Because Hollywood has a very narrow-minded view of which women are able to lead successful films. There are plenty of actors in the GOT cast who have the talent to win Oscars, but don’t get the roles/exposure due to age among other factors. Lena Headey has never been particularly interested in the limelight. Carice van Houten in Instinct was better than the entire best actress category last year, but the film was unable to get an international distributor after a festival run. She’s been the biggest actress in The Netherlands for a number of years though. Just last year, Natalie Dormer gave a fantastic performance in Penny Dreadful (and had already impressed before GOT in The Tudors), but isn’t offered many high profile roles. Aside from those three, plenty of the actors who weren’t part of the central cast have also continued to get work (Bean, Dance, Dillane, Lesser, Varma, Huisman). Pedro Pascal is currently leading a huge Star Wars show, and Momoa has done well with Aquaman.
I agree. Hollywood is ageist only against women. If you are a man, you could work until 91 like Clint Eastwood. But if you are not Meryl Streep, it’s over. For some weird reason, Hollywood 100% hates old women.
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