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 former stars Kristian Nairn (Hodor), Jonathan Pryce (High Sparrow), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), & Indira Varma (Niobe) to talk the series finale of the show.
The Knockturnal: Everyone loves your character. What do you think about him that people love so much and why they’ve come to revere him over these years?
Kristian Nairn: I just think that out of all the assholes in Westeros, for want of a better word, he is a nice guy. He has no, sort of, self-motive. He only wants to help. He’s funny sometimes in the middle of all that darkness. He’s a nice guy. He wants to protect people, look after them. He’s a light in the darkness. Or he was a light in the fucking darkness. He’s not anymore. He’s well be snuffed since.
The Knockturnal: I heard there are some rumors your character might come back as a White Walker.
Kristian Nairn: You hear them every day. Every day.
The Knockturnal: Confirm or deny.
Kristian Nairn: Well obviously I can’t. But it’s definitely a popular rumor.
The Knockturnal: You’re so talented else wise in the music world. Is there anyone from the case you would collaborate musically wise?
Kristian Nairn: I haven’t thought about it. I mean I’m very fussy. Finn Jones [“Loras Tyrell”] is quite a good deejay. So, yeah. I wouldn’t mind. We have played together before actually. So yeah, maybe in the future. Who knows.
The Knockturnal: Okay. So can we get a Finn Jones collaboration?
Kristian Nairn: Yeah. We’re very different musically though. Very, very different.
The Knockturnal: In the show, obviously you spend a lot of time with Bran and his character. Where do you think Bran is going to end up in the end?
Kristian Nairn: Oh I have no idea but I definitely have a vested interest in Bran after literally carrying him most of the way. I would like to see him get to the end and see what happens. I think he’s going to be important. I think he’s going to be an important character so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
The Knockturnal: Game of Thrones is known for the long shoot days and complicated scenes, talk about a scene that’s most memorable to you that took a lot of work out of you?
Kristian Nairn: Really it was the final scene. It was also my 40th birthday at the time, yeah. And it must have been three weeks filming indoors, outdoors, different locations over my death scene.
The Knockturnal: So just the final scene alone took three weeks?
Kristian Nairn: Yeah. Yeah. A lot of White Walkers. A lot of stuntmen, CGI. It took a long time to do but I think it was worth it in the end.
The Knockturnal: What have you been up to since you last left the show?
Sibel Kekilli: I have been working in Germany most of the time. And then in Europe most of the time.
The Knockturnal: Do you give any of the cast any advice about how to say goodbye to the character because you already had that experience? So did you give them any advice?
Sibel Kekilli: I think it will get, for them, it will be even harder. I was in the show four years from the beginning. It was really hard. But for the rest who are still in the show, it’s after eight years. It’s a long, long time. So they have to get used to it. It’s like, “Okay, now it’s over.” No Croatia, no Belfast, no Spain.
The Knockturnal: I’ve heard you were coming back on the show this season as the White Queen of the White Walkers.
Sibel Kekilli: Yeah I heard that too.
The Knockturnal: Okay. She is the White Queen. Last time we saw your character she was in a bit of a sticky situation. Do you think if she had the chance would she do things differently?
Sibel Kekilli: She should take the jewelry and just run away. I mean, screw love. You know? She was loyal. She was in love. She lost everything. Don’t you think so?
The Knockturnal: I think she made the wrong choice. Went after the wrong guy.
Sibel Kekilli: Yeah. I think so too.
The Knockturnal: We loved you on the show. If your character was alive in modern times where do you think she would rule over?
Indira Varma: I don’t think she’s a very good ruler let’s be honest. I mean, I don’t know about ruling. I think she’d probably be married to a fabulous ruler. But who would she be ruling with? I mean, they’re hot heads and they are into hedonism. I think she’d be in some South American country. Some Latino country living the sensual life. Very open, democratic. Yeah. Human rights. Equality for everyone. Yeah.
The Knockturnal: I mean, it’s pretty obvious but who are you rooting for to win.
Indira Varma: Is it pretty obvious? I don’t know.
The Knockturnal: Well, let’s not assume for me. So who are you rooting for to win in the end?
Indira Varma: Do you know what? I genuinely don’t know. Yeah. It’s got to be one of the women. For sure. But which one I don’t know. I think we’re going to be led a merry dance. We’re going to be going … One week you’re going to want Cersei, the next it’s going to be, you know. It’s just going to go … It’s going to be crazy. Yeah.
The Knockturnal: Talk about being a part of this franchise and the fandom of it all because it’s crazy.
Jonathan Pryce: Well, it’s great to be a part of it because it’s such a great program. It’s so well made. It’s well acted. And it’s great storytelling. And, you know, if it was just popular for the sake of being popular I don’t think I’d feel quite so proud of it. But it’s, I’m very proud of everyone who’s been involved with it. I feel a bit of an outsider because I, well I just came in for two series and then they killed me.
The Knockturnal: Well I thought you almost, you almost were, you were gunning from that crown. The seat, you almost won I
Jonathan Pryce: Well, I nearly got there. And yeah. I should because people keep asking me who do you want to see on the throne and I… yeah, it should have been me. Yeah. I’m still angry about that.
