Game of Thrones season eight news right now are between a rock and a hard place. Filming is concluded, and the date ebbs closer, but we’re still waiting for more concrete hard news outside of the light teases we’ve thus far gotten. Meanwhile, while rumors have abounded about the first of potentially several prequels, news has started to officially break, with male lead Josh Whitehouse’s casting announcement rolling in a few days ago, hot on the heels of the crazy news that movie star Naomi Watts was cast as the female lead of the GOT prequel. Now, we’re finally hearing her first comment since word of her casting got out. What does she say? What’s the juicy hot goss? Will she play The Night King’s Mother? Old Nan’s Old Nan (‘s Nan’s Nan’s Nan)? Dive in and find out.
If your answer to the last few questions was “Yes, I hope Naomi Watts plays one of those parts,” I’m here to tell you that you’re wro – well, actually, I’m not, as I can’t definitively say so as she’s not told us much of anything! What she has said, according to Entertainment Tonight, is that she is now bingeing all of Game of Thrones.
“I am late coming to it, I have to say…But that’s how I am with lots of things in life. I am bingeing it right now and studying. It’s very exciting.”
And there you have it – Watts’ first words on her new role are to…tell us that she hasn’t watched Game of Thrones before, and that she is finally joining the rest of the known world – It is known. Now, to her credit, I’ve watched 2005’s masterpiece King Kong in all its 3-hour glory roughly 8 times (yes, I’m serious), so if studying the world of Westeros through rapid binge-mode is what she needs to do to be successful in her role, I’m all for it, given the incredible roles she’s previously turned out – we are so lucky to have her on board!
What’s she going to tell us next, that she hasn’t read A Song of Ice an – don’t answer that.
ASNAWP(‘s ancient ancestor perhaps?)
As I just recently posted in her casting thread, I was a bit surprised that she signed on for the new series without having watched GoT first. However, I imagine it’s pretty difficult to not have a fairly good idea about (this) show or to not have seen at least some of it over the years; clips, scenes, random episode, simply hearing things. Good for her… and lucky for her that she gets to experience GoT for the first time!
That dress in the photo would have fit right in with the formal wear of Ladies in KL. 🙂
I expect the next news to be “Naomi Watts withdrawals from GoT prequel due to unspecified reasons”.
I think sometimes it’s an advantage to an actor to not have been as entrenched in the world of GoT as us rabid fans are. After all, some of the best choices for our favourite characters had never read the books. 🙂
Pigeon,
Yeah… I think it could either help or hinder depending on the actor or the character or the show. (In my opinion) I think we saw a little bit of both in GoT among those we know read the books. I won’t name a person on my mind that I felt didn’t seem to be helped by it, but on the good side I believe Liam’s super-fandom has truly helped him portray Davos above and beyond what could even be desired.
Obviously we don’t know how much being familiar with GoT will help an actor in the new series considering it’s new show runners, such a drastic timeline difference and it’s an entirely separate story and group of characters. I suppose the most one can glean is if they tell everyone that they want the show to have the same… “feel,” for lack of a better, more descriptive term.
Cool that she’s finally getting caught up. 😉 I’m sure they’ll fill her in on everything she needs to know anyway. Honestly, to do an excellent job, all she really needs is a good script and good direction.
Pigeon,
Like Stannis. That actor played Stannis perfectly, just brilliant casting. He never read the books, doesn’t watch the show and didn’t enjoy filming.
Joey,
I miss stannis
Wtf is ASNAWP?
Jerry,
🤣🤣🤣
Right after she sees “Baelor,” eh? XD
I’d pay good money to have Stannis, Tywin, and Roose return just for a minute, to return the Night King’s withering glare. That’s more combustible than wildfire. Actually, make that Richard Brake’s Night King, and I’d be thrilled.
Lmao! You read my mind.
Considering that she was directed by Woody Allen in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), I imagine Ms. Watts is well acquainted with creepy shriveled-up ancient monsters.
(But srsly, it’s actually one of Allen’s better melodramas.)
Now what we need is David Lynch in as a director
I’m really pleased that she’s on the show – all I need now is for David Lynch to take the reins.
SO EXCITED 🙂
Maybe she just wanted to watch an episode or two to catch the vibe and got hooked 🙂
I have liked Naomi best in Twin Peaks – I expect good things from her.
Me too, can’t wait! 😎
I’m a bit jealous of her- goin in blind and binging all seven seasons, just in time to experience S8 real time, knowing that she actually gets to step into this world. I imagine her level of stoked will rival ours (though, in quite a different way)
Seriously though WTF IS ANASWP I’m starting to see it everywhere and have no idea what people are referring to Arya Nags At Sansa With Persistence?
Dog,
Arya Super Ninja Assassin Warrior Princess = ASNAWP.
Inadvertently coined by talvikorppi.
I was a latecomer to GoT and during binge watching an HBO pre-S4 GoT marathon was delighted to see Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon.
I became a huge fan of Stephen Dillane during HBO’s miniseries John Adams, in which he played Thomas Jefferson over a span of about fifty years.
A scene that Dillane-as-Stannis fans would probably especially enjoy is when Thomas Jefferson presents his draft of the Declaration of Independence to Ben Franklin (Tom Wilkinson) and John Adams (Paul Giamatti). They both tell Stannis – I mean Jefferson – how wonderful it is, and he explains how carefully he chose every word. But then Ben Franklin suggests a few edits to make it more palatable, and I swear you can almost see Jefferson grinding his teeth a la Stannis as he listens to the proposed revisions.
Almost as enjoyable are scenes in the final episode of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as old men forty-fifty years later, exhanging correspondence and reconciling after years of estrangement.
PS Dillane also had a brief but critical appearance in “Zero Dark Forty” as National Security Advisor.
I miss Stannis…
Although I feared (correctly, unfortunately) it was a setup for something really bad later on, I’ll always love his speech to Shireen ending with “…because you are the Princess Shireen of the House Baratheon. And you are my daughter.”
A quartet of Stannis. Tywin, Roose, and Jorah reciting dialogue in their mellifluous voices would be enough to make NK turn tail and run back behind the Wall.
I’m more than excited! Naomi Watts is extraordinarily talented, and she’ll be perfect for a GoT-style fantasy role.
I think I may have posted these before, but below are two clips of Naomi Watts in “King Kong” (2005). Her performance (with CGI creature) made this movie enjoyable.
I say give her a few million dollars and a few CGI dragons to play with.
This is a major casting coup. Naomi Watts is an A+ talent. I’d be on board for the prequel for this reason alone (though after seeing showrunner Jane Goldman’s movie Kick Ass, I was already psyched).
Here are the two scenes of Naomi Watts as Ann Dowd in 2005’s King Kong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYmtT0nwwBw
And Beric! I can see a few of the points of NK’s ice crown and one blue eyeball peeking around the rubble of the wall.
Heck, get Mace back singing a little tune with his dulcet tones, and the war is won. 😉
Pigeon,
Damn you’re right! How could I forget Beric?
You know what else I appreciate about these actors – and Lena Headey, Ian McIlhenny (Barristan) and Rory McCann too? They all enunciate so well that I never have to rewind or rely on closed captioning to understand what they’re saying.
Maybe sometimes it’s the director’s fault, but there have occasionally been some scenes when I could not understand what an actress or actor was saying. (E.g., like in Arya’s reunion with Hot Pie in S7e2, when Hot Pie said “I thought you’d be headed to Winterfell”, it took me five rewinds & closed captioning before I could make out Arya’s response: “Why would I go there? The Boltons have it.”)