Alfie Allen initially auditioned for Jon Snow in 'Game of Thrones'

Game of Thrones is notorious for its laundry list of characters, both old and new. But two men on the series have been around since the beginning: Kit Harington and Alfie Allen.

We know Harington was invited to audition for his role of Jon Snow (and won) after producers David Benioff and D B Weiss spotted him in a play. But in the Game of Thrones season five Blu-ray episode commentary, the producers revealed that another actor also auditioned to be Winterfell: Alfie Allen.

“Alfi e originally came in to read for Jon Snow,” Benioff says in the commentary. “And we thought well he’s great... he’s not quite Jon Snow.” But, the showrunners still wanted Allen for a role. “And then we thought wait a second, Theon! And he read for Theon and he was just incredible,” said Benioff.

Allen as Jon Snow would have certainly been a departure from the brooding, dark haired, pretty-boy look Harington brings to the character. As Benioff and Weiss aptly noted, Allen brings Theon Greyjoy’s swaggering pseudoconfi dence to light in a compelling way.