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Elizabeth Olsen Knew She'd Never Be Daenerys Targaryen

Two major cultural touchstones could have looked very, very different. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth Olsen explained that she bombed her audition for Daenerys Targaryen. If things happened just a little differently, however, that would have meant a whole different Game of Thrones and, certainly an entirely new look to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Olsen plays Wanda Maximoff, the newly revealed Scarlet Witch.

She told THR that she auditioned with Daenerys's fiery monologue. Fans know the one: the white-haired Mother of Dragons emerges from the flames, baby dragons in hand.

"I auditioned for, like, the assistant to the casting director in a small room in New York with just a camera on me and them reading the script," she said. "I was doing the Khaleesi speech when she comes out of the fire. It was awful. I didn't get a callback."

Elizabeth Olsen
Elizabeth Olsen

Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

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She didn't offer any other details, but she has mentioned the audition before. Back in 2019, she told Vulture that she offered the speech in both a British and American accent, not knowing which would be appropriate for a fantastical series set in an imaginary land.

"She's making this speech to thousands of people about how she's their queen," Olsen said. "They didn't know if they wanted a British accent or not. So, you did it in both. It was terrible. Anytime someone says, 'Bad audition story.' That's one I remember."

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And while Westeros lost an Olsen, Marvel fans are probably very grateful that she nailed her audition for the Avengers films, which saw her branch off into Disney+'s WandaVision and continued appearances in upcoming movies, like Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Knowing what we do about what happened with Khaleesi at the end of GoT, Olsen dodged some major fan backlash.