Mat has been recast

[WhiteVeils]

If you look at his coat in the stills, it's not only that his cuffs and shirt-ends are frayed (they look like he chews them...I've got a kid who does that, so I totally understand), but they're actually threadbare. I think no matter what else is going on, the Cauthons in Two Rivers in the show are /poor/.  Too poor to have bought Mat a new coat for years.  When you see the picture of him talking to Fain, to me it looks like he's negotiating...hard.  Neither of the actors playing his parents look plump.  Of course, this says nothing about the moral character of his parents...just something that would inform a worldview of some people that would lead Abel to tell Mat he needs to look after himself first.  He doesn't want him to fall into poverty the way he did. (This also makes better contrast to how he is later in the series).

[Wassup]

20 minutes ago, WhiteVeils said:

If you look at his coat in the stills, it's not only that his cuffs and shirt-ends are frayed (they look like he chews them...I've got a kid who does that, so I totally understand), but they're actually threadbare. I think no matter what else is going on, the Cauthons in Two Rivers in the show are /poor/.  Too poor to have bought Mat a new coat for years.  When you see the picture of him talking to Fain, to me it looks like he's negotiating...hard.  Neither of the actors playing his parents look plump.  Of course, this says nothing about the moral character of his parents...just something that would inform a worldview of some people that would lead Abel to tell Mat he needs to look after himself first.  He doesn't want him to fall into poverty the way he did. (This also makes better contrast to how he is later in the series).

He would get this from his father.  In TDR, Matt recalls that his father was the best horsetrader in EF and nobody got the better of him, not even people from Taren Ferry.  He was noted as being shrewd and thinking things over from every angle.  I do not recall anything in the early books about their economic status.  They had a house near the middle of the village.  That was noted because it was burned by the Trollocs who had to pass several other houses to get to it.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Wassup

[Elder_Haman]

6 minutes ago, TheDreadReader said:

 

You could read some of the Coplin/Congar stuff in TWEOTW as alluding to some southern society tropes so they have a little Hatfield/McCoy in them.   Riffing on that idea, if you look at the Cauthons as being a little work hard/play hard, honorable, but with a reputation for being on the wrong side of the "law" at times then it might work too.  

 

In TV trope terms, Southern-Fried Private or Southern-Fried-Genius might be good examples of what I'm trying to describe.   

Yeah. "Horse trader" has a bit of a used car salesman vibe to it. So there's stuff to work with there, too. There was a still of Mat talking with Fain - there could be a pre-existing relationship there where Mat's family is one of Fain's primary trading partners.

 

[WhiteVeils]

54 minutes ago, Wassup said:

He would get this from his father.  In TDR, Matt recalls that his father was the best horsetrader in EF and nobody got the better of him, not even people from Taren Ferry.  He was noted as being shrewd and thinking things over from every angle.  I do not recall anything in the early books about their economic status.  They had a house near the middle of the village.  That was noted because it was burned by the Trollocs who had to pass several other houses to get to it.

I know they don't have anything in the books about their economic status.  We know they don't have a farm, but other than that, nothing.  I'm saying from the costumes, it looks like in the TV series, they're quite a bit poorer, say, the Aybaras or the Al'Thors (let alone the Al'Veres). To the point Mat's clothes are in disrepair (and he's probably very cold).

Edited November 12, 2021 by WhiteVeils

[Maximillion]

Does anyone yet know why Barney Harris left the show - he's the best of all the actors in the first 3 episodes!

 

[Jackdaw_Fool]

I'm really wanting to know the same... I also think he's been the best of the actors so far.

[DojoToad]

I'm hoping to find out too.  Actually amazed they've kept it quiet so long.

[WhiteVeils]

For them to have kept it quiet like this for so long, I'm thinking it has to have been a mental or physical health problem.  Which makes me not want to inquire further out of respect for the actor.

[Skipp]

10 minutes ago, WhiteVeils said:

For them to have kept it quiet like this for so long, I'm thinking it has to have been a mental or physical health problem.  Which makes me not want to inquire further out of respect for the actor.

 

Agreed, if it was any type of on set behavior  or scandal it would have leaked by now.

[Elgee]

I'm really sorry that he left, whatever the reason, because he was the best of the lot that I've seen so far. He's made me much more sympathetic towards the character than I ever was to Book Mat.

[Timsonofagunsonofabtch]

You all are so calm , I wish I could be that way . It’s difficult for me to see my friend Matt played by a guy who looks 35 years old . I will keep reading and watching. I have to listen to the books again just to keep my sanity. 

[DaddyFinn]

35 minutes ago, Timsonofagunsonofabtch said:

It’s difficult for me to see my friend Matt played by a guy who looks 35 years old

 

Left is Donal Finn who will play Mat from season 2 until the end(hopefully).

 

Right is the season 1 actor Barney Harris.

 

Facial hair and overall shaggy appearance can age up a character quite much.

 

Edit. There's a thread for the recasting if you want to discuss this further. This thread is for memes.

 

First picture of Donal with some of the cast.

Edited November 28, 2021 by DaddyFinn

[Agitel]

8 hours ago, Timsonofagunsonofabtch said:

You all are so calm , I wish I could be that way . It’s difficult for me to see my friend Matt played by a guy who looks 35 years old . I will keep reading and watching. I have to listen to the books again just to keep my sanity. 

 

Barney Harris is 24 at this time, younger during filming. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Agitel

[king of nowhere]

how will the show handle the change? will they have the new, different guy, and everyone will pretend he's always the same? will they use maybe the healing scene to justify the feature change? will they use makeup to try and make the new mat as similar as possible to the old one, and gradually reduce it through the various scenes until the change is so gradual that most people won't notice?

[JenniferL]

They will just switch out the actors. TV shows don’t usually call your attention to it when they recast. 

[CaddySedai]

1 minute ago, JenniferL said:

They will just switch out the actors. TV shows don’t usually call your attention to it when they recast. 

 

Exactly so. They do it all the time. Potter for example swapped in an entirely new Dumbledore. They completely changed Flitwicks appearance (a strange case of same actor, same character, but different looks). Even the castle changed appearance ... every...single...movie ?

[flinn]

 Yep, if they put a huge beard, moustache, hat, glasses, you probably wont notice much difference.

[WhiteVeils]

I'm kind of faceblind so I admit this is hard for me to truly empathize with others on the issue, but to me, Barney and Donal do look an /awful/ lot alike.  They both have the curly hair, narrow face, and cleft chin.  Barney has hazel eyes and Donal's eyes are brown, though I don't know if Donal wears contacts...if they do that's an easy change.  If he doesn't, that's more difficult.  Donal's hair is a bit lighter, but hair dye is an easy match when the texture is the same.   His skin is a bit lighter too, but that might be reflective of makeup and could vary depending on how they grunge him up (or degrunge Barney). After all, poor Mat might not get a bath until Season 2. ?

[Wraith235]

On 11/28/2021 at 10:10 AM, CaddySedai said:

 

Exactly so. They do it all the time. Potter for example swapped in an entirely new Dumbledore.

that's a bad example as they didn't have a choice in the matter - the Actor died
and while the MIGHT have had The last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One Technology that was used for Carrie .... the amount of screen time Dumbledore had left in the movies would have ballooned the budget to crazy levels

Edited November 30, 2021 by Wraith235

[CaddySedai]

1 hour ago, Wraith235 said:

that's a bad example as they didn't have a choice in the matter - the Actor died

 

It isn’t a bad example in the slightest. Regardless of the reason (death, creative differences, health) an actor was unable to continue in their current role and thus a replacement had to be put in. 

 

I fail to see why there is any difference between Dumbledore and Mat being recast from the perspective that:

 

A) An actor was playing a role. 

B) An actor would/could no longer play the role. 

C) The actor had to be replaced. 

D) The series continued with the character. 

 

Contrast that with the death of Chadwick Boseman.

 

A)An actor was playing a role. 

B) An actor would/could no longer play the role. 

C) The role would not be recast. 

D) The series (in this case the relevant films) continues without the character. 

[Sabio]

Just rack up any changes to Mat in season 2 as side effects from the dagger.

[flinn]

 I never was able to get over.adjust to the Spartacus change.

[CaddySedai]

And at least WoT tried to get similar-ish actors. LOL.

 

@SinisterDeath reminded me of this swap. Didn't even try.

 

[DaddyFinn]

32 minutes ago, flinn said:

 I never was able to get over.adjust to the Spartacus change.

Oh yeah. That was so sad. Liam McIntyre was fine but he was nowhere near Andy Whitfield's charisma, presence, muscularity etc.

 

 

Someone posted this pic of Donal in discord or twitter. It's from some short film or something like that.

 

[SinisterDeath]

1 hour ago, DaddyFinn said:

Oh yeah. That was so sad. Liam McIntyre was fine but he was nowhere near Andy Whitfield's charisma, presence, muscularity etc.

 

 

Someone posted this pic of Donal in discord or twitter. It's from some short film or something like that.

 

You can watch his short film overt at
https://www.independenttalent.com/actors/donal-finn/