Graham McTavish thinks it’s “strange” he keeps getting cast in fantasy shows
By Dan Selcke
If you’re a fan of fantasy at the movies or on TV, you’ve probably seen actor Graham McTavish on your screen. He played Dwalin in The Hobbit movie trilogy, played Dougal MacKenzie on Outlander, the spymaster Sigmund Dijkstra on Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher, and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Ser Harrold Westering on HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon.
McTavish is 62 years old and had a long acting career before becoming the first guy everyone calls for a new fantasy project, but that’s what he’s known for today, whether he wants it or not. “It is strange that I seem to spend a great deal of my career now just riding around on horseback, wearing cloaks, carrying candles, armed with a sword,” McTavish told Insider. “Obviously, they are very different in lots of ways, but what the fantasy world allows you is a sort of latitude that you don’t get in some other genre. So, if I was sat behind a desk as Dijkstra with a cellphone, it wouldn’t be as interesting.”
"I am a big fan of that genre so the opportunity to perform in it has been absolutely fantastic. That’s what I want to do, so it’s been very fortuitous. So I started with The Hobbit, I suppose, and I’ve never worn a suit since."
I’m gonna guess that a suit of armor is more cumbersome than a suit, but when do you get to wear armor into the office? Pros and cons, people.
Graham McTavish will return for Outlander season 7, even though his character is dead
McTavish’s Outlander character died some time ago, but we know he’ll show up in the show’s seventh season, which is airing on Starz right now. Outlander features time travel as well a flashbacks and dream sequences, so who’s to say the dead can’t live? This is fantasy.
Meanwhile, Dijkstra plays a large role in the third season of The Witcher, which just came out on Netflix. As for House of the Dragon, Harrold Westerling survived the first season, but we’re not sure if he’s returning for the second. By this point in the source material — the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin — his character is dead, so anything could happen.
Next. The Witcher finally hits its stride with fantastic third season. dark
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