Oberyn

Benioff and Weiss recently announced they cast the part of "Oberyn Martell" and Pedro Pascal has the honor.

To familiarize the uninitiated...from Entertainment Weekly:


“This was a tough one,” say showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss about the casting. “The Red Viper is sexy and charming, yet believably dangerous; intensely likable, yet driven by hate. The boys love him, the girls love him, and he loves them all back. Unless your last name is Lannister. We found a fellow who can handle the job description and make it seem effortless. He wasn’t easy to find and he won’t be easy to stop.”

According to IMDB Pascal has appeared in television shows like Graceland, The Good Wife, and Red Widow.  The only show I've seen him in is a show about boxing called Lights Out, which lasted one season on FX.  He appeared in a few episodes.  After jogging my memory to who the character is, I remember one important scene that could not be much more fitting to his submission reel for Oberyn.  The following describes a scene in Lights Out, and alludes to a chapter in Storm of Swords which has not aired yet, but will no doubt feature prominently in Season Four.

Pedro Pascal plays a boxer, Omar Assarian, of (I believe) Armenian descent.  Omar has no shortage of bluster, bravado and confidence, and well as the skills to go with it.  He is the feature fight on a card in an early episode.  Omar clearly has the upper hand in the fight and is well ahead on the judges' cards.  However, he decides to make a show of it and mess with his opponent rather than knock him out and end the fight.  He moves around the ring carelessly, showing up his opponent until the all but defeated challenger lands one good punch, knocking out Omar and winning a fight Omar should have wrapped up several rounds earlier. 


This is the first character who I'm familiar with before the show cast him, and I was rooting for Naveen Andrews.  Though, it's important to remember the outstanding casting job done so far by Benioff and Weiss and have a lot of faith in them. 

EDIT (7/10): My Google Alert which notified me when Pascal was cast is also notifying me about poor reactions to his casting.  To which I saw, pish posh!  GRRM himself defended the casting.  I think this is a case where a fans' imagined image of a (fictional!) character has somehow morphed into there being a "correct" version that must be had for this adaptation.  Also, it's an adaptation!  Consider that GRRM acknowledges nothing in the books is a 1:1 version of its real life inspiration, it's understandable that the television series is not a 1:1 adaptation of the books.  Additionally, Weiss and Benioff said they do not look at Season Two as adapting A Clash of Kings, but as the second season of their larger adaptation of the Fire & Ice series. 

The point is, there is no "correct" version.  There are a bunch of "owners" in the show, as in people who for the most part own (pwn?) everyone they interact with, including Tywin, Blackfish, Jaqen H'gar, Khal Drogo and Queen of Thorns.  They are all cast perfectly.  One could throw Oberyn in that category as well, so maybe the benefit of the doubt is in order when talking about Pascal