Stephen Dillane “didn’t get” Game of Thrones, and other vets get new gigs

Stephen Dillane played Stannis Baratheon for four years on Game of Thrones, but as he revealed in an interview about a month ago, he didn’t really enjoy the experience. He elaborated in a new interview with Digital Spy, where he confessed that he just “didn’t get” his character’s role in the series. “I wish I’d read the books,” he said. “I might have got a better idea of where it was all going.”

"I just felt as if I didn’t get it, and had I read the books, I might have had a better idea of the role of the character – what he was meant to be. It might’ve helped…I could’ve done with another year. But as far as whether that character should’ve continued or not continued… or what the investment in him is, I really don’t know."

Dillane enjoyed the company of several of the other people on the cast and crew, especially Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), but apart from the money he’s missing out on, he’s fine with walking away. “You’re such a cog in the machine,” he said. “I missed hanging around with some of the people, but the actual experience of filming? No, I don’t miss that.”

I maintain that the guy who played Stannis saying that he didn’t like playing Stannis is the most Stannis thing he possibly could have said. Whether Dillane enjoyed the experience or not, this just convinces me more than ever that he was the perfect choice for the character. The actor is currently appearing in British-French crime drama The Tunnel.

Meanwhile, other Game of Thrones actors are picking up new work. According to The Independent, Peter Dinklage has signed on to appear in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a film from director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). The movie will star Frances McDormand as a mother who’s trying to get justice for her murdered daughter. The police are inactive, so she buys three billboards to protest them. Dinklage will play a local man who has a crush on her. Meanwhile, former cast member Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy) will appear in a six-part spinoff of BBC soap opera EastEnders—good to see him bouncing back after his untimely death on this past season of Thrones.

h/t The Telegraph