It's almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the role of "Game of Thrones" character Jon Snow other than Kit Harington, 32, the actor who's brought the hero to life on the hit HBO show since 2011.
But obviously other actors auditioned for the career-changing role — and now one of them who's gone on to have a very successful movie career is admitting he was one of them. He's also sharing why he thinks he failed to be cast as the one-time King in the North.
"I think I auditioned for Jon Snow," Nicholas Hoult, 29, told Page Six while promoting his newest movie, "Tolkien," at the Montclair Film Festival. "I remember it because I was filming 'Clash of the Titans' at the time, so I had long hair extensions."
Nicholas — who went on to star in the "X-Men" film franchise, "Warm Bodies," "Mad Max: Fury Road" and many more successful projects — went on to say that he thinks it was his look at the time that turned off casting directors.
While making 2010's "Clash of the Titans," in which he played Eusebios, a highly skilled soldier in the Army of Argos, "They gave me a ponytail and also a very patchy fake tan," Nicholas told Page Six. "So I remember being like, 'This is probably not what they're hoping for,' and it obviously wasn't."
So has Nicholas watched the show to see what might have been?
He revealed that he did see Season 1 but dropped it after that, though he does plan to binge-watch the other seven seasons he's missed — including the current and final Season 8 — when he's next "laid up in bed with the flu for couple days."
Nicholas next will appear in the titular role in "Tolkien," a biopic about "Lord of the Rings" author JRR Tolkien that hits theaters on May 10.
After that, he'll reprise his "X-Men" series character, Beast/Hank McCoy, in "Dark Phoenix," which is in theaters on June 7. That movie, of course, stars Sophie Turner — the actress who plays Jon Snow's would-be sister on "Game of Thrones," Sansa Stark.
Other actors who've revealed they also auditioned to play Jon Snow include Joe Dempsie, who instead was cast as Gendry Baratheon. Iwan Rheon — who played diabolical Ramsay Bolton — also auditioned for the part of Jon Snow.
"Hunger Games" franchise alum Sam Claflin has said he auditioned for both Jon Snow and Viserys Targaryen but a commitment to a movie project took him out of the running.