The eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones will premiere on April 14, 2019.
Like previous seasons, it largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series and adapts material Martin revealed to the showrunners about the upcoming novels in the series, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. The season was adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, as usual, follows powerful families of kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and honest men playing a deadly game for control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and to sit atop the Iron Throne.
We were on hand at the final season premiere of Game of Thrones and caught up with some of the shows’ stars Jerome Flynn (Bron), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), & Conleth Hill (Lord Varys) to talk the series finale of the show.
The Knockturnal: Your character is always kicking ass and taking names. What’s been the funnest part about playing him over the years?
Jerome Flynn: Kicking ass. Taking names. Yeah. He’s probably the coolest character I’ll get to play. Such a lovely mix of that kind of roguishness and sardonic northern sense of humor. And his kind of self confidence that he’s on a level with every other dude in town except maybe the dragons. He’s not so keen on them. But yeah, no. I think the fact that he’s just like, “Okay, this is who I am. I don’t care who you are. This is what I want.” And yeah, so that’s Bronn.
The Knockturnal: That is Bronn. Do you think he’s going to end up with his castle and wives at the end he’s been promised?
Jerome Flynn: He’s either I reckon, he’s either going to die or get his castle.
The Knockturnal: It’s the final season premiere.
Liam Cunningham: We’re in New York City. We’re in the capital of the world and we’re closing the story in this magnificent town.
The Knockturnal: Pretty epic.
Liam Cunningham: It’s incredibly epic. Which is how I’ve been describing the last season of the show. Epic.
The Knockturnal: On the show, you give out some great advice to a lot of great characters. Do people come up and ask you for random advice nowadays? And like, will council. Can I get some council?
Liam Cunningham: If there was a Davos I’d be going to him for council. I’d be lucky enough that I’ve had some of the best words I’ve ever had to say in my life as an actor in this. The writing is magnificent. If the writing is not good enough people, switch off. This is, as you know, you watch the show. It’s some of the most beautiful storytelling. Some of the most incredible words and scenes that people have to say. And that’s what an actors proper ambition should be, to tell beautiful stories with beautiful words.
The Knockturnal: I’ve been asking everyone about their final day. How much did you ugly cry or was it a snot cry? How bad was it?
Liam Cunningham: It was like trying to hold in the reigns of a horse. I was trying to be a man. And I was trying to be … This will be fine. And then I went into an ugly cry. I sort of collapsed.
The Knockturnal: That’s okay you deserve it. You deserve a cry. Last thing. What are you going to miss most about this crazy crew? I mean, these are your family.
Liam Cunningham: They have been. We’ve referred to it. You know, we’ve got our WhatsApp group that we’re on, a lot of us are on. Yeah, we hurl abuse at each other on occasions. It’s great fun. I’ll miss this gang because there was a wonderful lack of ego. It was, everybody was concentrating on telling the story as best they could. And I think that shows in the product.
The Knockturnal: I mean, the LGBTQ icon of Westeros you are. Talk about playing one of the few open sexuality [characters], because I don’t want to put him in a box.
Conleth Hill: He doesn’t put himself in a box. Well, I think he’s, I think Oberyn asked him was he interested in boys and he said, “No.” And he asked him is he interested in girls and he said, “No.” So Varys is there for all asexuals in the world.
The Knockturnal: The show is so beloved and Varys is one of the people that we love the most. Talk about why you think everyone loves Varys so much.
Conleth Hill: I don’t know if they do but that’s very nice to hear. I think because he’s been consistent. And as boring as it may be and as repetitive as it may be he’s always said he’s doing what he’s doing for the good of the realm. And by the realm, he means the ordinary people. Not kings or queens. He had a great scene with Daenerys last season where he kind of said, “I’m not interested in serving anyone but the people.” And I think that’s been consistent so at least he’s got that going for him.
The Knockturnal: Do you think Varys has a shot at the crown? At the throne?
Conleth Hill: No. No. Do I think he’s interested in it? No. No. He said that in series two. He said not being interested allows him to concentrate on other things, again, with Oberyn. Yeah.
