We’re under 100 days until the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 6, which must means it’s time for the new actors whose major roles have actually been confirmed by HBO to start teasing their arrival on the Westeros scene, and what it will mean for the overall plot.
Leading off the charge is Pilou Asbæk, who has not only the good fortune to have been cast as Euron Greyjoy, but also the first major character to force Game of Thrones writers from the US and UK to remember the keyboard shortcut for the aesc dipthong. Asbæk, as fate would have it, also has a lead role in A War, which arrives in theaters stateside on April 16th, 2016, eight days before the premiere of the new season. This brilliant timing on his part means the promotional push for both will overlap, and that every time he sits down to do an interview for the Afghan war drama, someone will inevitably ask him about his Thrones experience.
Asbæk says that he is absolutely sworn to secrecy about the upcoming season, but when asked in a new interview on IGN on why fans should get excited about the arrival of his character, he had this to say.
He leads off with the eminently quotable: “There’s no one like Euron Greyjoy.” Then he talks about the experience of filming Game of Thrones, and what it is like, as an actor to suddenly find oneself under such public scrutiny when, during a day of outdoor filming for the Iron Islands, “a scene” (which we discuss in our Season 6 spoiler run down) was shot by “the paparazzi” and went viral.
As for why “fans should remember his character,” Asbæk sidesteps, insisting that every character on Game of Thrones is memorable, and that it’s the greatest TV show in the world. He does seem a little surprised to realize the interviewer has read the books, which suggests he still hasn’t quite grasped how deeply the series is embedded in popular culture. One wonders if Asbæk himself has read them. (Many of the actors who hadn’t read them prior to be cast don’t, because they don’t want to confuse or color their performance with knowledge of events that the show has cut.) If he hasn’t, he might not realize that many of us already have quite the impression of the character he’ll be portraying.
Next: What the publishing industry could do to release The Winds of Winter as soon as possible