Khal Drogo may be dead on Game of Thrones, but he lives on in our hearts forever. That's partly thanks to Jason Momoa, who was perfect in the role. Can you even imagine the Dothraki warrior king (and man of very few words) being played by anybody else? Well, that could've been the case had Momoa's risky audition tactic not worked in his favor the way it did.
In a new interview with the New York Times, Momoa talked about his rather unique audition for the role, which involved his intense take on the Haka, the traditional war dance of New Zealand's Māori people.
"On Game of Thrones, [Drogo] doesn’t say much. So how do you convey him? There’s nothing in the script," recalled the actor. "So I said: 'I have this idea. Is it okay to do [a dance] before the audition?' And they were like, 'Oh, sure.' Then I did the Haka. It was challenging to do the audition afterward — I couldn’t stop my heart from beating." He continued, "The first time I did it, they were very scared. But then they wanted me to come back in so they could put it on tape."
We're sure glad that the casting directors realized they had Dothraki gold on their hands — and that Momoa's bold moves and animalistic grunting really paid off.
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