Game of Thrones Panel Highlights from San Diego Comic Con

Kristian moderating Game of Thrones panel

The cast has come and gone, a new trailer for season 7 has dropped, and the dust has settled on the Game of Thrones panel at San Diego Comic Con once again. Every year GoT is one of the hottest tickets in Hall H, and this year was no exception. There were no major news releases this year, since the new season has already premiered, but along with the trailer for upcoming episodes, audience members were treated to a fun-but-light-on-content panel moderated by a beloved former cast member, Kristian Nairn– Hodor himself. Cast members on the panel included Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran), John Bradley (Sam), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Liam Cunningham (Davos), Sophie Turner (Sansa), Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), Conleth Hill (Varys), Alfie Allen (Theon) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne).


A few highlights: in a clip from Flicks and the City, the cast reveal who they wish hadn’t been killed.

At the end of the panel, the cast took a few questions from the audience…including the Night King.

Gwendoline Christie addresses the differences (and similarities) in being a part of Star Wars and Game of Thrones both.

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Polygon has a few notes from the panel as well.

Gwendoline Christie was asked about the much-discussed Tormund/Brienne dynamic, and the actress had this to say.

“What I love about Brienne of Tarth is that I don’t think at the foremost of her consciousness is a value system based on how men appreciate her…But who doesn’t like being appreciated as both really? But I don’t think that’s what she’s invested in at all. I think she’s finding it incredibly awkward.”

In one interview, EW spoke with Christie, Cunningham, Bradley, and Hempstead Wright after the panel. Christie teased changes we may see in her character over the next season.

“I think we’ve seen Brienne being an incredibly honorable character, but one who has operated from a received sense of what honor is,” Christie added. “And now in the world, it’s not at all as she expected, and no one’s clear as to whether they’re good or evil. And that gray area means that there’s an increased decision-making process that happens moment to moment.”

The actors had much more to say on topics including the reality of the Citadel and endgame motivations in the EW video.

In another interview, EW talked with Anderson, Turner, Allen, Emmanuel and Hill.


After their panel, the cast headed off to spend time doing autographs for fans at Comic Con.

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

34 Comments

  1. This is the second time Sophie has been booed lmfao

    Yay at Gwendoline wishing for Catelyn to return. <3

  2. I can remember when he didn’t appear anywhere Conleth Hill was thought to be a ‘recluse’ avoiding interviews and stuff, when he finally showed up it turned out to be quite different.

  3. I hear somebody flashed a comic book and everyone thought they’d time-traveled back to 2006.

  4. Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) and Conleth Hill (Varys) look so different from their characters, I can’t even remember if Grey Worm has smiled on the show and it completely transforms his presence.

  5. viki:
    Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) and Conleth Hill (Varys) look so different from their characters, I can’t even remember if Grey Worm has smiled on the show and it completely transforms his presence.

    He has smiled just remember the jokes scene from last season

  6. Awww Barristan, Shireen, and Joffrey. ❤

    “Is Jon Snow coming back?” “I don’t care.”
    **KRISTIAN NAIRN HATES KIT HARINGTON!!!” 😂😂😂

  7. Kristian is a great panel moderator, I found the questions he had asked good and original. The members of the cast were fun, they seemed to enjoy attending and talking to each other. 2017 must have been a good year for Comic Con.

  8. Do I want to know why she got booed?

    Gwen’s photo with the Tormund Funko is hilarious. Now someone please give us pops for Theon, Davos and Varys!

  9. Flayed Potatoes,

    ghost of winterfell,

    She said she wanted Joffrey to come back because she loved working with Jack Gleeson. The crowd response was mixed. It was nothing really.

    Honestly, it was pretty lame. None of the actors were particularly insightful, save maybe Gwendoline Christie.

    The only highlight I would say was the Night King cosplayer.

  10. Regarding the EW videos…

    I love how John Bradley keeps emphasizing that Sam’s being forced to waste time, which leaves the stage wide open for Gilly and her newfound reading abilities! I’m so excited for her.

    I love how brazenly Gwendoline is revealing that the one she’s been receiving authority from (has to be she to whom she’s sworn, right?) is going to be of questionable goodness and so she’ll be taking on some independent authority, implying that she’ll be rebelling against Sansa, perhaps when Sansa sends her on a mission she’s not quite so comfortable with…

    Like to kill Jaime as an LSH replacement?

    (Book Spoiler)

  11. ghost of winterfell,

    No, she just said she enjoyed working with Jack Gleeson a lot, so Joffrey’s character is the one she missed the most. That brought some boos from some fans, probably cheerleaded by Aguero.

  12. I loved John Bradleys answer to ‘who has died that you wish was brought back’ he said Jon Snow, so we didn’t spend the whole year answering if he were dead.
    ash,

    oops meant Hodor.

  13. Jacob Anderson is adorable. Nice to see Isaac back in cast interviews/appearances.

    I also loved John Bradley’s answer about “who has died.” What a pain that must have been.

  14. Ginevra,

    I think it will be more subtle than outright turning on Sansa or Sansa doing something clearly evil. Some interviews she says that this season is about Brienne coming to see that honor and duty comes from within, rather than being granted by someone else (like CAtelyn or Sansa).

    I suspect it will have something to do with “choosing” Jaime over duty because that’s where I have to assume her plot is going – nothing else really makes sense for her character, IMO. In the event (total speculation) Jaime is captured and at the mercy of the Starks or Stark/Targ alliance, I would suspect that Brienne would do what it took to keep him alive.

  15. Aguero,

    There wasn’t really any need for that, Aguero. You can express an opinion without being unnecessarily rancid. Actors must have some intelligence to be able to learn their lines I don’t think on GoT they’re surviving by having earpieces with someone saying words in their ear.

  16. Jody:
    Pigeon,
    Haha! It’s hilarious that Kristian actually hates Kit in real life!!!

    Wow, what is the context for this?? Would an actor honestly say they hate someone from the same production? Seems unprofessional.

  17. BTW, I had no idea that’s what James Hibberd looked like. His voice is super familiar from the podcast. Radio – to – TV weirdness…

  18. QueenofThrones: Wow, what is the context for this??Would an actor honestly say they hate someone from the same production?Seems unprofessional.

    From listening to the video, yer ‘ighness, the impression I got was that he (Kristian) had been asked something about Jon Snow by a journalist and may have said something about not really being involved in that sub-plot and the journalist came up with the spin that Kristian hated KH which wasn’t what he’d said. The British press (and I’m British can be adept at twisting peoples’ words.

  19. Jody:
    Pigeon,

    Haha! It’s hilarious that Kristian actually hates Kit in real life!!!

    Oh he doesn’t, that was the point. Kristian was so sick of getting asked if Jon was coming back that he just said ‘I don’t care!’ at one point, and the media took that and manufactured a story about how he must hate Kit. Lol – typical rag mags!

  20. Pigeon,

    Actually I remember there was an article posted here, maybe a year ago, with Nairn and other actor’s responses to a couple of interview questions, one in which Nairn said he did not like the character of Jon Snow.

  21. Dame of Mercia:
    Aguero,

    There wasn’t really any need for that,Aguero.You can express an opinion without being unnecessarily rancid.Actors must have some intelligence to be able to learn their lines I don’t think on GoT they’re surviving by having earpieces with someone saying words in their ear.

    You could not be more wrong. Actors by and large are notoriously stupid in real life. Sophie Turner in interviews comes across as barely literate, with no understanding of her character AT ALL……..

  22. A year ago: “I love Kit and I love his portrayal of Jon Snow but I’m not a huge fan of the character. So I was like: ‘Kill him! Kill him!’,” Kristian confessed. He’s boring and there’s so many better characters on Game of Thrones. I didn’t understand all the weeping and wailing, so I say get rid of him.”

    Wonder if he was a fan of his own most fascinating never dull character,
    or did he tell the fans who were all weeping over Hodor’s death that he doesn’t understand why they care lol.

  23. Twinfist: You could not be more wrong. Actors by and large are notoriously stupid in real life.

    Wow …. not sure how to respond to this except wonder at how you can possibly know enough actors to even think this.

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