GamesRadar somehow managed to get eight Game of Thrones cast members together to talk about the life and times of our favorite show, and plenty had interesting things to say. Letâs drop in on their conversation.
Reflection was the name of the game, as the stars contemplated what Game of Thrones was really all about, and how it had changed over the years. âSomebody asked me to sum up Game Of Thrones in three words,â recalled John Bradley (Samwell Tarly). âIâll always say âfathers and sonsâ or âfathers and childrenâ â because thatâs what itâs about, fundamentally. And everyone can relate to that. Itâs dealing with very universal ideas.â If you expand it to âparents and childrenâ Iâm with you, Bradley.
As you all know, Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martinâs A Song of Ice and Fire novels, and while the early seasons of the show adapted those books fairly literally, it got looser as time went on. âI [read the books] a lot at the start,â remembered Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger). âYou can get so much from them, but there came a point where thereâs stuff there that wasnât going to make it into the show, where I think it was unnecessary for me [to know it].â
The other actors seem to agree. For example, Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy) said that while reading the source material is an important part of any actorâs preparation process (he has read chunks of the Song of Ice and Fire books, for the record), itâs ultimately up to the actor, director, and script-writer to bring the character to life. âMy experience is that if itâs not in the script, itâs not in the character. For Christâs sake, Euronâs a pirate. Thatâs all I needed to know!â
And as far as the actors are concerned, the scripts by showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss (and their team) provide them with more than enough to work with. âYouâre probably not going to get better written roles anywhere else,â Asbaek said. âThe characters are so three-dimensional. Even if youâre not one of the main cast or a season regular, I still know that I get my moment to establish and portray a character whom I like. And thatâs all Dan and Davidâs work.â
Gillen agreed, hinting that Benioff and Weiss started to stray from the books just a bit when they became comfortable with what the actors could do.
"The source material is so rich, but as soon as the show had to overtake the books it gave them the freedom to maybe write just a little bit more for you [as an actor] â which they probably had been doing anyway, since the start. You can tell subtle differences between whatâs happening in season two and season one, because season one was already written, and then season two is written knowing the actors who are playing those roles."
According to Rory McCann (the Hound), the producers have reached an almost empathic level of understanding with the actors. âWhen I get the script these days I feel like David and Dan know me so well that half of the stuff I read is how I would say it anyway,â he said. I think the Hound is one of the most consistently believable characters on the show, so whatever theyâre doing is clearly working for them.
Speaking of McCann, he recalled the dark days between seasons 4 and 6 when he had to act like he wasnât coming back to the show. âI got a kind of twinkle in the eye [from the producers hinting Iâd be back], saying donât worry, but donât tell anyone,â he said. Then there was a six/seven month wait, a deal was made, and then it was just shut the fuck up! I had to do a couple of Comic-Cons where I was out of the show, and I was just lying, lying, lying. Fans were looking into it, saying âHeâs denying it too much now!'â
Of course, as Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) pointed out, that was nothing compared to what Kit Harington had to endure after Jon Snow was âkilled offâ at the end of season 5.
"It tore Kitâs soul apart having to keep quiet about it. He said that the worst part of that was when Sophie [Turner], who he met when she started on the show at 13, wrote him this beautiful heartfelt handwritten note saying, âIâve learned so much from you, youâre like my brotherâŚâ when heâs thinking, âIâm fucking coming back next year!â He couldnât tell her, and he said that was the worst part."
And the secret-keeping has only gotten more stringent as time has gone on, with Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne) saying that the cast is âsort of kept in the darkâ about whatâs coming next until filming. âI think that sort of lends itself to really organic performances from people, because we are genuinely still getting used to the stuff that weâre about to shoot when weâre shooting it. Itâs not like itâs embedded in us, and weâve been preparing for a huge amount of time to do it. Though because I get to read the scripts before we shoot the scenes, I do know whether or not Podrickâs going to make it!â
And on Game of Thrones, no one is guaranteed to make it through the whole thing, although Cunningham noted that every actor wants their character to survive to the last episode. As Bradley points out, that precedent was set up early on:
"The first scene I was blown away by was the Ned Stark beheading back in season one. I think that was the moment where people realised this show doesnât play by the rules. Theyâve killed their lead in the first season! Thatâs when you start to think, âThis show is completely unpredictable. Iâm going to be unsettled, and itâs going to be foolish to predict how this is going to go. Nobodyâs safe.â I think that one scene really set a precedent."
Another thing most of the actors agree on is that the show has gotten more visually elaborate as itâs gone on, with Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark) even saying that season 1 looks âa bit naffâ by comparison. Wright points to the Battle of the Bastards as the high point for spectacle on the show thus far, but who knows what heâll be saying by the time the show is over?
McCann hinted that there could indeed be bigger things ahead. âYou definitely feel that the scaleâs gone up, and youâre going, âOh my god, this must have cost millions just to make the set, never mind when the hundreds of people spill on to it!'â he said. âThe battles are getting bigger and you can kind of imagine that as they sew up the saga, theyâre not going to hold back.â
For his part, Bradley thinks that Game of Thrones is âone of the very few shows that has got better every year. One thing about [Benioff and Weiss] is they give themselves problems, because they always have to outdo what they did last year. You just think, âTheyâve fucked themselves. What are they going to do next year?'â
Bradley also has an interesting take on the showâs legacy, which is yet to be set:
"The problem that weâve always had is that weâre telling a story that we donât know the ending of. We donât know if weâre telling a story about how even in the blackest of times, good will prevail â or if weâre telling a story about how despite what good men do, bad guys can win if you let them. Thatâd be quite a morally bankrupt story! Or is it about how nobody survives, no matter what? Weâre not quite sureâŚ"
Weâll find out soonâŚif not soon enough.
One other fun bit: a few of the actors, including Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) discussed how they liked to wander around to other sets between takes, just drinking it in. âItâs weird, because the only time Iâve been in the Throne Room, it was being used as storage for the Battle of the Bastards,â Anderson recalled. âThe Throne was still there and everything, but they had a lot of the dead fake bodies and dead horses and stuff.â
Sounds eerie. A portent of things to come?
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