While looking through cast options I happened upon Aidan Turner as pick for Gringoire. At the time I was in watching Poldark, which is a great show, and thought why now look into this casting idea a little bit more.
Hypothetical Casting Aidan Turner for the Role of Pierre Gringoire
Aidan Turner is most known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark but he also was in the Hobbit movies and few other shows. I first saw him on the British version of Being Human which admittedly I watched it a long time ago and I don’t recall that much other than the premise about a Vampire and a Werewolf living in a house with a ghost. He has a lot more credits those are just watch I have seen him in so far, those Rivals is now on my watch list. The point is Turner can play different types of roles effectively so there is no reason to think he couldn’t play a version of Gringoire.
But which Version of Gringoire?
So why Gringoire and which version of the character? As far as looks go, Turner has a very similar overall look to the original Gringoire from the 1998 French musical, Notre Dame de Paris, Bruno Pelletier. It’s a shallow take but they both have/had dark wavy hair and roughly have a similar build so it’s not hard to envision Turner in that version of the character.
However there is one big caveat with casting Aidan Turner in the role of a Gringoire from Notre Dame de Paris which is by his own admission he can’t sing. He is however an awarding-winning Ballroom dancer so not much for sining in a musical theatre production but it is something.
So he can dance but can’t sing though he might have just been self depicting as a joke during that ET interview for the Hobbit, a movie in which he did a sing a little. Whether or not he was downplaying his ability or lack there is, Turner isn’t known for his singing acumen. Then again the idea Notre Dame de Paris even getting a movie adaptation is a long shot and even if there was any desire to adapt the musical specular to cinema it most likely would be French Language and not English. Though Turner can speak French so maybe?
The very idea of Notre Dame de Paris getting a movie adaptation is a fantasy, and regardless of French speaking ability, I do think that singing requirement who deter Aidan Turner from taking the role. However if it was a non-singing version of Gringoire that would be fine.
Turner could play Gringoire on stage as Turner has a few stage credits to his name which includes Christian in a stage version of Cyrano de Bergerac as well as upcoming production as Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereusese at the National Theatre in London in March 2026.
Though I’m also wholly unimaginative and I think Aidan Turner would make a great Rochester from Jane Eyre*. But it he was ever cast as Gringoire or really any role in a Hunchback version it was be ok, no complaints what so ever because he’s a great actor and he also so darn charming.
* though there are already so many adaptations of Jane Eyre
Also a fun fact – The Esmeralda is name of a ship mentioned in Poldark (season three)
