Despite being a character who clearly stood out, recast the Mountain actor twice. The Mountain, whose real name is Gregor Clegane, appeared in all but one season of the HBO series. ' strongest character, Gregor Clegane received the Mountain nickname due to his intimidating size and strength. The Mountain grew into a notable character in the series thanks to his brutality and several memorable scenes. However, given his smaller role earlier in the show, fans might not have noticed the character was played by three different actors.
Several in the series, but none more than the Mountain. Gregor Clegane was first introduced as a massive yet unimportant henchman to Tywin Lannister who was strong enough to cut off a horse's head with a single swing of his sword.
When it came to casting the Mountain, took full advantage of how the character rarely speaks, which helps make the casting changes less jarring for viewers. The Mountain was first played by actor and wrestler Conan Stevens in
Ian Whyte () took over the Mountain character in season 2. He also reprised his role as a White Walker (which he initially played in the show's debut season). Whyte has stated that it was difficult to separate his emotions while playing Gregor due to how brutally the character was portrayed on-screen. Following his stint as the Mountain,
Icelandic strongman and actor Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson took over the role of the Mountain when the character made his return in season 4. Despite multiple recastings, it is Björnsson's face that most fans remember when referring to the Mountain. He portrayed Gregor during the character's most memorable scenes: Björnsson's Gregor crushed Oberyn's skull, stood by Cersei as a loyal guard, and the highly anticipated fight in the finale which claimed both their lives.
Among the Mountain actors, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson was given the character's most iconic moments. Conan Stevens did provide a bombastic introduction to the character, displaying who the man was in his entirety when he cut the head off of his own horse and jousted with Loras Tyrell. However, the wrestler only got two episodes on the show and therefore wasn't given the time to fully flesh out the Mountain. Ian Whyte spent a lot of time in the world, playing the Mountain, a White Walker, Wun Wun, and Dongo.
Björnsson, however, had the benefit of playing the character for the longest period. The Icelandic strongman first joined the show with the season 4 episode "Mockingbird," ending his 17-episode run with the season 7 episode "The Bells." He was also the only actor who got to perform an arc for the character, albeit a gruesome one.
Björnsson played the role only once before his big episode against Oberyn, then disappeared for nearly a whole season as Qyburn experimented on the severely poisoned Clegane.
prequel spinoff wouldn't be complete without its own version of the Mountain: Ser Harwin "Breakbones" Strong, who was played by actor Ryan Corr.
Cerseialso directly references House Strong when she proudly refers to the Mountain as "Ser Robert Strong" after Qyburn succeeded at reanimating Gregor's corpse. Even before the
Not only didMountain actor change twice, the onscreen portrayal of the brute also has notable differences when compared to Gregor Clegane in the books.
The Mountain even repeatedly killed the Lord of Light priest Beric Dondarrion in the books. However, despite omitting what would've been interesting scenes and arcs for Gregor Clegane, still succeeded at making the Mountain one of the franchise's most memorable characters.
Just as the Mountain actors onbrought different takes on the character, the experience was also quite different for each of these actors. Conan Stevens recalls shooting his most famous scene in season 1 of the series as the Mountain cuts off a horse's head with one swing of his sword. As easy as this feat was for the Mountain, Stevens remembers that it was trickier to film as he explains () working with the horse,
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Ian Whyte's time as Gregor Clegane was quite brief and didn't get many standout moments to really make the character his own. However, even with all the characters Whyte ended up playing on , he cites the Mountain as his favorite, saying "" (). Indeed, the Mountain is one of the evilest villains on even if Whyte didn't get the chance to truly embrace his worst attributes.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson got the most screentime and the biggest moments of all the Mountain actors. This included a number of epic fight sequences, and even for someone who is as powerful as he is in real life, Björnsson admits that the filming could be difficult for those particular scenes.
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Changing the Mountain actor so many times likely seemed like a problem at the time, but it actually resulted in best bit of recasting. With such a massive show with a large ensemble of characters coming and going, it stands to reason that there would be changes every once in a while. However, the show finally settling on Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson for the role of the Mountain role benefited from the fact that the character had not been a big part of the show up until that point.
Before Björnsson took the role, the most memorable moment for the Mountain was back in season 1 when he beheaded a horse. Despite the fact that all three actors who played the role look very different, some fans might not have noticed the change simply because the Mountain was such a small presence in the series. Björnsson took the role at a time when the character was finally given things to do and he was able to deliver the most memorable moments for the Mountain, beginning with the fight with Oberyn and going all the way up to the fight with The Hound in the .