For fans of Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, her writing, her research, historical Scotland...
Fancasting thoughts
The Lymond Chronicles Fancast Lymond - T...
The Lymond Chronicles Fancast Lymond - Tom Hiddleston Phillipa - Adelaide Kane Marthe - Natalie Dormer Richard - Colin Firth Jerrot Francois Arnaud Sybilla - Helen Mirren Mariotta - Hayley Atwell Christian Stewart - Bryce Dallas Howard Will - Eddie Redmayne Robin Stewart - Aaron Tveit Kate Sommerville - Katheryn Winnick Adam Blacklock - Tom Mison Joleta -Holliday Grainger Gabriel - Armie Hammer Margaret Lennox - Lena Headey Oonagh - Katie McGrath Danny Hislop - Ed Westwick Mary, Queen of Scots - Sophie Turner
Here's a beautiful fancasting for the Lymond Chronicles that I found while googling to set this place up. What do you guys think? Who would be in your dream fancast?




I would take Henry Cavill as either Jerott OR Richard, I think.
I like him better for Jerott, I think. Also I don't know who I want for Will but DEFINITELY not Eddie, no sir.
I'M SORRY EDDIE REDMAYNE BUT YOU HAVE MADE TERRIBLE ACTING CHOICES. I also like Henry Cavill as Jerott -- he's totally the right kind of smoldering.
He does have a great angry brooding face, and very broad shoulders. I'd even describe him as "smoldering."
No, Will is a lot younger and more... I don't know. Not Eddie. Eddie is more O'Liam Roe to me, honestly.
LOL OMG. I mean, I am not sure Eddie is who I would cast as O'LiamRoe, but that is hilarious to think about. He might be whiny enough to be Robin Stewart, actually.
I WAS JUST THINKING THAT.
I was actually just thinking that I would cast Eddie as Robin Stewart rather than Will.
I LIKE THAT WE ARE ALL AGREED. :D
Motion passes! Eddie Redmayne as Robin Stewart.
DANNY DEFINITELY ISN'T ED WESTWICK THOUGH. And Kate is Emma Thompson always and forever in my heart now.
Emma Thompson is a GREAT Kate!
omg I love Emma Thompson as Kate
SHE IS like Much Ado About Nothing era-Emma is perfection for Kate.
Oh and I could see a young Kate Winslet for Christian. Actually, she'd be a pretty amazing Philippa, too, even though she was never ever ever flat-chested :D
Also I think I could see Domnhall Gleeson as Will. He's a little too old now, but say, like, five years ago. PEAK BILL WEASLEY.
Younger Drew Barrymore would actually not be a terrible Philippa, either. Like, Ever After era Drew.
...I mean, in my heart of hearts Philippa is probably played by young Katharine Hepburn and Sybilla is played by old Katharine Hepburn. BUT YOU KNOW.
THAT IS FAIR.
I was thinking Sam Heughan for Will - he might not be whiny enough for Game of Kings Will, but I like his build better for it.
HMMMMMMM. I don't HATE all of these? I think Helen Mirren as Sybilla is pretty great, as is Natalie Dormer for Marthe and Lena Headey for Margaret Lennox. But none of the men feel quite right to me, tbh. THIS IS HARD.
I think the men are harder to cast -- how do you find someone awesome enough? (You already know Hiddleston isn't my Lymond.) And Danny should have fluffy, sandy hair! but I LOVE Natalie Dormer -- Marthe or Margaret Lennox, she'd be amazing.
Also I don't know who the actress suggested for Philippa is, but she needs to be THE ACTUAL BEST FOREVER.
I think it might be easier to cast everyone EXCEPT Philippa and Francis, and just assume we'll find some brilliant unknown to play them. THEY'RE TOO GREAT.
I think Hiddles is fairly sensible fancasting for Lymond, because like, he IS a classically-trained actor with a great range and depth! HE'S STILL WRONG, but he might be as close as we can get with, like, known actors right now, you know? I agree about casting everyone else and finding brilliant unknowns for Philippa and Francis.
Meanwhile Holliday Grainger is exactly who I would fancast as Joleta, and I find Armie Hammer a HILARIOUS choice for Gabriel, I can't lie. But yeah, none of the men are quite right for me.
NATALIE DORMER IS PERFECT, THOUGH. Does she have a secret brother who could play Francis??
YES I like this plan. I think my issues with the dudes are a bit easier to solve - like I LOVE Colin Firth but to be perfectly honest he's not quite the right kind of slightly dumb that Richard needs to be? Like I AM SURE HE COULD PLAY HIM, but I don't know. It doesn't SING to me. And Gabriel needs to be so much hotter - I do think that Chris Hemsworth is a really intriguing idea for that.
Firth is... certainly not MY Richard, my Richard is a lot broader and a lot dumber (I SAY THAT WITH LOVE). I'd take Hemsworth the greater as Gabriel, though. (OH MAN YOU GUYS. WHAT ABOUT CHRIS EVANS. CAN WE WORK CHRIS EVANS IN HERE SOMEWHERE?? OR KATE MCKINNON?)
ALSO, as I always wonder with fancasts: are we suspending questions of age, or not? Because I like Katie McGrath, but she's too young to be Oonagh, and Sophie Turner is too old to be Mary Queen of Scots, at least as I've seen her so far. Some actors can definitely play a wide range of ages! But!
I mean, Kate McKinnon could play Francis.
I WOULD ACCEPT KATE MCKINNON AS FRANCIS
OH MY GOD YES. IN. IN FOREVER.
DONE AND DONE.
chris evans has the wrong coloring but ACTUALLY I COULD SEE HIM AS JEROTT IF I SQUINT. HE CAN BE DUMB AND OVERLY RIGHTEOUS IN THE RIGHT WAY.
He can play exactly the right kind of self-righteous! Okay, so grey-bearded Chris Pine: who can HE be?
Tom Erskine, probably.
Oh I love that.
Ooooh, can we have Indira Varma as Guzel??
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I like it!
I am very here for this
Tom Mison is a good Adam Blacklock, I will agree.
YES I like that quite a bit, too.
Same! I am also trying to decide if I like Tveit as Robin Stewart. MAYBE.
Mmmmmmm doesn't feel whiny enough to me, tbh.
LOL FAIR.
If Alicia Vikander could play blond, I'd take her as Marthe, too.
...also I can't figure out how these comments thread.
There only seems to be one level of threading, as near as I can tell? You can start a new thread but every reply to that seems to be at the same indention level.
You know, I might slide Tveit over into the Danny role. He could hit on everyone he sees pretty well, I think.
yeah, I was thinking that! I feel like there's probably a PERFECT Danny out there that we're not thinking of yet, though.
BUT WHERE WILL ORLANDO BLOOM BE?
young orlando bloom can be austin grey
I can't even tell if I'm joking or not
oh my god THAT IS PERFECT
THAT IS but also we should wait to discuss this more until later...
is jamie bell going to be in this universe somewhere?
I WOULD TAKE JAMIE BELL AS WILL OR ROBIN, ACTUALLY.
I WAS THINKING THAT BUT ALSO IT BREAKS MY HEART. But yes. I also think he could be an interesting Danny, if not the perfect fit.
Jamie Bell as Will and Channing Tatum as Francis.
Kidding.
OR AM I.
HOW VERY DARE.
I was actually thinking that Channing could do as either Richard or Jerott.
Oh he would be an ADORABLE Richard.
HE WOULD BE SO HURT BY FRANCIS AND SO CONFUSED.
...actually, what about Jamie Bell as Francis.
I KNOW HE'S NOT BLOND AND NOT QUITE BEAUTIFUL ENOUGH, BUT I MEAN.
Ohhhhhh, you know what? I don't hate that. I don't hate that at all.
I AM HAVING SOME EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS.
No, it's amazing. Of course you are. Now who is his perfect Philippa...?
LOL NELL WILL NOW BE HAPPY FOREVER.
Oooooh, what about a Jenna Coleman or a really young Haley Atwell as Philippa?
that could work! I was thinking either Kate Mara or Ellen Page, but I'm not totally sold on either of them. HMMMMMMMMM.
I feel like Jenna Coleman LOOKS just about perfect; I don't know about performing as Philippa, because I've never watched Who.
I would also accept Aimee Teegarden
OMG Aimee Teegarden.
She's so good at STUBBORN!
She would be amazing.
I have had two more fancasting thoughts:
As much as I love Hemsworth the Greater, I feel like the hot priest from Grantchester would be really excellent as Gabriel: James Norton ). ALSO, what about Maisie Williams for Philippa?
Oh I think Maisie Williams might be a GREAT Philippa. I think my image of Gabriel is more of the sort of... shining golden gold that Hemsworth brings to the screen in Thor, that larger-than-life presence. But I could honestly see him as a Chris Pine (and I think Pine would have a great time playing both parts of that role.)
Listen, I was just stuck on THE HOT PRIEST. But that's fair -- I'm still not 100% sure Hemsworth could play it, that's all.
BUT, I do agree with you about the shining golden god thing, for sure.
I'm not really sure anyone could play any of these parts as well as they're played in my head and "hot priest" is the definition of Gabriel, so it makes sense!
TRUE ENOUGH. Yeah, so many of these characters are so hard to cast, because they have so much depth and complexity. Which is like, an actor's dream! But also hard to cast.
Gabriel is the kind of thing where I think Pine or Armie Hammer could really get into the cackling evil of it all, but you need someone who is also convincingly pious and heartbroken over the evils of the world (and convincingly as brilliant as Francis -- which is one of 923923923 reasons casting Francis is also so hard).
Am I convinced Hemsworth the greater would be great cackling evil? ....I don't know.
There's a tendency for people to take their favorite actors and shoehorn them into roles as their favorite characters, whether or not it actually works. Hence Hiddleston as Lymond, which I think would be terrible, personally.
On the other hand, I'm not up enough with current actors to add much more than that to this discussion.
I've seen Hiddleston as Lymond in a couple of places, and I understand the impulse, I think; Hiddleston is classically trained, and the Lymond Chronicles would ideally be cast with someone with a Shakespearean background. But I agree with you. I think it's a case of just wanting your favorite to be your other favorite -- I don't think it works as a casting at all.