#idk why I put kyleigh there but she's a good actress so....

[ride-thedragon]

I see Laena casting discourse again. They really did age her up unnecessarily, and I do think it was to communicate how bad the whole picking child bride thing is while making her a suitable (young) match for Daemon. I genuinely remember the sheer disbelief that she was teen Laena.

Milly and Emily are Rhaenyra and Alicent from ages 14 to 20, respectively, somewhere in that timeline they become Emma and Olivia's versions of the characters. Nova is Laena from 12 to about 15, and then from 16 to 20-ish, she's played by Savannah, who then passes over to Nanna until 26, Laena is at best 26 when she dies. It's a less similar time frame for Laenor who , as much as I love young Laenor, should've been played by the same (teen) actor as he and Rhaenyra are the same age.

Back to Laena, I think they should've just casted younger and kept 1 Laena for youth and one Laena for adulthood like the other girls. Yes, she's younger but not young enough to need that much of a difference between episodes 1 and 5. I'm not promoting the sick comedy of Daemon and Youngest Laena, but that's the general point. You can't want to show the world we're in with Viserys and Rhaenys and then falter when it's Daemon's turn. Those actresses do not have a 4 year age gap. Even casting an older actress in both parts but changing their styling would make sense.

I'm not upset because I adore every Laena actor. They looked and found the prettiest actors they could, and they DIDN'T DISAPPOINT, but it was biased storytelling.

I think this was a case where hiring a young actress and allowing costumes and acting to tell a story would've worked beautifully.

Another way it would've worked was seeing as production and filming takes so long, hiring a young actress and filming baby laena at the start and teen Laena at the end of filming.

Are there no black 14/15/16 year old actors to hire?

I also don't like the fact that they cast Laena with much older actors when they are done with that initial point.

Nova is 14 now, and Savannah is 28. Nanna is 37.

They were 10/11, 25/26, and 34/35, respectively, while filming.

Respectfully that's insane.

They are playing 12, 16, and 26.

It's a clear oversight and is weird because yet again, they didn't consider the implication of a 16 year old black girl going after a 30+ year old prince. Or the idea of going from casting Laena with an actress younger than her age to two actresses a decade apart from her canon age.

Anyways: Casting 101

When 2 actors represent the spectrum of ages, your character is at (10 to 26), maybe cast between them for a teen version.

I don't like the inconsistent casting. I genuinely think the only reason I don't hate it more is because of the fact that the inconsistent costumes piss me off more.

No hate to the actresses again. This is about character continuity and not at all a reflection of their performances. They are our Laena's and the reasons we wish we got more of the character.