To start: I know this is a bit of a dead horse, because there's so little hope or maybe even desire for a movie of the Chronicles by now. But I can't stop casting in my head; it's always been a bit hard for me to actually picture what Covenant looks like, he's presented so wonderfully as a collection of thoughts, emotions, and sheer attitude. It's easier for me to imagine a voice. (What accent would he have? I'll get to that at the bottom of the post, maybe.) But we're given some clues: tall, gaunt, grey eyes, grows a pretty impressive beard but prefers to be clean shaven. Hair probably dark at the beginning, because the gray is noticeable when it grows in, no indication of it thinning. Okay.
So the criteria for an actor to play the role: reasonably good resemblance physically, and the ability to carry off...well, the best description I've read so far is Donaldson's, of course, in the Gradual Interview, answering a question with a question: Yes, all good actors, but could they shout "Hellfire and bloody damnation!" with just the right combination of shame and vehemence?
So many good suggestions in this thread. For a long time I pictured Hugh Laurie, glad I'm not alone in that. But recently I've come up with three other suggestions. None of them perfect, but hey--it's all hypothetical anyway.
Don't laugh at me, but: Andrew Lincoln, because of some elements of how he played Rick Grimes in Walking Dead. The loss, horror, and vulnerability in that very first episode, when he wakes up from a coma into a terrifyingly unfamiliar world and goes looking for his family, only to find them gone. And then the "shame and vehemence" of the famous Ricktatorship speech: "I killed my best friend for you people!" His look is maybe a stretch, but he can do gaunt and he can grow a beard like a prophet. There's a good bit of "bearing what must be borne"--right up until he doesn't. And the accent he uses is close to what I imagine for Covenant--go a bit more generic and less Southern, and I think it could work. Okay, you can laugh. I am, a little.
Thomas Jane, as Joe Miller in The Expanse. I don't know any of his other work (The Punisher?) but, this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvPuuheUk-8
Even more of a reach, but maybe Michael X. Sommers. Okay, his voice would have to be a LOT different. And I'm not certain about the vehemence. Saw him in Sense8, watched his demo reels on IMDB and there's a hint of it in moments, but I'd have to be convinced. His look works when he's not smiling, though, and there's just...something. I dunno.
About Covenant's accent: When I first read the books,I took the "Hellfire and bloody damnation" thing completely in stride. I just assumed Covenant had some hillbilly roots, which probably reflects my own background more than anything else. The phrase sounded like a slightly enhanced version of the kind of fake-cussing I've heard all my life (along with plenty of the real thing), and for an obviously educated character in a rural/small-town setting it felt right. "Bloody" was a bit weird in that context, but it worked. I heard someone who might have grown up in the foothills of the Appalachian South but despite still living rural had left those roots behind, retaining just a few quirks of vocabulary. So I've always assumed just the slightest hint of Southern, probably Kentucky or East Tennessee, underlying a generic American accent.
Thanks for letting me speak my mind. So many thoughts like this over the years with nowhere else to go!
