Curtain Call: Roger Ashton-Griffiths

Roger Ashton-Griffiths has been working in film and TV since the the ’80s, and has appeared in movies as diverse as Brazil (with Jonathan Pryce), Roman Polanski’s Pirates, Gangs of New York, Young Sherlock Holmes, and King Ralph. (Interestingly, back in the late ’90s, he also starred in a TV movie called Children of the New Forest, which you could take as foreshadowing for things to come.) He’s a multi-talented character actor, and although he didn’t show up until Season 4 of Game of Thrones, he instantly embodied the role of Mace Tyrell, Lady Olenna’s oafish son.

Ashton-Griffiths’ first appearance as Mace was in “The Lion and the Rose,” the episode where Margaery weds Joffrey. When he tries to ingratiate himself with Olenna and Tywin as they talk on their way to the reception, Olenna’s dismisses him with a sharp “Not now, Mace!” and we know everything we need to know about the character: as the oldest male member of the Tyrell family, he’s the face of that great house, but it’s Lady Olenna who pulls the strings, and Margaery, not Mace, was her heir.

But that didn’t seem to bother Mace much. He was a man of simple pleasures. He loved his children, he enjoyed the trappings of power even if he didn’t know how to use it, and he belted out a mean aria, much to the embarrassment of Iron Banker Tycho Nestoris. (Ashton-Griffiths was a singer in the English National Opera for three years, and surely the Game of Thrones writers wanted to make use of his talents.) Whether he was failing to pick up on a sinister undercurrent when Cersei sent him to Braavos in “Sons of the Harpy,” or rousing his troops while wearing a silly blue feather on his head in “Blood of My Blood” (c’mon, someone cheer for him!), Ashton-Griffiths reliably brought comedy to a show that often threatened to overwhelm its audience with darkness. Mace Tyrell interludes were always appreciated.

For all that, the character’s final moments were damn-near heartbreaking. Mace may be a bit of a buffoon, but he loved his kids, and his attempt to rush the High Sparrow and save his son Loras from being disfigured was touching. Who knows? If Margaery hadn’t held him back, maybe Mace would have stirred the crowd to action, and everybody could have gotten out of the Sept of Baelor before Cersei’s wildfire bomb went off. As it stood, Mace died in the Sept along with his children, leaving his mother to seek vengeance on his behalf.

Ashton-Griffiths is active on Twitter, and happily engages with Game of Thrones fans.

Ashton-Griffiths can currently be seen in The Lobster. We wish him the best, although we’re all going to miss Mace Tyrell terribly. He wasn’t the best player in the game, but it was a joy to watch him go at it.