The road to the Emmys and the looming denouement of our favorite show brings us a slate of new Game of Thrones interviews this weekend. With 22 nominations comes more campaigning and more interviews where we can glean season 8 tidbits (hopefully!) and interesting info about seasons past.
- Richard Madden talks (okay, jokes) to iNews about the end of Game of Thrones. “Jon Snow saves the day and kills everyone,” Madden ‘spoils’ viewers, and updates fans on his latest projects.
- Indiewire speaks with past Emmy winners and 2018-Emmy-nominated production designer Deborah Riley and costume designer Michele Clapton, who help create the world and looks of Game of Thrones. Discussing Dany’s striking white coat costume from “Beyond the Wall,” Clapton says, “It was the first time that I could remember that Dany had put herself in danger that is not necessarily for personal gain, so the white was this sense of purity…It had an honesty to it…she has fallen in love with Jon.” Check out the full-length interview at Indiewire!
- Deborah Riley also talks to Deadline this week about her nominated work, particularly the design-heavy episodes “Dragonstone” and “The Spoils of War.” She hints at the scope of the upcoming eighth season, stating “The final season nearly killed me. I realized at a certain point that all of the work in previous seasons was just a warm-up for Season 8…By the end, I had nothing left to give and finished knowing I had done everything I could. Season 8 does not pull any punches and is raw and honest and important. I can’t wait to see it.” She says much more at Deadline so definitely check out the complete interview!
- And in slightly less exciting news- Game of Thrones fans are causing a bit of an issue for the good people of Dubrovnik. While many GoT locations have benefited from the show’s presence economically, the practical side effects can be legion. The New York Times reports that the influx of show-related tourism in the Croatian city has caused a headache, with long lines even to enter the city and what the Times refers to as “concerns about loutish, disrespectful visitors.” So let’s try to do better, fans!
- One last note- Game of Thrones stills photographer Helen Sloan has joined Instagram and is sharing her photos from over the years with the occasional comment, so give her a follow!
Less than a month now until the Emmys! Who are you pulling for?
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They’ll clean up at the Creative Arts Emmy’s as usual, but I think Handmaid’s will clean sweep them at the Primetime awards and GoT won’t win any this year.
Jack Bauer 24,
I don’t know. I’v seen several sites predicting Peter Dinklage may win. I can also see GOT winning best directing and writing.
It sounds like their New Yorkers themselves are visiting.
Disrespectful tourists are the absolute worst.
Ooh that Instagram page will be amazing! I find Twitter annoying to try to keep up with, Instagram is my favourite. Great photos.
Jack Bauer 24,
Is The Handmaid’s Tale worth watching? On one hand, people have told me its excellent. On the other hand, those same people have told me it’s really depressing.
I told myself if I start catching up on all the shows I’ve been missing on Netflix, Amazon, etc., the first one on my list is “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (I think that’s the title) with Rachel Brosnahan.
Handmaid’s Tale is well-acted, well-scripted, well-directed, and yes; it’s depressing as heck.
Rachel Brosnahan’s performance in Mrs. Maisel is IMO the best female performance on TV since Mary McDonnell’s Laura Rauslin in BattleStar Galactica a decade plus ago. The whole thing plays like an extended Woody Allen movie, except it’s better.
The second season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was worse than season one, but well, so has seventh season of “Game of Thrones” (in comparison to the seasons adapted from the books). That said, THT finished its season on such emotional high note that I doubt Emmy voters will be ignoring it (even though finale is inadmissible) . On the other hand, we have “The Americans” which ended its six-season-run with a masterpiece episode, one that neither THT nor GoT managed to have this/last year.
Dinklage may be winner although I would have preferred to see Coster-Waldau as a winner. Headey may surprise but not likely.
There is no doubt that creative and technical nominations will certainly produce some awards, but the main prices will be a bit more difficult to attain.
Definitely pulling for a Lena Headey win! I know she’s up against some stiff competition from The Handmaid’s Tale, but like the last time GoT was in the Emmy’s and had 3 nominations for best supporting actress, it may work in Lena’s favour..? She just so deserves it.
Though Peter is always excellent as Tyrion, I don’t know that he deserves the win for season 7. If I had to pick between the two, I’d hope for a NCW win since Dinklage already has 2 wins.
George,
Thanks for the advice! I saw Rachel Brosnahan a few years ago when she guest-starred during Season 1 of “The Blacklist”, before that show starting sucking around mid-Season 2; after that I couldn’t watch it anymore despite the excellence of James Spader. (I wished they had cast Rachel Brosnahan as the female lead instead of the actress they chose.)
Anyway, I was impressed with Rachel Brosnahan back then, and was pleasantly surprised when I started seeing rave reviews for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” I guess it’s time for me to sign up for Amazon streaming. I think they offer the first episode for free. I’m sure I’ll want to watch the rest.
As for The Handmaid’s Tale… I think I’ll pass on that for now, as much as I like Elizabeth Moss and Alexis Bliedel (sp?). I don’t watch too much TV anymore, and I’m reluctant to invest time in a multi-season series in case (as GRRM put it) it starts out engrossing but at the end “pulls a Lost.“
Enharmony1625,
Next year is GoT’s time to sweep the Emmys. I do hope that Lena Headey can pull out a win this year, because (I predict) S8 of GoT is going to be a showcase for A Girl with many gifts. 👸🏻
#ASNAWP™️
#LastWomanStanding
™️ talvikorppi 2018
Ten Bears,
I highly recommend it. S1 was stellar, and imho S2 only slightly less so.
Ten Bears,
I had a free trial of Amazon Prime a while back and fortunately Mrs. Maisel had just been added. I really liked it and Brosnahan deserves an award for it. There wasn’t much else on Prime at the time to make me pay for it though so I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch S2. Maybe at a friend’s house. I’ll have to reconsider when some of their planned shows come about.
Ten Bears,
You really think Arya will have better material than Cersei in season 8… Cersei will likely suffer a massive, epic, total breakdown, before finally dying in some dramatic final scene….. basically, it will be perfect emmy fodder.
I don’t think Maise or Sophie will be winning any emmys…
If Lena does not win this year, and GOT does indeed pull a sweep in season 8, i’d expect she’d get it, because she’d be a 5-time nominee @ that point.
Ten Bears,
HelloThere,
I think most actors (particularly the principal cast) will have epic material next season, not least of which will be Maisie. There is tremendous potential for showing her full range in season 8 from her many reunions to the culmination of her character arc. So yes, Cersei will no doubt have some huge moments, but so will Arya, Jamie, Dany, etc.
I’d be super happy just for another nomination for Maisie. A win would be wild and awesome!
Also, both Lena and Faye Marsay hailed her as “YAS, QUEEEEN!” on her Instagram post when she wrapped shooting. Oh, and as a fun aside, I watched the 4×10 commentary last night and Lena called her “genius Maisie.” Just sayin’. 🙂
My guess is the sparing between Arya and Brienne of Tarth in season 7 is foreshadowing what Arya (goddess of many faces aka: death) will be doing with the Night King (death) only this time the valyrian steel dagger will finish what it was made for.
Ugh, not THOSE kinds of tourists…-_-
If it were up to me GoT would get all the awards. ;} I’m pulling for Nikolaj this time in particular (and of course Diana Rigg!) Although, the show’s likely to do more winning next year, provided the final season isn’t a disappointing flop (which I couldn’t imagine it being.)
Handmaid’s Tale just doesn’t look interesting enough to me to borrow my brother’s Hulu account for (I only ever needed a free trial once for one old series, a few years back.) I saw the first episode of Mrs. Maisel and would need to use my parents’ account for the rest, since I have Prime shipping but not the media benefits. Might do that after the next season of Mozart in the Jungle, which has been ridiculously underrated.
It feels like there has been a lot more press snippets on thrones in the last week or two, hopefully they are building up to a teaser and confirmation of when S8 will premiere. From a personal standpoint I am looking to book a family holiday next May and hope the show will have concluded by that point, not sure I could handle missing the finale and reading about it on-line before I get home.
The Handmaid’s Tale just doesn’t sound like I would enjoy it. That’s no disrespect to the people in it. Then, I didn’t expect to like GoT (I first watched it round about 2013) and was agreeably surprised. Somebody on this site (was it Shy Lady Dragon?) mentioned Mrs Maisel (sp?). There is (or was) a reality show on British TV Grumpy Old Women. I’m already in the group for age but I try to be positive but I think with award shows I’m evolving into grumpy as well. The in-crowd congratulating the in-crowd, that sort of thing. That said, I would be pleased if Lena Heady won in her category though it’s probably unlikely.
Dame of Mercia,
I can’t watch THT either. For me though, it’s due to not being able to stomach Margaret Atwood and her pretentious writing and personality, and wondering how much the lead actress draws on her real-life Scientology experience for the oppressive cult-like society of the show. I am just completely not interested in supporting either. 😜
Sign me up for a Grumpy Old Wom(a)n, in other words! 😂
Pigeon,
Scientology – that’s the cult Tom Cruise is in? I looked up Elizabeth Moss; I’ve not seen much of her work. I tried watching Mad Men but I never got into it (sorry Mad Men fans). Her father is British so I wonder if she has dual nationality? I’ve mentioned before that when I was ill before the coeliac disease was diagnosed (and then I had a broken arm) I was spending a lot of time on YouTube and spent time (which in retrospect I could have spent more fruitfully otherwise) watching some conspiracy theory type videos. Looking back some of those had a cultish aspect. Now that I am plodding along again in my sixty-something way there a lots of projects I need to get on with in real life (broken window, leak under the sink etc). Actually there are things on YouTube about household repairs (though I need to be sensible and call in a professional where it would be wise to do so) so it may be better to watch “how to” videos if I decide to go on YouTube.
Getting back on topic, like Shelle, I wouldn’t mind NCJ winning something but he was totally ignored in season 3 (as was Michelle Fairley) when he had really strong material so I am not sure that his chances this year are good. I personally never censured seasons 6 and 7 of GoT as harshly as some viewers did but NCJ’s material was particularly good in season 3 (to me at least).
Well really – isn’t that the very definition of a “fan”? (Sez one who lives in Albuquerque, Walter White’s neighborhood, and sees the phenomenon up close.)
I’m really more of a “Great British Baking Show” kind of guy, so I haven’t seen any of the other shows that GoT is in competition with. If there was a category of “Most Dramatic Showstopper Cake” then Mary Berry would win hands down. Other than that, I’m pulling for GoT like always.
Season 8 can’t come fast enough.
It is definitely a slow burn and depressing. Probably not something you want to binge. Maybe watch the first couple episodes and go from there. I’m caught up with the show, but it’s not particularly one of my favs.
Enharmony1625,
Maise is a genius.
Just the emmys usually award the actors who are more the faces of the show, and that is Kit, Emilia, Peter, and Lena.
Maise, Sophie, and Nicolaj are just beneath them.
Yup, that’s the one. Oh, YouTube is a slippery slope for me – I go to watch a funny cat video or something, and end up binge watching short horror films, or one of those TLC shows, or an inside look at the history of popcorn. 😜 It’s like looking something up on Wikipedia, and falling down the trail of links until I have no idea what I originally looked for. 😂
I would love for Nikolaj to win, I have doubts that he would as well, but he’s a wonderful actor. He’s really made Jaime into one of my favourite characters.
HelloThere,
Right. Maisie’s odds to even get nominated in this series have been low. She couldn’t be ignored for S6 after getting the ‘proper material’ and nailing it, as she typically does. Getting nominated for a season filmed when she was 18 on a show with such a huge ensemble and one not consisting primarily of children (like Stranger Things) was a major accomplishment. While we know her performance was just as good in earlier seasons when 13-17 years old during filming, getting nominated for a secondary role was very unlikely. I think her odds for the final season will be much greater.
Pigeon,
Heh, we all fall down the rabbit hole once in a while. No harm no foul as long as you can pull yourself out of it!
HBO will probably show the Game of Thrones Season 8 poster before the end of 2018.
I hope the season 8 poster shows an empty Iron Throne with Jon and Daenerys standing on one side of the Iron Throne and Cersie Lannister standing on the other side… or….
A Weirwood Heart Tree in the middle of the Godswood of Winterfell Forrest in the Spring Time
firstone,
I hope we will start getting something in September. Usually, things began to appear in a month or two after filming wrap. I really hope for something like “In Production” teaser/trailer.
I certainly wouldn’t say no to a trailer or teaser right now, but I doubt they’ll reveal anything particularly interesting before season 8 actually airs. I’m just trying to hold on until next year when season 8 airs at this point. Teasers and trailers will just make me even less patient than I already am.
I am curious to know when season 8 will air though, just so I can plan around it. Gotta take the day off work the Monday after the finale. Plus, I may have to travel for work related purposes in May of 2019, which could mean that I’ll miss some episodes.
I really like those ideas! I am sure we will get a poster and a full footage trailer this year but probably not for a few months yet. I am guessing the theme will focus on the Night king though.
My personal test is whether a different actor or actress could be plugged into a particular role without an appreciable difference in the quality of the show or the nuances of the character.
I absolutely adore Lena Headey, however, I can think of a dozen actresses who could play witchy Cersei Lannister. I also love Emilia Clarke (and hope to see her in comedies after GoT), and yet there are plenty of young actresses who could have adequately played Daenerys. Kit Harington has grown into the role of Jon Snow, but I can think of lots of other young actors who could have done a serviceable job playing Jon Snow. Sophie Turner as Sansa: I don’t want to say anything. NCW as Jaime has proved to be wonderful; honestly I’m not sure I can think of some other incredibly handsome actor who could come off as loathsome – and then project a noble side. Peter Dinklage? Not sure how many accomplished actors there are who could play a witty dwarf.
Sure, after seven seasons these actresses and actors are the “faces” of the show.
The only actors who I consider irreplaceable are Maisie Williams as Arya and Rory McCann as Sandor. In fact, with my short attention span and impatience, I doubt I would have kept watching GoT after the first episode were it not for Maisie Williams. To me, Maisie’s Arya is the heart and soul of the show. She is the reason I cared about what would happen. Maisie is just a prodigy, and as you said, “a genius.” The show struck gold when they cast her.
#ASNAWP 👸🏻
*looks up from documentary on evolution of shoelace styles* Eh?
Enharmony1625,
Speaking of going down rabbit holes, after you said you watched the episode commentary to S4e10 in which Lena Headey refers to “genius Maisie”, I watched that clip – and a bunch of other episode commentaries.
A few things I noticed:
– Lena Headey participates in many if not most of these episode commentaries. Good for her! She’s so well-spoken. witty and funny – and a wonderful narrator. Perfect diction.
– Lena does not watch the episodes before viewing them during the commentary. So except for her own scenes, she likes to be surprised just like the rest of us.
– The best part of Lena Headey’s commentaries, aside from fangirling over Maisie Williams (“brilliant”), are her reactions to Arya’s kills. You can hear her audibly gasp and almost see her jumping out of her chair when the serving girl peels off her face to reveal it’s Arya, right before slicing Walder’s throat [double gasp for Lena]; she was stunned when Arya turned Meryn F*cking Trant into a pin cushion.
I’ll have to watch more of those episode commentaries. There were a few from S1 and S2 narrated by young Sophie, Maisie and Isaac that are just adorable.
Ten Bears,
#ASNAWP!!
#ASNAWP aka: The Stranger
Ten Bears,
Yeah, the commentaries are quite enjoyable. Definitely the ones with Maisie, Sophie and Isaac! I really only listen to the commentaries with either the writers or the actors. Peter is obviously a riot to listen to. John Bradley too. Both very funny guys.
I watched the season 7 commentaries a while back, and Lena had an audible gasp, as you said, when Arya killed LF. I’m looking forward to her commentary on 5×10 and 6×10 now.
firstone,
Sansa to Arya: “You’re still very strange and annoying.”
Kind of an understatement if you think about it. “I learned that my little sister is a trained assassin who wears other people’s faces, worships the God of Death, has kept a list of everyone she wants to kill but “most of them are dead already”, and I saw her duel Brienne to a draw.”.
And if Sansa thought about it just a bit, she’d also realize: “Holy sh*t! She’s the girl who sliced off Walder Frey’s face and impersonated him to kill the Red Wedding murderers while telling them “You didn’t slaughter every one of the Starks”, and then announced to his freaked out child wife: “If people ask what happened here, tell them: the North remembers, tell them: Winter came for House Frey.”
Coming right after Arya had strolled over and casually sliced open LF’s throat like she was turning on the dishwasher, “strange and annoying” was a rather tame description. And I loved every minute of it. 👸🏻
Just a thought about The Handmaid’s Tale… I had thought it would be a challenge to Game of Thrones too, but I’m thinking a LOT less so lately. I watch the show and still enjoy it (well, as much as a show like that can be enjoyed), so I follow commentary on it.
There’s been quite a bit of backlash to the 2nd season. Critics *and* fans were not as happy with the 2nd season. It was a lot more depressing, not as coherent as the first season (which had the book as a template to follow), had plot-holes and head-scratchers and some confusing character moments that threw people off abounded quite a bit. Plus, it was rewarded so heavily last season; it was the bright, shiny new thing.
I could very honestly see only Yvonne Strahovski in the best supporting actress recognized because she did SO good… except her character is REALLY hated, and not in a love to hate, but just hate her way. Unlike Lena Headey’s Cersei who is so very much love to hate. And you gotta figure if they’re going to award an actress for excellently playing a loathsome, complicated character who is awful, but has hints of vulnerability, wouldn’t they finally give to to the one who’s been wowing us for 7 seasons first before giving it to the one who’s only been doing it for 2 seasons?
Going back to best show, with GOT, people really miss the show, and maybe Season 07 wasn’t its best, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and it’s still freaking GAME OF THRONES! Now I think The Americans might be the biggest competition as it’s the last chance for that to win, and there was such an outpouring of critical love in its final season.
Yeah I doubt they will reveal anything at this stage remember S6 we got a Bran voice over saying “they have no idea what is going to happen”, I suspect we will get something like that and potentially an air date or at least “Spring 2019” or “March 2019”. I’d be very happy with that at this stage though as it will allow me to plan my family vacation and also my S1-S7 re-watch in time:)
I guess it is short for “fanatic”…;)
Yeah, S7 might not have been Nik’s BEST, but…well, if he doesn’t get it this time, there’s always next year. I do wish that it didn’t have to be just the handful of “main-main-main characters” earning individual acting awards, because you can name plenty of extremely worthy actors in the cast. But I guess then they’d just overrun the ceremonies, to the exclusion of other shows (wait, what other shows? ;p) They may not all be utterly irreplaceable in the roles, but in many cases it’s hard to imagine any of the other possible contenders doing as great a job of capturing the character. Of course, now I’ll never be able to picture the characters any other way than the way we’ve seen them depicted.
I never got into Mad Men either. Usually I can just tell whether I’m gonna like something or not. (Not in the case of GoT though! I might never have watched it if not for the insistence of my mom and brothers. And it didn’t necessarily sound like their kind of thing either, so I figured there had to be something special there, and sure enough…!) Generally I watch a lot more reruns of shows from the 50s-mid-00s, cartoons, game shows, educational stuff, etc., so often the nominees aren’t things I’ve seen. The Americans apparently has a good shot at winning, but it’s the kind of show I’ve only read about online.
Oh, yeah, and the commentaries are definitely fun!! My personal favorite was Carice & Liam on “Garden of Bones”…because she is just heartbreakingly adorable, and he is such a bloody hoot that I shall be very sad indeed if I don’t win the Omaze trip to tour filming locations with him…xD
Was he talking there about Dan and Dave ? 🙂
Ten Bears,
Emmy voters are often sentimental about shows bowing out–as they probably will be this year with The Americans’ brilliant final season. So I shall be satisfied if the show wins gongs in technical categories PLUS Ramin and genius Lena Headey, both of whom have been reliably dazzling for years. Touch wood, next year GoT Emmy noms and wins will rout the competitors. I suspect if the roles work out, next year Maisie and Sophie will compete with Lena (and sadly they’ll cancel out each other).
TB, Enharmony, Shelle, Pigeon, HelloThere, Wolfish, et al, Arya is strange and annoying, especially to anyone conventional or highly rule-abiding. More strange now with a layer of hard-to-fathom No One-ness. But there’s nothing annoying about the love she continuously gives to family, friends, and deserving strangers. She has been the heart and soul for me too, ever since I cracked open Book 1 back in prehistoric days. You should take a look at this video about book Arya, and part two when they put it out. This couple are not Arya fanatics, but they see the same Arya I do. Be sure to watch to the end–the final image is a pic of GRRM and his quote about Arya and Maisie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2–rKQ-YMc
Yes! Next year I wanna see them dominate!
And yes, that vision of Arya is brilliant…no wonder she’s George’s close second-fave. She’s been one of mine since the first episode.
Ten Bears,
Jack Bauer 24,
Is The Handmaid’s Tale worth watching? On one hand, people have told me its excellent. On the other hand, those same people have told me it’s really depressing.
I told myself if I start catching up on all the shows I’ve been missing on Netflix, Amazon, etc., the first one on my list is “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (I think that’s the title) with Rachel Brosnahan.
****************************************************************
Both Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Handmade’s Tail are worth watching. In fact an excellent juxtaposition of feminine drama. One is uplifting and one is very disturbing.
Yes, Handmaid’s Tale is worth watching, for all its upsetting content. It is a history lesson in human behavior and the brutality of the race… very raw, also very damning on right wing agenda and the dysfunction of no opposition to it. Season 1 is a must see. Season 2 was hard to keep watching, but it ended on a promise of victory. IMO, this show should end after season 3, as they are going past original book, I believe. Also, whereas it was possible to envision a world acting in such monstrous ways, it would be too far fetched to continue much longer. People either overcome or stay oppressed, you can’t remain stuck in the middle forever. The acting is BRILLIANT. The unspoken is monumental. It deserves its wins. But, damn, let GOT have its honors too! Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is just lovely to watch and uplifting, but it is fluff.
Olli,
“Both Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Handmade’s Tail are worth watching. In fact an excellent juxtaposition of feminine drama. One is uplifting and one is very disturbing.”
——-
I think I’ll go with “uplifting.” I can get more than enough “very disturbing” from real life.
Stark Raven’ Rad,
“But there’s nothing annoying about the love she continuously gives to family, friends, and deserving strangers. She has been the heart and soul for me too, ever since I cracked open Book 1 back in prehistoric days. You should take a look at this video about book Arya, and part two when they put it out. This couple are not Arya fanatics, but they see the same Arya I do. Be sure to watch to the end–the final image is a pic of GRRM and his quote about Arya and Maisie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2–rKQ-YMc
——–
Thanks! I’ll be sure to watch the video. And I’ll look forward to reading the books someday.
Stark Raven’ Rad,
Well, I watched the Arya video. They got it right about Arya’s innate sense of justice, and disregard for class distinctions. I must say though that there was a definite anti-Sansa sentiment by the two narrators. (Is that consistent with how Sansa is portrayed in the books?)
Thank you for taking a look. I don’t often go to that site because it’s very book-oriented, and these days I prefer to focus on the series. They seem neutral but said in an answer to one of the comments that they did this video because when they did 3 videos on the “Mercy” chapter a few weeks ago, several commenters just dismissed Arya as a psycho. They do seen rather anti-Sansa here. I suspect that’s because she somewhat takes after her mother. This couple have seriously ranted against Catelyn in the past.
Not being a Sansa fan myself (and a lil’ bit meh on Cat), I didn’t mind that too much… Couldn’t understand calling Arya a psycho, though.
Pigeon,
Well Im a huge fan of Atwood, so I maybe biased, but HMT was pure genius, and horribly prescient – it was relevant then, its even more so now, which is probably its so depressing – way too close to reality. Im not watching it just because I don’t feel I need to. But I think people should watch it to get an idea of what our future may become.