The Unsullied may have easily defeated the Lannister forces during last week’s episode of Game of Thrones—with the help of some dragon fire, of course—but season 8 hasn’t exactly been kind to Grey Worm, who lost the woman he loved and all hope at a peaceful future with her.
Actor Jacob Anderson, who plays Grey Worm, sat down for an interview with BUILD Series to talk about everything from the show’s ending to his music career to what he hopes to do after Game of Thrones has officially come to an end. Watch below:
The interview opens with Anderson discussing some of the creative endeavors he’s pursued outside of Game of Thrones. Not only does Anderson create music when he isn’t leading the Unsullied into battle, but he’s also dabbled in directing videos. According to the actor, his passion for all things creative began when he was in school and realized he was far more interested in film and comic books than anything his teachers presented to him.
"I’m not a super academic person. I’ve been really interested in movies and music since I was a kid. So, that’s what I would do at night. I was one of those kids that had a really antiquated TV that you had to, like, hand tune with like a matchstick in my room. So, I would stay up all night and watch whatever random movies were on past my bedtime. And then I’d sleep at school."
As far as music goes, Anderson names Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life” as playing a major role in his childhood. For cinema, Jurassic Park was a huge influence on his interests and career. “Those things were the things that inhabited my brain,” he said. “And school just never really got into me.” All that led him to pursue art. “I had to do that because I didn’t have any kind of academic option. There was no option for me to fail, and I still feel like I’m not doing enough all the time.”
It’s surprising that Anderson still feels like he isn’t doing enough, especially given how far his character has come on Game of Thrones—in fact, Grey Worm was so prominent during season 8 that Anderson said he was one of the actors with the most days filming this season. But he would also like to be releasing more albums (under his musician name Raleigh Ritchie) and to eventually make his own feature.
While Anderson has yet to begin working on a movie, he does have some new music coming out this year. His second album is finished, but he wouldn’t give an exact date for its release. “Confidently, I’d say summer,” Anderson said. “There’ll be some new music out in the next few months, but I wanted to wait until the show has been out and stuff before diving in.”
And in regard to wrapping up Game of Thrones, Anderson confirmed that the series’ finale has left him with some bittersweet feelings. While there are certainly some aspects of production the actor won’t miss—like the long nights and uncomfortable armor his character wears—his final day on set was an emotional one.
"When I took my armor off, I cried. I cried my eyes out. I was like, ‘I can’t, I don’t want to let go of this.’ So, it’s a weird thing. I haven’t quite accepted it. How do you accept something like that? It’s been a part of my life for eight years."
At the very least, though, Anderson can take some comfort in the fact that his character is one of the few to make it to the series finale. Given that the actor didn’t believe Grey Worm would even make it to season 8, it’s quite an accomplishment that the commander of the Unsullied has survived the Long Night and the assault on King’s Landing—though Anderson admitted that, looking at the back of the season 8 scripts, he did experience confusion as well. Thumbing through them, he saw that Grey Worm made it to the finale. But following episode four, he was wondering, “Where’s Missandei?”
Anderson had plenty to say about Missandei’s death and the discussions about representation it sparked. “It’s been really moving. I think, generally, we have to do better than this. It says a lot that there are people who feel understood by those characters, and I get that.”
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But even if Grey Worm agrees that Missandei may have deserved better, he applauded Nathalie Emmanuel for her delivery during her death scene. “I think it’s a real testament to Nathalie the way she played that moment. The way she said ‘Dracarys,’ that gave me goosebumps. Because she did not deserve to die in chains, and for her to have all that rage and control in saying that—burn them all—I think that set up so much going forward. I think she’s amazing.”
As far as his own character’s ending, Anderson told BUILD that he’s satisfied with the way Grey Worm’s story arc ends. He understands Grey Worm’s rage during “The Bells,” and he’s content with where his story goes afterward. “I don’t think that would have ever happened if Missandei was there,” he told Huff Post of Grey Worm throwing his spear at the Lannister soldiers. “I think he’s responsible for doing that himself ― I don’t think that was just a response to Dany.”
"But obviously, he has no loyalty to anybody else. All he has left is Dany, and he does really care about her. But I think that never would have happened if Missandei were there. I think it’s just got to a point now where he’s been through an insane amount of trauma ― I can’t ever imagine what it feels like to go through that ― and then on top of that, he essentially has to fight for people that don’t want him. And he’s lost half of his army, which is like, they’re not just an army, they’re people that he cares about and has grown up with. He’s lost them, for what? For all of these imaginary factions, like Starks and Lannisters ― he doesn’t know what any of that is. He doesn’t care."
Anderson also had a few things to say about Daenerys’ heel turn, to which many fans have taken issue. “ code has always been like, ‘I’m going to get what I want, and if I have to hurt people to get there, I will,’” he said. “She has a history of protecting innocent people and trying to go the way of justice. But she has also along the way always been like, ‘However, if you fuck with me, I will destroy you because I can.’ And I think that’s why she decided to do it.”
"She has this in her, but also, something that I find interesting is that I don’t think this makes her “mad.” She’s just human. People lash out in really unexpected ways to things that hurt them. “Hurt people hurt people.” I know that’s a cliche, but it’s a cliche for a reason. I feel like there’s some weird stuff of people being like, “Oh, crazy woman!” And I just don’t think that’s true because I don’t think Emilia would have ever played that. Emilia loves Dany. Like, she loves her. And I think it was a really huge, but human, mistake that attached to something that was already within her. Not because of genetics, but because of everything that she’s been through in life. And politics corrupts people ― power corrupts people ― in very profound ways."
“Over this whole season, I could never have predicted that this is where we were going to end up,” Anderson concluded in his BUILD Series interview. We’ll see just what he means tonight!
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