With the hype and fervor surrounding Avengers: Endgame slowly fading away and with fans still disappointed over the final season of Game of Thrones, it might come as a surprise that these two franchises have more in common than you may think. There’s plenty of overlap in terms of shared actors (Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick both starred in Netflix’s Iron Fist, just to name a few), but it seems one of HBO’s biggest stars was set to appear in Phase 2 of the MCU.
Believe it or not, it looks like Daenerys Targaryen actress Emilia Clarke was originally going to star in Iron Man 3, which released all the way back in 2013. The revelation comes courtesy of Drew Pearce, who some might remember co-wrote the film’s screenplay along with director Shane Black. Taking to Instagram, he posted a picture of an early table read, where he stood in for the role of J.A.R.V.I.S.
In the post’s caption, Pearce joked that he was able to temporarily replace actor Paul Bettany due to their similar British accents, while also revealing Emilia Clarke was supposed to star alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle. He doesn’t offer much of an explanation though, only mentioning the script was changed at some point.
While there’s always the chance Clarke was meant to play Extremis scientist Maya Hansen (a role which eventually went to Rebecca Hall), there’s a distinct possibility the Game of Thrones star initially had a much larger role. It’s been widely reported that the film’s villain was originally meant to be female, a decision which was eventually overturned by Ike Perlmutter, the chairman and former CEO of Marvel Entertainment. Similarly, Rebecca Hall confirmed her character was reduced due to merchandising concerns.
While many consider the final cut of Iron Man 3 to be the black sheep of the franchise, a few of us here at We Got This Covered were pleasantly surprised by Shane Black’s darker take on the character. And though it’ll probably remain unknown what role Clarke could’ve played in it, feel free to speculate down below on which character she may’ve been set for.
