Celeb roundup: Rose Leslie on Kit Harington, Jaqen H’ghar’s on the move, and more

Game of Thrones cast members have received scripts for Season 7. As we wait for more filming news, let’s catch up with a couple of Thrones alumni, starting with Rose Leslie (Ygritte). She recently appeared on This Morning to discuss her new film Morgan, but touched on other topics while in the hot seat, including her relationship with Game of Thrones costar Kit Harrington.

Things sound like they’re going smoothly for Harington and Leslie. Just because you’ve tried to kill each other onscreen doesn’t mean you can’t have a healthy relationship, even if their busy lives limit their time together.

"It’s kind of an embarrassment of riches whereby both of us are working, it’s wonderful to be busy but we make it work, Facetime is a must."

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 3: Rose Leslie and Kit Harington attend The Olivier Awards with Mastercard at The Royal Opera House on April 3, 2016 in London, England. Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

Before getting cast on Game of Thrones, Leslie had a stint as housemaid Gwen Dawson on the first season of Downton Abbey (a role she reprised in the fifth season, after her time on Thrones was over). “At that time I was very excited just because it was a gig for six months,” she said. “I’d never been employed for that amount of time.” She had no idea how big those shows would get. Thanks to the doors those shows opened for her, she’s likely no longer impressed by six months of straight work.

Leslie also touched on her facility with accents. She mastered a Northern accent for Thrones and Abbey, and used an American accent for Morgan. There, Leslie plays Dr. Amy Menser, a scientist assisting in the creation of an artificial life form. It looks spooky.

But according to The Daily Mail, all anyone took away from the interview was the contrast between the accent Leslie uses as Ygritte and her posh speaking voice. Feel free to rewatch the video above and decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, Balkan Insight reports that fellow Game of Thrones alum (or is he?) Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H’ghar) is headed to Romania for the East European Comic Con. But the most interesting thing from the article was this:

"Wlaschiha, who acted in four seasons of ‘Game of Thrones’, and will also appear in the seventh has also appeared in various films and has been starring in the ongoing TV crime series Crossing Lines."

Is Balkan Insight just making assumptions here, or does it know something we don’t? Maybe this is what Maisie Williams was referencing when she breathlessly reacted to the Season 7 scripts on Twitter? Does Jaqen H’ghar follow his former student back to Westeros? We can only hope.

Finally, Game of Thrones SFX czar Joe Bauer told The Hollywood Reporter about some of the crazy effects from Season 6’s “Battle of the Bastards.” When designing the Battle of Meereen, “the difficulty was having Daenerys [Emilia Clarke] convincingly fly on the back of one of the dragons during the attack, and also the entire environment needed to be created digitally.

"For the Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton battle, it was multiplying 60 horses [and as many as 200 extras] into a combined 5,000 — and having very close coverage. Rather than being on a hill looking at it from a distance, we were in the middle of it."

VFX producer Steve Kullback weighed in on the challenges of animated Daenerys’ dragons. “The level of the complexity and size and scope with each season seems to grow in proportion with the dragons,” he said. “It’s an excellent collaboration. … We’re kind of at the same table all day long, just talking through all the various mechanics.”

Will the dragons get even bigger in Season 7? Stay tuned.