Emilia Clarke Almost Appeared in Iron Man 3

Emilia Clarke was part of one of the biggest shows in television history in Game of Thrones, but she was almost in the MCU as well. Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce posted to Instagram over the weekend, noting that during the table read for Iron Man 3 he sat in to read Jarvis’ part. But in the caption, he revealed an interesting tidbit: Clarke at the table read and was thus cast in the film.

No details were revealed on Clarke’s role; Pearce merely says “long story, the script changed.” There’s some speculation from io9 that Clarke may have played Maya Hanson back when the role was originally going to be the primary villain, before executives decided to shoot that down and turn the villain into Aldrich Killian, because “that toy won’t sell as well if it’s a female.” But that is strictly speculation.

This would have been Clarke’s second near-miss to being in the MCU, having auditioned for Sharon Carter in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That role ultimately went to Emily VanCamp, who is set to reprise the role in the upcoming Falcon and the Winter Soldier series.