Esmé Bianco on what Ros would be doing if she had survived season 3 of Game of Thrones

In the early seasons of Game of Thrones, Esmé Bianco was one of the only actors playing a character invented entirely for TV. Ros, whom Bianco revealed was just called “red-headed whore” in the original pilot script, was a Northern girl who relocated to King’s Landing to make her fortune. She did a decent job of climbing the ladder, becoming one of Littlefinger’s most able lieutenants and turning spy for Varys, but fell down in the end, after Littlefinger turned her over to Joffrey. During a sit-down with her at Con of Thrones last weekend, fansite Watchers on the Wall asked her what Ros would be doing had she lived.

"Maybe she would have taken over the brothel? I can’t imagine her staying in King’s Landing, especially after Littlefinger left. She was a smart cookie, and I don’t think hanging around King’s Landing is a smart thing to do right now."

As for who’s side of the ongoing conflict she would be on, Bianco is all in on Sansa and Arya. “Oh, the Stark girls, definitely. Ros was a Northern girl and they have to stick together. And the Stark girls are amazing, kickass women — they’ve been through a lot and survived a lot, and Ros would want to back her fellow amazing, strong women.”

Ah, what could have been.

Bianco also answered that most ubiquitous of Game of Thrones questions: who do you want to end up on the Iron Throne in the end? Her first fear was that Littlefinger would get it. Happily, that can no longer happen, because of dead. “I completely forgot!” Bianco laughed. “That’s lovely! You just made my day.” #Payback

She’s all for Tyrion being on the throne, although that seems like “an obvious answer” to her. “I like him too much to be burdened with having the throne.”

"Jon and Dany, or one of the two of them, that also seems too obvious, doesn’t it? But the way they’re taking this show, you just don’t know. They could go toward an easy answer and then have something completely different happen."

So Tyrion, Jon and Daenerys are a little obvious for Bianco. She also suggests Varys, who’s a little more off the beaten track. “In reality, he’s a good guy and he wants what’s best for the realm. Unless he’s such a great schemer and he’s so cunning that I haven’t figured out what his game plan is yet.”

Obviously, Bianco still watches the show, which apparently is a lot more comfortable now that she doesn’t have to worry when her scenes are coming up. Did anything shock her in season 7? “I was definitely a little bemused at the excursion beyond the Wall last season, but not shocked, really,” she said. But the first meeting between Jon Snow and Daenerys “really melted my brain.”

"That whole storyline surprised me, because I didn’t expect such too disparate plots and characters to somehow come together. I haven’t read the books, so maybe it’s a little more clear in there, but it never occurred to me that they would meet in the way they did."

Finally, Bianco stuck up for her season 1 scene-mate Alfie Allen, who’s done a wonderfully consistent job of playing Theon Greyjoy over the course of seven seasons. “Theon is an absolutely fantastic character and Alfie is an incredible actor,” she said. “It irks me he’s never been nominated [for an Emmy]. The way he’s woven this character in between Theon and Reek has been amazing to watch.”

Bianco also gave an interview on the Con of Thrones main stage, where she dropped a few more tidbits:

• Ros’ scene with Shae at Blackwater Bay was the last scene she shot for the show.
• “The first time I got to wear a costume I was so excited.”
• Ahead of season 3, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss called Bianco to tell her Ros would die, but they didn’t tell her how. “And then I read the script, and I’m like, ‘God damn! That’s not okay! This is not cool!’ Of all the people to kill me. And I don’t even get to die on screen. I’m already dead. I’m like, ‘This sucks!'” She even wriggled a little between takes, hoping to die on screen. “But now when I go back to it, I’m like ‘Ooh, it looks so cool.'” In fact, she has a poster of Robert Ball’s Beautiful Death illustration of Ros’ demise in her bedroom.
• Ever seen this selfie of Ros sitting on the Iron Throne? Bianco took it during filming for season 2. She was walking through the set on her way somewhere else, saw that no one was around, and popped on the Iron Throne.

• Presented without context: “If you manage to have a sicker imagination than the writers of Game of Thrones, then well done.”

If you want to see more of Bianco, she’s appeared on TV show’s like The CW’s Supergirl and the vampire film Living Among Us.

Next: Joe Dempsie discusses Gendry’s potential importance in the game of thrones

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