To Game of Thrones fans, Gwendoline Christie will forever be Brienne of Tarth, stalwart knight of the Seven Kingdoms. But since the end of Game of Thrones, she's branched out in a big way, snagging plum roles in shows like Wednesday, The Sandman (where she plays Lucifer, obviously) and Severance, which is airing its second season on Apple TV+ as we speak.
Christie popped up in the third episode of the second season as Lorne, another severed employee at Lumon Industries. Lorne is the manager of the Mammalians Nurturable department, which is basically a giant indoor grazing field for goats. Lorne confronts Macrodata Refinement workers Mark (Adam Scott) and Helly (Britt Lower) in a tense, creepy, hilarious scene. Christie uses her great height (she's 6'3") and dour glower to great effect here; if Gwendoline Christie wants to intimidate you, you will be intimidated.
Speaking to Cinema Blend, Adam Scott sounded almost breathless with appreciation for what Christie brought to the show. "Everything about Gwendoline is my favorite thing about Gwendoline," he said. "She is the best. Brienne of Tarth is one of my favorite characters ever on TV or movies. But then getting to work with her, she's delightful and so good."
If you're a giant TV dork, it's particularly funn to hear Adam Scott geek out like this. I'm a longtime fan of the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, where Scott played civil servant Ben Wyatt. I can't help but remember Ben's own Game of Thrones obsession, which climaxed with him getting to sit on a replica of the Iron Throne:
Apart from Scott just enjoying working with Christie, it sounds like the scene itself was a hoot to film, if annoying. "[T]he entire time we're shooting that, goats are trying to eat our shoelaces in our pants," he remembered. "The entire time. And there's no stopping them or shooing them. They just come back and they try to eat your clothes."
The second season of Severance isn't yet halfway done; new episodes drop Fridays on Apple TV+. We don't know if Lorne will show up again, but I certainly hope she does, both because I love to watch Christie act and because I want to visit that super-weird indoor goat playground again. Ever seen rolling green hills illuminated by florescent lights in an office building basement? That's the kind of weirdness you can expect from Severance.
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