Ben Crompton: “I’d be surprised if people are disappointed” by the end of Game of Thrones

Eddison “Dolorous Edd” Tollett is a gloomy, sardonic member of the Night’s Watch. (Edd, looking at Craster’s Keep: “I was born in a place like this. Later I fell on hard times.”) First introduced in the show’s second season, he’s quietly been beating the odds for years. On a show where characters die left and right, Edd survived the Battle of Castle Black, the Massacre at Hardhome, protected Jon’s body after he was assassinated by Alliser Thorne and his followers, and was even made the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch when Jon peaced out in season 6. Speaking to Metro, actor Ben Crompton was thanking his lucky stars that his character had survived this long. “I’m grateful and so is my mortgage.”

"In a way I’m surprised just because, just for a character to have that longevity in a show where characters get killed off so regularly. In a way it’s penance for him. He’s a character who, of all the characters, he’d be quite happy if he dropped off this mortal coil, and in a way it’s punishment for him to have to endure everyday life."

That’s an interesting way of thinking about it, and it’s great to see that Crompton has a good grip on Edd’s demeanor. Solid as Crompton has been in the role, Edd’s doom-and-gloom attitude hasn’t always come across on the show the way it does in the books. But we know he’s part of the final season, so maybe we’ll get more of his personality then?

As for what we can expect from that final season, Crompton was careful not to give too much away, saying only that HBO is currently filming material and “probably” will “till next year.” (Possibly very deep into next year.) “Even though there’s only six episodes, there’s a lot to shoot because it’s the last one. We’re going out with a bang.”

But will fans be satisfied in the end? Like Kit Harington and Isaac Hempstead Wright before him, Crompton was diplomatic, and maybe a little bit cryptic.

"I would hope they would be. Whatever we do there’ll be fans who love it and fans that won’t be satisfied. However [creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff] choose to end the show there’s always going to be people who have their opinion about how the show should end. I’d be surprised if people are disappointed because there’s a lot of effort and love gone into this, and I think it’s very satisfying. So hopefully everyone will agree."

Hopefully. Although if some people will love it and some people will hate, I suppose not “everyone” can agree. That’s the kind of philosophical hard candy we can chew on between now and 2019, when the eighth and final season airs.

Next: Isaac Hempstead Wright on Game of Thrones season 8: “It won’t go the way some people want”

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