Interview blitz: Actors behind Jaime, Sansa, Yara, Olly, and more talk Season 6
By Dan Selcke
The Game of Thrones cast is getting out there in the press. First, Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) stopped by Entertainment Weekly Radio and talked about Jaime’s reunion with Cersei, which went over better than a lot of fans were expecting. “When someone you love is in pain, you want to do anything to comfort them,” he said.
"And he kind of goes to that moment of saying, ‘Listen, it’s you and me against the world. We can do this. We’re going to fight back. We’re going to take revenge.’ Because he’s never seen her this broken before. And now he wants her back."
When I watched it, it seemed like Jaime was reacting to Cersei in the moment, so Waldau’s reading makes sense. He’s not sure the Jaime and Cersei are entirely okay, though.
"She hasn’t been happy with him for a long time. I think, actually, since he came back with no right hand, she kind of lost a bit of interest in him. And I think now she needs him. And I think he is, for now, happy to step up. But she’s not an easy lady to deal with."
And she’s not the only thing Jaime has to deal with. He has a teenage nephew-son who’s besotted with his imprisoned wife, and a religious uprising to manage. According to Waldau, there’s a confrontation with the High Sparrow in Jaime’s future. “He has to deal with him. That’s what he’s gonna do.”
|
Meanwhile, Sophie Turner gave an interview with The New York Times where she summarized Sansa’s journey in Season 6.
"It’s about her going to people and trying to get them to listen to her, and showing them that she’s not just a stupid young girl anymore. She’s been through it all and she’s come out the other side with vast amounts of knowledge. She knows how to manipulate and she knows the politics — she’s had a front seat for this kind of thing from the moment she was a prisoner for the Lannisters. She’s watched Cersei and Margaery and Littlefinger and Tyrion, and she’s learned from all of them. Now she knows how to play the game."
She also weighed in on what I thought was the best moment of the seasons premiere: Sansa and Brienne exchanging oaths.
"It felt like the first time since maybe Tyrion that someone has really been on her side and rooting for her — Littlefinger had questionable morals. So it was a really big deal for them to just swear to be good to each other, and for the first time Sansa believes it. She knows she has the power to start gathering people to help her on her journey."
The more I read about Sansa, the more I think that Season 6 may be her year.
In “The Red Woman,” fans met a new character: Khal Moro, the Dothraki khal who plans to escort Daenerys back to Vaes Dothrak. Actor Joe Naufauhu gave an interview to Talk Nerdy With Us, and while much of it is about non-Game of Thrones-related subjects, like his fitness regime, he did touch on what it was like playing the first Dothraki khal we’ve met since Khal Drogo (Jason Mamoa) died at the end of Season 1.
"I got nothing but huge respect for Jason he did an amazing job playing Drogo. I just hope the fans see Moro in his own light and that I gave the Dothraki a new flavour that they will enjoy watching."
In addition to new characters like Khal Moro, Season 6 will also bring back old characters we haven’t seen in a while, like Yara Greyjoy. Actress Gemma Whelan sat down with Starr Constellation Magazine to talk about her return, and while she didn’t give anything about Season 6 away, she did praise the writing and directing up and down, told some funny stories about Season 2 (one involves her being too afraid to tell the production she was a vegetarian when the script called for Yara to eat meat, so she just shoveled down chicken), and talked about the relationship between herself, Theon, and Balon Greyjoy, the latter of whom will also be returning this season.
"I think people can see form watching the show that at her core she cares deeply about the morally correct thing to do, but has also worked very hard to get where she is as a leader of men and a strong, fierce warrior in her own right in Theon’s (Alfie Allen) absence. I think her relationship with her father is volatile, as we have seen as well. I suppose like any family they have got their problems, but they know each other quite well – Yara and Balon (Patrick Malahide). They have lived together for quite some time so they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Theon is slightly different because he has been away."
Moving along, Breneck O’Connor (Olly) talked to the Brighton Argus, and things have gone about how you would expect for the kid who played the guy who stabbed Jon Snow, by which I mean he’s received death threats. “If you get people from Spain and Portugal and all over the world saying they are going to kill your family, you just can’t take it to heart or you would not cope,” he said.
You gotta feel for the 16-year-old O’Connor. He didn’t kill Jon Snow. Happily, it sounds like he’s taking it in stride.
Finally, Variety reached out to several cast members to get their reaction to the big reveal at the end of the Season 6 premiere: that Melisandre is much, much older than she looks, and maintains her beautiful facade through some kind of sorcery. Maisie Williams (Arya), for one, was confused.
"I feel like it’s a very confusing moment for audience members, but it keeps you watching, and all does get revealed. When I read it I was really confused, and then when I watched it I was like, ‘oh, I get it,’ and ‘holy s—, that’s Carice.’ It’s incredible that it’s full-body makeup."
I like the implication that there’s more to this reveal than we saw in the premiere. It’s a striking image all on its own, but I’m excited to see how, or whether, the show weaves it into the plot.
Tom Wlaschiha, who plays the Jaqen H’ghar, found the moment “really surprising, because when you read it, it tells you, ‘she looks in the mirror and her appearance changes to that of a really old woman,’ and you go, ‘okay, yeah, that’s a reveal…’
"…but then when you watch it, it’s actually a very moving and touching moment. The way Carice is playing that is amazing, because it’s just in her eyes. She looks in that blind mirror and you can totally see her façade coming off."
Turner thinks it’ll change how fans view Melisandre.
"It definitely brings such a vulnerability to her that we’ve never seen before, which is really exciting, because she’s the hard bitch you don’t wanna mess with, so that brings a whole new side to her. And it kind of makes you feel sorry for her — it’ll definitely change people’s opinions on her."
We’ll see how the show follows up on that reveal in a few short days. Man, it’s nice to be back in the thick of a Game of Thrones season again.