Why Ed Skrein Left Game Of Thrones

Ed Skrein didn't appear on "Game of Thrones" for long. The English actor popped up on the HBO series in 2013 during season 3, playing Daario Naharis, a sellsword leader and ally to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), across just three episodes. By the time season 4 rolled around, the "Game of Thrones" role had been recast, with Dutch actor Michiel Huisman playing Daario instead of Skrein. Huisman stuck with the series for the duration of the character's run, leaving some fans to speculate as to why Skrein was replaced so quickly.

It's not unusual for scheduling conflicts to cause recastings on major ensemble-driven shows, and early reports of Skrein's departure suggested that's what happened. The story was that he chose to prioritize "The Transporter Refueled," the 2015 reboot of Jason Statham's action franchise, but in later interviews, Skrein emphasized that it wasn't actually his decision to leave "Game of Thrones."

"In this industry you have politics and things like that, so nothing is ever as straightforward as it's reported," Skrein told The Huffington Post in 2015. "It was a character that I would've loved to have continued to portray, and he's a wonderful character, but you know Michiel Huisman's done a great job taking over the mantle, and that's the way it goes, you know?" It's unclear exactly what Skrein meant by "politics," but it's possible that there was some sort of dispute over contracts, compensation, or other aspects of production. Though he didn't continue playing Daario, Skrein has kept plenty busy with other projects over the last decade.

After his brief time on "Game of Thrones" and starring in "The Transporter Refueled," Ed Skrein made a pretty high-profile appearance in the first "Deadpool" movie, playing the film's main villain, Ajax. He followed that up with films like fellow "Thrones" alum Natalie Dormer's "In Darkness," Barry Jenkins' terrific "If Beale Street Could Talk," "Alita: Battle Angel," and the Disney sequel "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil."

More recently, Skrein gained attention for his role as evil space Nazi Atticus Noble in Zack Snyder's "Rebel Moon" movies on Netflix. While the "Rebel Moon" films received mixed to negative reviews from critics, some of Snyder's vocal fan base tried to rally around them anyway, and Skrein chews up plenty of scenery as the duology's chief villain.

Next up, Skrein is slated to appear in the next film in the Jurassic Park franchise, "Jurassic World: Rebirth," alongside the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey. His role has not yet been announced.