Game of Thrones Season 8 Picks Up Two Wins Out of Three Total Screen Actors Guild Nominations!

actors-pollyanna-macintosh-liam-cunningham-kristofer-hivju-news-photo-1579485076

At the hour when it counted most, when there are no more seasons to earn nominations, Game of Thrones season 8 stepped up to the plate and did what it had to do. With only three nominations on the table, being nominated alone was a nice present, or even winning one! But, two outta 3? That just goes to show all the season 8 naysayers that GOT can still bring home the bacon. But, it’s not only the awards that are exciting – With all the glitz of the awards, comes the glam of the red carpet. And as ever, the GOT cast knows how to bring the heat! So who won? And who showed up to the carpet? Let’s find out together…

Well, as you can clearly tell from the leading image, Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane) and Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) hit the carpet together. And in case you can’t tell because he’s missing his usual long locks, that’s Commander Dolorous Edd (Ben Crompton) himself on the right. I was also pleasantly surprised to find Pollyana McIntosh (Captain of the Garbage People?) from The Walking Dead photobombing them. Of course, they would have lots to celebrate, as the first win of the night came from Outstanding Performance in a Stunt Ensemble, for which GOT has now officially won 8/8 for all seasons. Take a lap, stunt people. You’ve earned it.

nikolaj-coster-waldau-and-guest-attend-the-26th-annual-news-photo-1579484947

Meanwhile, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and his guest were on hand to witness the second win of the night. I’m sure Jaime was smiling and cheering from the audience as his little brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) took home the win for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. This was no easy feat, given he was arguably a supporting actor from a larger ensemble going up against Steve Carrell, Sterling K. Brown, David Harbour, and Billy Crudup, but by George [RRM] he did it!

Unfortunately, GOT did not take the cake when it lost to The Crown for best ensemble. It’s very hard for me to argue with that when The Crown this season was led by the always stellar, newly minted Oscar winner Olivia Colman (Queen Elizabeth II) and Uncle Edmure’s Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip). GOT stands in good company, losing alongside The Handmaid’s TaleBig Little Lies, and Stranger Things. As George always says, it’s an honor just to be nominated. So who else turned up for the whole “affair?” Well, unlike a Dothraki wedding, all in all, it was not a dull affair

Nathalie Emmanuel, Alfie Allen, and Gwendoline Christie
Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth)
Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark)

48 Comments

  1. GoT was nominated 7 times for the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series over the years and it never won!
    Despite the fact this season wasn’t the best, it could have been a way of recognizing the amount of work and the incredible, numerous members of the cast GoT had over the years.

  2. They deserve everything. Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss did a brilliant job with the writing and of course the actors benefit from it. Thank you Mr. Dinklage for 8 amazing and magnificent seasons.
    I will always be grateful 🙂

  3. Loved Peter’s speech. Also the way he jumped up and cheered in the background when his friend Sam Rockwell won.

  4. Mr Derp:
    Love Sophie’s look.The others, not so much.

    Not a fan of Nathalie’s bow tie dress?

    Well deserved to the stunt crew and Peter. GoT was 8-0 in the stunt ensemble over the years and nobody has or ever will do it better. They made cinema history.

  5. Congratulations to PD and the stunt crew! Well deserved prizes.
    I do wish they had won the ensemble though because this show started out small and grew into a global phenomenon, not only because of Martin’s writing but because of this talented group of actors. It has been amazing journey.

  6. Jack Bauer 24: Not a fan of Nathalie’s bow tie dress?

    Well deserved to the stunt crew and Peter. GoT was 8-0 in the stunt ensemble over the years and nobody has or ever will do it better. They made cinema history.

    Eh, not a fan of the dress, although Nathalie could make anything look good. She’s a Goddess.

    I just prefer less frilly/poofy dresses, like what Sophie is wearing. I find simpler dresses to be sexier and more complimentary of the person’s figure who’s wearing it. Just my opinion, of course.

  7. They had great actors and great stuntsfolk. I would say that the entire production was outstanding.

    Unfortunately, the writing was astonishingly bad. Comically so.

    It is unlucky that only Peter has been individually recognized but that is not a major issue with me. He is very good.

  8. Sorry, but Olivia Colman is horrible as the Queen. She has been one of the main reasons for the third series being a disappointment for me. With her constant scowl she has captured none of the Queen’s humanity and humour. Claire Foy *became* the Queen but all I see now is Olivia Colman acting. But for some reason she seems to be the current Chosen One who only has to turn up to win all the accolades.

  9. Mango,

    The writing for season 8 was phenomenal, the same as every other season. That’s precisely why Peter Dinklage won an SAG award and Emmy for acting. It’s also why Emilia Clarke’s performance received more praise than any of the previous seasons.

  10. Hmmm. Peter won an acting award because of the writing. Hmmm.

    Maybe we won the acting award because of the directing? maybe because of the lighting? Maybe because of the costume? Maybe because of the editing?

    Or maybe he won the acting award because of his talent, work and performance DESPITE the writing. Yep, This may be it!

  11. Oh wow, Jack Bauer 24, The LightKing and now Young Dragon? goodness, there seems to be a very passionate group who just adored season 8, well, I hace to admit Im very happy for you guys, I wish I was this positive, everytime I think about the last season my opinion gets graduably worse and worse lol.

    I have to say, Im kind of annoyed that the cast didnt win best ensemble, even though every single show that was nominated had brilliant performances, the fact GoT never won for best ensemble is nuts, specially considering that the acting was one of the few saving graces of the shitshow that was last season, at least imo.

  12. Congrats to all!
    No wonder Peter won; they love him and he’s really, really good, and he’s one of the few protagonists who actually had things to do and say (along with Emilia).

    Does anyone know why there are so many military around them? What on earth?

  13. Everyone has right to their wrong opinion that S8 was bad. It was slap in the face the audience deserved for falling for a tyrant. Hopefully some people will learn something because in real life they can’t blame the writers.

    Grandmaester Flash,

    I saw just one scene with her son and she was a bitch there, but that was the point of the scene. I have to watch S2. I loved Foy since The Wolf’s Hall. And I loved her in S1. I was happy that she won an Emmy.

  14. Thank you Mr Benioff and Mr Weiss. I hope you write the ending of ASOIAF as well when GRRM becomes the one with the Force. This is what book fans truly deserve.

  15. Mango,

    Unlike directing, lighting, costumes, and editing, writing and acting go hand in hand. Sure, it’s possible for an actor to give a good performance despite subpar writing, but an award worthy performance? No. Peter Dinklage won these acting awards both because he’s an incredible actor and also because of the strong material that was given to him.

  16. Online we have huge communities that celebrate garbage like Star Wars PT or theme park MCU movies, but somehow people who like the last season should constantly apologize for it?

    We are oppressed minority online but our time will come when Mr Benioff and Mr Weiss create another masterpiece for Netflix.

    Blessed be the fruit.

  17. Young Dragon,

    There is no point in arguing with people who will spin everything into GoT failure.

    Last season was nominated by DGA, SAG, PGA, Television Academy, by TCA, at Critics’s Choice, Satelite awards and many others.

    There was a lot of people who hated it, but also a lot of people who liked it and I don’t see the point in trying to silence those people in order to validate your own hate. Not to mention great sales for Blu Rey and DVDs, upcoming Studio Tour, House of the Dragon and the rest.

    Even at places like westeros.org, known for GoT and D&D hate, 33% of people gave last episode 7-10 score, which is great on a place like that.

  18. It feels like almost every week GOT continues to be nominated for awards! So glad they won two and it looks like the cast had a great time. Also in the pics it strikes me just how tall Gwen is, never noticed this quite so much before and how much Sophie has developed into a mature, very beautiful woman from being the shy young girl we saw back in S1.

  19. There is “fear of speech” in the USA right now instead of “freedom of speech”. This battle for and against season 8 brought up a lot of emotions for me just now, and I have to write this commentary. Some may be sarcastic in their praise here on season 8. I can’t always tell. The bigger issue is what’s going on with criticism and discussion in general in the world. In the books, the people in the House of Black and White wore robes that were half black and half white. It wasn’t just one or the other. You needed both black and white to see the truth. I’m not sure what happened to finding value in the other person’s opinion. Isn’t it important to find out why the person feels so passionate about the other opinion? Perhaps something can be learned.
    I’ve never posted anything political or too controversial on Facebook for fear of reprisal (and I hardly post anything anyway). Parents of my students may see what I wrote and disagree with me. I may actually lose my job if I espouse certain opinions if enough parents complain. That’s not fair but it’s reality right now in our world. So it’s really “fear of speech” nowadays that I’m seeing. It’s almost impossible to voice opinions for or against candidates out loud for fear of having to do a walk of shame which may lead to your dismissal or a boycott on your business. Some sites are more anonymous, and people feel enabled to rip others to shreds who don’t share their opinions. That’s even worse in my opinion.

    I wonder if part of why I’m writing is a saw an episode of Anne (with an E) on Netflix last night about freedom of speech. It’s strange that I can like an overly sentimental show like Anne with an E and also love something with extreme violence like BOTB. I think people aren’t all black or white. The commonality is that both shows illustrate something important about humanity. The reality is that the world is still a very violent place with people fighting for power and plotting and scheming, so an episode like BOTB is very poignant. At the same time, the emotions of feeling isolated and winning a prize for being “most unusual” also resonates with me in a show like Anne with an E.

    We should all wear the black and white robes so we can live a bit in both worlds. I could write another essay on the idea of the “many faced god” in THOBAW. In the books it explains it more clearly that the many faced god isn’t’ just one god. It’s a combination of everyone’s gods. I think that’s also an important message of respecting everyone’s views. I guess that’s it for now other than to weigh in on season 8. It’s not all black and white for me. I love having the DVD set and I love many elements of the season, but I have plenty of problems as well. I enjoy reading posts on WotW where people are very informed in their opinions and I am still learning.

  20. About Peter Dinklage’s win I think many factors played a role. Firstly, he was overdue. Over the years he lost to Bryan Cranston, Kevin Spacey (twice), John Lithgow and Sterling K. Brown. With John Lithgow, they are the only two drama winners at SAGs who were submitted as supporting.
    Secondly, this was his third best year as Tyrion (after 4 and 2), so he also had a strong performance due to the fact that he had more to do (not necessarily “better writing” or more intelligent lines, but certainly some emotional scenes that he didn’t have in seasons 6 and 7).
    Thirdly, Tyrion’s character really suffered being in Dany’s story and this year he finally got his own story back. Tyrion’s best seasons were in seasons 2 and 4, when his story was central to the season plot and when the difficult relationships with his family were full center.
    Finally, this was the last year they could award him for GoT.
    It’s truly ironic that he was never awarded for seasons 2 and 4, which featured Tyrion’s best episodes. But “The Iron Throne” was a good final bow for him.

  21. The LightKing,

    I wouldnt say I am a hater, although I have been openly been critical I still recognize there were really strong points this season: the acting was extraordinary, CGI on point, the costume design was marvelous, and I have to admit that I thought episode 2 was really solid, but in my opinion the writting of the last 4 episodes was rushed, nonsensical and bordering idiotic at some points.

    And, honestly, as Varys said “Incompetence should not be rewarded by blind loyalty”, you can say you loved/hated season 8, art is subjective and the way that makes you feel is valid, however, to say that it was brilliant and perfect… wow, I dont know man, have some critical thinking.

  22. I couldn’t be happier for Peter Dinklage, who deserved the recognition from his peers not only for his work on Season 8 (which I personally believe is one of his strongest seasons) but for his entire run on Game of Thrones. We’ve gotten so used to him winning that I feel like we underrate him now, but he’s stellar. The only thing missing from his trophy cabinet is a Watchers on the Wall Award! And that’s fine. We like to spread the love here. 😉

    Congratulations to the entire Stunt Ensemble as well on their clean sweep for all eight seasons! They are second to none.

    I wish the ensemble had managed to win as well, as one of the best casts ever assembled probably deserved this least once in their run. But oh well. Between the well-deserved victory at Emmys and the Guild Awards (we’ll leave the Globes out of this), it’s been a grand final awards season run with our friends!

  23. Young Dragon,

    I have to disagree with you on that one, Peter got this awards for two reasons:
    – The first one is his tremendous talent, I mean… to be able to pull off the “who has a better story than Bran the Broken” and still sound convincing deserves all the awards of the Universe.
    – The Awards shows needed to give one of the biggest shows in the world a worthy recognition, and it was obvious there were not gonna give it to the writting lol, so Peter seemed like the best candidate. Also, awards mean very little tbh, its mostly about campaigning and how much HBO was willing to spend lol.

  24. MaxHightower:
    Young Dragon,

    I have to disagree with you on that one, Peter got this awards for two reasons:
    – The first one is his tremendous talent, I mean… to be able to pull off the “who has a better story than Bran the Broken” and still sound convincing deserves all the awards of the Universe.
    – The Awards shows needed to give one of the biggest shows in the world a worthy recognition, and it was obvious there were not gonna give it to the writting lol, so Peter seemed like the best candidate. Also, awards mean very little tbh, its mostly about campaigning and how much HBO was willing to spend lol.

    Lots to agree with here!

  25. In the spirit of agreement in these divisive times, I am happy to agree that Episode 2 was particularly strong. It was well-received by both critics and fans for good reason!

  26. MaxHightower,

    No, the Awards shows do not need to do anything. They award those they feel are the most deserving. And Peter Dinklage acted in many well written scenes in season 8. For example, his fireside chat in Episode 2, his talk with Varys about loyalty, Tyrion begging Cersei to surrender, Tyrion betraying Varys, Tyrion’s final talk with Jaime, Tyrion discovering Jaime and Cersei’s bodies, quitting Hand of the Queen, convincing Jon to kill Danerys, and his final scene with Jon. Bran becoming king is my only major criticism of the final season, but I personally enjoyed Tyrion’s speech. It could have been better if Bran as king was built up a little more, but even if you’re still not a fan of that scene, there are still many more brilliantly written scenes to choose from. But I do agree that Peter Dinklage gave an amazing performance that was amplified because of the brilliant writing.

  27. mau:
    Mr Derp,

    Thank Mr Benioff and Mr Weiss. Without them we are nothing. They are our sun and stars.

    But not the moon of our lives? Tsk, tsk.

    I think someone is sleeping on the couch tonight.

  28. The LightKing,

    Dude, I’m able to criticize and point out the faults in writing of season 8 had and still appreciate some things that were brilliantly done.

    I don’t hate D&D, I would never dare to insult them, but in my opinion the writing left A LOT to be desired.

    I’m not one of those people who hate season 8 because my fav character died or something, heck, my fav character is Sansa and she ended up as queen! I wasn’t asking for that, I was asking for a well thought out and written season.

    You are just blindly brown-nosing D&D, chill.

  29. MaxHightower,

    “Your are able to criticize”. I don’t think so. You are a Hater who loves to complain about anything that doesn’t go your way. I saw many of your comments and it’s exactly the same weak garbage that every other Hater says. Pretty weak points and nothing else than nitpicking. Sorry but I don’t jump on the hate train against Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss.

  30. The LightKing: Sorry but I don’t jump on the hate train against Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss.

    No, you just jump on the hate train against everyone else.

    And he’s right. You are brown nosing. You aren’t articulating any of your points/opinions, nor are you having any conversations in good faith with anyone. You’re just regurgitating the same talking points like a politician and telling anyone who feels differently that they are a “hater”. You’ve also done this under multiple user names.

    He’s also right that he is able to criticize. You are not in charge. If you can’t handle that other people didn’t think season 8 was the bees knees then maybe you really do care a lot more than you’re leading on about other people’s opinions.

    A number of other posters have pressed you to articulate your feelings more, yet you never do. You just repeat the same statement over and over again. If you can’t articulate your feelings past “you’re a hater” then your comments are weak garbage as well.

  31. Mr Derp,

    I think that I articulate my feelings and points pretty well. I see that reading is not your strongest attribute. Again, I don’t have multiple user names and I will keep repeating my statements over and over again.

  32. Tron79,

    Thank you for this wonderful post. I don’t have the energy to write a complementary essay in return (I’m in the middle of a state job application that includes an incredibly tedious exam), but I did want to thank you and say I wholeheartedly agree.

  33. Was a good look for Sophie! But Gwen’s and Nat’s…as somebody said, “Dresses like these make me miss Joan Rivers.” xD
    Mango, Derp, Black Raven, & co. were right on that money as usual.

Comments are closed.