormer

The Game of Thrones alum who was the most criminally wasted in their MCU appearance, however, has to be Natalie Dormer. To be fair to Marvel, Dormer appeared as Private Lorraine — an amorous military secretary with the hots for Steve Rogers — in Captain America: The First Avenger before she’d found fame as Margaery Tyrell. Even so it’s a shame that Dormer was thrown away in such an inconsequential role, despite her contribution to the film being a humorous and memorable one. Agent Carter wasted a golden opportunity to bring Dormer back as Peggy’s nemesis.

Lena Headey

What’s the only way to top Dormer’s couple of minutes of screentime? How about no screentime whatsoever. That’s the ignominious fate of Lena Headey’s Marvel debut. The Cersei Lannister actress was supposed to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder as well until, just like Dinklage’s Eitri, her role was removed from the final cut by director Taika Waititi. Unfortunately for Headey, this resulted in her being embroiled in a $1.5 million lawsuit when her former talent agency sued her over unpaid commission fees. After that unsavory incident, it seems likely that Headey’s probably not in a hurry to give the MCU another shot.