Today you’re getting two for the price of one, in the Watchers on the Wall Awards preliminaries! It’s time to celebrate the best of Game of Thrones‘ stellar guest cast, and narrow the field down to just five in each category. Which actors’ short-term roles stole the show and your hearts? Tell us with your votes!
The standard rules: Select up to FIVE nominees from each poll. You can choose fewer if you like, but you cannot choose more than 5 from each category. (Visit the initial WotW Awards post for a complete explanation of the rules and process.)
At the end of 72 hours (Saturday 11/11/17 at 2PM Eastern Time), whichever five performers in each category have the most votes will continue on to the finals. The results of the poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the winners in a few weeks.
Thanks to Greatjon of Slumber for tallying up the initial nominee suggestions. Now, let’s vote- and make sure you vote in both polls!
Hodor
I will be greatly saddened if Ed Sheeran doesn’t win. And that’s for all of you who made Petyr Baelish their “most loved” character.
Pilou and rosabell
Best Guess Actress – Tyene Sand
I wanted to choose more, but unfortunately I thought she was really the only one out of the bunch that had a scene requiring anything above and beyond. The others really didn’t have much to do this season to deserve any special consideration above the others, imo.
Best Guest Actor –
Euron
Ebrose
Beric
Thoros
Lannister soldier
When I think about all of the nominations for this category, which of them had any standout scenes? Which ones do I think about when I think about season 7? I thought Euron stepped up his game this season considerably, Ebrose had some memorable scenes with Sam, Beric and Thoros always make the show better, and lastly, I chose the Lannister soldier (not Ed Sheeran) because I thought his contribution was memorable. When I rewatch episode 1, I actually look forward to his scene.
Aisling Franciosi is my top pick… her delivery of the ultra-important line to young Ned brings tears to my eyes every damn time I hear her say it. “His name… is Aegon Targaryen. You have to protect him… promise me, Ned”. She can barely choke out the words, her voice is so thick with pain… physically and emotionally. I’m starting to get teary eyed just typing it because I can hear it in my mind, clear as day.
Pilou, Richard, Paul, Tom and Joseph. Would have loved to have 6 and pick James Faulkner as well.
Wow, slim pickings for guest actresses!
Best Guest Actresses:
Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand. She played her death scene so well. It was horrifying.
Aisling Franciosi as Lyanna Stark. A small but vital role, and she did it very well.
Best Guest Actors:
Pilou Asbaek as Euron Greyjoy. Such a refreshing turn for the character, compared to season six. He may not be the Wizard Ramsay 2.0 of the books, but as a character in his own right Euron was great in season seven.
Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose. When a main character is going to spend most of the season with a new character who is not particularly interesting or relevant in his own right, what do you do? You cast Jim Broadbent, and he knocks it out of the park.
Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion. He’s as great as ever. I still can’t believe we still have more Dormer / Dondarrion, far beyond the books. And he’s still going!
James Faulkner as Randyll Tarly. I loved to hate him in season six, and in season seven as well, but there I also learned to admire him a bit. Faulkner did a lot with a relatively minor character.
Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris. I really like Gatiss, and I can tell he has fun playing the slimy banker role.
Rosabell, Aisling and Bella. Both Lyannas win!! 😛
Pilou, Richard, Paul, James and David. I would have love to see more Tarly and more BwB.
Question…
What was the reasoning for not including Indira Varma in ‘guest actress’ when she qualified according to WotW rules of no more than 15 total episodes nor 4 for the season? Not that I really care I guess…. Just wondering.
I typically vote for the one that did a fantastic job in a rather substantial role, even if short, such as Essie Davis last season. The options without Indira are a toss-up as they were all really small parts in S7.
Bella Ramsey all the way! With the actor who played Benjen Stark for the males.
I might have voted for her if she was given more to do. We only saw her for a total of about a minute and just a couple lines. Oh, but of course, she won last year and didn’t have that much more time on screen then… >.>
Clob,
Same here.
She’ll most likely get votes for season 7 based on popularity alone.
Am I the only one to feel… I dunno, disappointed? that there are so few actresses in this category compared to the plethora of actors in the corresponding male category? Maybe this just brings home the fact that there are far fewer roles for women? It’s almost like the prominence of a few leading/supporting female roles (Cersei, Ellaria, QoT, Dany, Yara, Sansa, Arya, Brienne) hides a great dearth beneath that top tier.
Not meaning to go all strident feminist here, and I do realise the series mostly deals with war, which explains more male roles, but to see it laid out so blatantly, the length of the male/female longlists so strikingly different, did give me pause.
Maybe we, WotW readers just didn’t nominate enough different females, maybe the nominations just concentrated on these six? Maybe there weren’t that many eligible in this category to begin with – compared to the male category. I dunno, it’s just something that struck me.
As it is, now we have to choose one actress to leave out, compared to choosing five actors in to make the final shortlist. Difficult choices either way.
I ended up leaving out Aisling Franciosi (Lyanna Stark) as her strongest work was actually in S6, this year was the same scene with just sound added. The wedding scene was just a pretty picture.
The male category was harder. For instance, I loved how well Ben Hawkey inhabited Hot Pie. Our favourite baker has had his own, low-profile story away from the main action, but whenever he pops up, Ben Hawkey is Hot Pie, with a tiny bit more each year.
In the end, I went with Jim Broadbent (Maester Ebrose), James Faulkner (Randyll Tarly) – these two were the standouts for me – Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion) and David Bradley (playing Arya playing Walder Frey was so subtle and brilliant!). The last slot was a toss-up between Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy) and Paul Kaye (Thoros of Myr), but in the end I gave it to Paul Kaye as a R.I.P. Thoros homage.
talvikorppi,
I suppose you never know, but the list of Guest Actresses that were up for nomination for season 6 was much stronger, so I don’t think this has anything to do with sexism. *Shrug*
talvikorppi,
There were a couple of other women that qualified. 😉
I guess nobody nominated Sara Dylan for her part as Bernadette or Lucy Hayes for Kitty Frey. 😛 I suppose we can blame D&D for killing off possible longer term guest actresses, such as any female not named Missandei that’s been around Daenerys. Many of us figured Ornela played by Hannah John-Kamen would be around after the temple burning. *shrug*
Guest Actor was easy (for me). Richard Dormer as Beric with his flaming sword. And some memorable scenes with the Hound, e.g., in the Eastwatch cell (S7e5):
Beric: Here we all are at the edge of the world at the same moment heading in the same direction for the same reason.
Davos: Our reasons aren’t your reasons.
Beric: It doesn’t matter what we think our reasons are. There’s a greater purpose at work and we serve it together whether we know it or not. We may take the steps but the Lord of Light…
Sandor: For f*ck’s sake, will you shut your hole!
Sandor (to Jon:) Are we coming with you or not?
You forgot to add the actor who plays Qyburn!! Him looking at the wight’s hand was genius and I love his acting in general!
Clob
“Many of us figured Ornela played by Hannah John-Kamen would be around after the temple burning. *shrug*”
————————-
Speaking of characters we thought would be around, “Ghost” will be played by Hannah John-Kamen in “Ant-Man and The Wasp.”
zandru,
Not trying to call you out or anything but Ed Sheeran was in one short scene and he barely had any lines… why in the world would he ever win best guest actor. Euron Greyjoy had a ton of screen time and killed every single scene he was in. As did many of the other choices. Ed Sheeran just seems like a very stupid choice to even move onto the next round, let alone win the whole category.
im voting for ed sheeran just to piss everyone off LOL
I find this a very female strong show.
VERY
Kitharingtonrelated (IG),
He’s under Supporting Actor, not Guest. He’s in too many episodes for a Guest.
Dee Stark,
GoT has strong female leads, but they still have a lot more male roles and not many women- and that’s very apparent when we go looking for women to nominate.
Yah, I’m not trying to start some sort of a sociological sexism discussion here. But I couldn’t help but to observe that this year there really is a dearth of guest actresses, as borne out by the short longlist. Fewer minor female roles, which is understandable in a show mainly about war. And the show has always had a very strong female cast in leading and supporting roles, starting with Michelle Fairly (Catelyn Tully Stark), arguably one of the most important roles – male or female – in S1-S3. I was just a bit surprised by how few guest female roles there were in S7.
Also, I’m not all that well-versed on what constitutes lead, support or guest actor. The rules vary. WotW tried to spell out theirs in the post referenced (linked) at every voting post, and they’re clearly different from Emmy rules – US Actors Guild/US industry agreed ones – which is why GoT leads only get Emmy nominated in the “supporting” categories (now I have a mental image of all of the GoT cast quite physically supporting each other – which might be quite accurate insofaras they all support the show. But whatever.)
I nominated Ed Sheeran – and included him in my five votes – because I was shocked that he was mercilessly bashed for his brief cameo. His appearance was a gift by the showrunners to Maisie Williams. They knew she was a friend and a big fan of Sheeran.
I never understood the vitriol. He sang a song and said a line or two. It’s not as if he “stole” a pivotal role from a more deserving actor.
Best Guest Actress:
-Aisling Franciosi as Lyanna Stark
-Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand
Best Guest Actor:
-Pilou Asbaek as Euron Greyjoy
-David Bradley as Walder Frey (Arya)
-Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose
-Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion
-James Faulkner as Randyll Tarly
Azor Asshai,
Wow! We got almost the same. Except I chose Tycho instead of Walder Frey, but still!
Guest actresses: Sand Snakes
Guest actors:
Professor Slughorn
Mr. Filch
Dickon
Thoros
Benjen
Maybe you missed the part of my post (actually a couple of them), where I expicitly said GoT has very many important, strong female characters, leads and supports. (I even listed most of them.) What I was talking about was the dearth of lower-tier female roles. The Irris, Jihquis, Rozes.
Plus the fact that, storywise, the Sand Snakes could arguably be “supporting” rather than “guest” actors. They didn’t have much screen-time but they and what they threatened to do and what they did were important to the overall story. But whatevers.
talvikorppi,
Not only were there fewer female roles this year (I mean guest), I couldn’t even vote for any of the nominees who had like two lines each.
It was easier in the male category. I voted for Beric (but was he really a guest?), Dickon Tarly, and that nice Lannister soldier.
Guest Actress: all 3 Sand Snakes, Lyanna and Lyanna.
The snakes I thought were all pretty good this year, the Mama, Mama scene was good, they all fought bravely with their given weapons and their deaths, as they were played, actually made me a little sad. The looks on the faces of Obara and Nymeria, as they were killed with their own weapons, were startling and real-looking. And Tyene’s death at Cersei’s hand was one of the stand-out scenes of the season.
Lyanna Stark Targaryen as played by Aisling Franciosi was heart-rending. Only a few lines, but delivered with exactly the passion that one would imagine a dying woman begging for protection of her newborn would have.
Little Lyanna just because.
Guest Actor was a little harder:
Pilou because he really refined the role from the way he played it last year. To me he seemed much more convincingly menacing, yet pulled out the wild-man when it was needed. Both his maniacal laughter when Theon jumped ship and his calm assessment of what he would do to win Cersei’s favor were beautifully within in the realm of what this character should be.
Jim Broadbent as AM Ebrose – I got all excited to see this character because of all the anticipation the book-readers had in trying to figure out for which character Mr. Broadbent had been cast. And I like him, Mr. Broadbent, in whatever else he appears. I think he brought just the right amount of gravitas and humor to the Archmaester. I liked all his scenes, especially the ones when he was talking to Sam about the book he was writing, the ones with Jorah and the suggestive nod towards Jorah’s sword, and any other scene with Sam.
Ed Sheeran – I liked the song and was glad he was there.
Gatiss as Tycho – The huge grin on his face when Cersei was talking about having the gold to pay back the Iron Bank was hilarious. He didn’t look down his nose at Cersei the way he did at Stannis, yet the change in attitude gave his character more dimension and was perfectly in character. I like Gatiss whenever he shows up, he epitomizes what I imagine a Middle-Ages banker would be.
Dormer as Beric – that voice, those lines, that flaming sword.
Sue the Fury,
Oh thanks for clearing that up!! Kinda surprised though that Pilou is a guest actor then though. Doesn’t feel like that 🤷🏼♀️
I love, love, love Bella Ramsey, so she was my only choice for guestress. For guestor, I was going to go with several but decided on my very favorite, David Bradley. That opening scene was the highlight of the season for me.
Yah, that’s kinda the point that I’ve been, obviously poorly, trying to make. Fewer female roles, so we’re left with a very short longlist.
Aww, that nice Lannister soldier… Do you mean the one who wanted to get home to help his daddy with the fishing boat or the one who wanted to get home to his baby daughter? They were both so nice. I forget which was which as to the actors, so I’m confused as to which of them is on the longlist.
S1
there wasn’t this category
S2
there wasn’t this category
S3
there wasn’t this category
S4
Best Guest Actor– Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon
Best Guest Actress– Kate Dickie as Lysa Arryn
S5
Best Guest Actor: Ciarán Hinds as Mance Rayder
Best Guest Actress: Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Karsi
S6
Best Guest Actor: Clive Russell as Brynden “The Blackfish” Tully
Best Guest Actress: Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont
So was I. In spite of the number of “main character” actresses!
Jaehaerys,
See Dee Stark’s reply.
talvikorppi,
Of course, all of them are killers… 😉 (Cue the Hound)
I’m with you, Talvikorppi, and I’m not shy about taking it a step further into feminist analysis. It’s when you get down to the final seasons, when ‘expendable’ characters are being eliminated, that it really becomes apparent that the back bench for female characters isn’t very deep. That’s pretty standard for the TV/movie biz, as in most other high-paying industries.
A show like GoT gets praise for ‘strong female characters’ largely because it has done its window-dressing with female leads better than most. It’s reminiscent, to me at least, of big corporations where they have one highly visible female executive to whom they can point and say, ‘See? No glass ceiling here!’ But in truth that one woman is a Queen Bee type who isn’t helping other women climb the ladder behind her, because it would’ve hurt her career by not playing ‘one of the boys.’
Not saying that GoT isn’t one of the better in its category in terms of providing opportunities for women, but it’s part of a more broad-based and well-entrenched sociocultural norm that certainly bears examination from a feminist perspective. It’s up to us as audiences to adjust our expectations and use our consumer power to let the content providers know that we want product that reflects , from top to bottom, the fact that women are and have always been half of humanity.
My favorite male guest actor, far and away, was the great Jim Broadbent.
I’m still not getting the Pilou Asbaek love. The best I can say was that he wasn’t quite as awful in S7 as in S6. I’m still finding Euron a cartoon villain, though.
talvikorppi,
Billy Postlethwaite, who played the Lannister soldier whose wife had given birth but didn’t know if it was a girl or a boy because soldiers don’t get ravens, is the son of the late great charactor actor Pete Postlethwaite.
I thought the scene was lovely. This Lannister soldier with a beautiful voice singing a bit of a song, which attracts Arya’s attention, and then this lovely, friendly scene ensues. Well, it wasn’t all lovey-dovey, I was on the edge of my seat, sadly expecting carnage, especially when the camera (= Arya’s eyes) deliberately picked out their weapons where they were stashed away, not on person. I loved how that scene then played out, from initial distrust, even hostility on Arya’s part, to shared “meat and mead”, and Arya relaxing and having a laugh. (Aah, that smile endeared me so much to Arya again – she should smile more often!)
I didn’t know who exactly Ed Sheeran was, except “apparently some famous English music dude”, and his cameo never bothered me, it fitted seamlessly into the story. But I wasn’t aware of the cultural signifigance of Ed Sheeran in the UK (and maybe other countries that take the UK gutter press lead), where he’s a very divisive figure for some reason. So the pouring of hate probably wasn’t about that scene or his singing/acting but about him. Uuugh, now I want to go and clean myself after explaining some of the uglier sides of the interwebby, social media malarkey.
Pilou and Rosabell – not because I liked their characters, but the acting had a bigger impact me than the others.
Firannion,
I liked Pilou Asbaek in other roles (eg as the drug courier pseudo-boyfriend in “Lucy”), but not so much as Euron. As you aptly described it, Euron’s a “cartoon villain.” Yes, I agree he was better in S7 than S6, but that’s faint praise.
Pilou Asbaek as Euron Greyjoy
David Bradley as Walder Frey (Arya)
Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose
Tim McInnerny as Robett Glover
Billy Postlethwaite as a Lannister soldier
That was tough. Thanks for accepting my nom Billy Postlethwaite. I was the only 1 who nominated him. Won’t be surprised if he returns next season. I see he’s getting some votes. : ) Every time I saw Jim Broadbent on screen as Archmaester Ebrose, I knew I was voting for him to win this category. I think I begrudgingly voted for Tim because of how much he makes me hate Robett Glover.
talvikorppi,
“Aah, that smile endeared me so much to Arya again – she should smile more often!”
———————-
Yes! When she joined in the laughter in response to her not-a-joke at the end of that scene (“I’m going to kill the Queen”), you could almost feel the humanity flowing back into her bloodstream.
Dee Stark,
Ha! (good to see you here!)
Cheers, TB, to name the actor who played one of the nice Lannister soldiers.
The Lannister soldier didn’t know (I misremembered in my earlier post), but hoped the baby was a girl, because girls take care of their papas while boys go to war. You could see Arya wasn’t completely sold on this idea. If she had had the opportunity to take care of her papa, it would not be as a carer but as a warrior, whatever her actual warrior skills are. The scene was actually quite poignant.
Many thanks to Greatjon of Slumber for all the tallying. You rock! 🙂
Too bad! Gemma and Indira were the only Guest actress I was interested in voting on and they are stuck in supporting actress category I guess. Oh well!
Guest Actress
Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand
Aisling Franciosi as Lyanna Stark
Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand
Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand
Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont
Honorable Mention: I actually nominated Megan Parkinson in the preliminary round, because I love the absolutely love the way she played the moment after Alys and Ned Umber pledge their loyalty to Jon and he accepts them back into the Northern fold. When the other Northern lords start to pound the tables in approval, Alys smiles in relief, and it’s such a genuine smile, conveying surprise, gratitude, and happiness. It instantly endeared her to me, and it really stuck with me. That scene is still one of my favorite moments of the entire season (one of approximately 87 favorite moments).
Still, it was her only real moment of the season, and to include her, I would’ve had to bump out either Keisha or Jessica, and I ultimately couldn’t pick. (Rosabell was always going to make it – in fact, she’s in a close race with Bella Ramsey as my pick to win the category). I’d rather commemorate Keisha and Jessica for being loyal soldiers for the past three seasons (and getting an inordinate amount of grief for it). Their fight with Euron was very well done, and a worthy sendoff for them both.
Guest Actor
Pilou Asbaek as Euron Greyjoy
Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose
Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion (My dude! Ever since Beric returned in Season 6, he’s vaulted from a character I always liked to one of my absolute favorite characters in the entire show. The extent to which I’m become a full-blown unapologetic Lightning Lord stan is kind of remarkable, and Richard has a lot to do with it.)
James Faulkner as Randyll Tarly
Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr
Honorable Mentions: Tom Hopper just lost out to the actor playing his father – he took a character who could have been a name and a joke and made him a relatable, empathetic character. It was also hard to leave out David Bradley, Mark Gatiss, and Ben Hawkey (It was so damn great to see Hot Pie again). Special nod to Ed Sheeran as well, because I loved that scene. I thought he performed his role well, and the whining that his appearance inspired (on other corners of the Internet, not as much here) was ridiculous.
Oh, boy! Best Guest Actress is a grimm category this year :o(
Voted for
Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont… her not planning to sit by the fire speech qualified, as well as her questionning King Jon…
Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand because her death was compelling.
As for the rest, I did not care for them or thought they appeared too little time on the screen.
Best Guest Actor:
-Pilou Asbaek as Euron Greyjoy
-David Bradley as Walder Frey (Arya)
-Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose
-Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion
-Tom Hopper as Dickon Tarly (he appeared in just a few scenes, but in those he changed my perspective about the character from Sam’s younger asshole brother to someone who demise saddened me.
Yo! Long time lurker, first time poster.
Really wasn’t a huge pool of guest actresses to pick from (go find the female cast stretcher, NOW!) so I just went with Bella Ramsey because Lyanna Mormont is still the best.
I picked a few actors but it’ll really come down to Pilou or Mr. Dormer for me. Euron was on fire this season which is an especially great change after his somewhat lackluster entry in S6, and Beric’s scenes with the Hound and Jon were just soooo good. Really hope Beric will come back in the final season.
Dee Stark,
Sue the Fury,
Compared to other shows and movies, I think Game of Thrones is pretty strong when it comes to number of female characters (and interactions between them). It even compares favorably to some of the most critically acclaimed shows of the last several years – like The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Deadwood. But it definitely isn’t perfect in this regard. Once you look at supporting and guest roles, the disparity is pretty darn significant.
I think some of it can be explained by the show focusing on the political machinations of the powerful in a feudalistic, patriarchal role. If a woman in this world is holding some meaningful degree of power, it means they are exceptional, and therefore more rare. There will be more male members of the Small Council, more men huddled around Robb and his map, more male-only institutions like the Night’s Watch and the Citadel. Especially when you look at the characters that tend to dominate these guest cateogories – lords and commanders and soldiers – it makes some sense that there would be more men than women.
But man, there still seem to be some missed opportunities over the years. So few ladies we know at court at King’s Landing. No women warriors counseling Robb in the tent. So few female wildlings that weren’t love interests (even Karsi was originally written as a man, iirc). So few women that bumped into Arya while she was wandering Westeros. And the women that we did meet, who did occupy significant supporting roles, kept getting killed off!
So, yeah, love the show, but its male:female ratio could certainly be better.
Perhaps the reason there needed to be more male guest characters is because the women are absolutely dominating the show in every other way? The only male characters who had any agency this season were Euron (while serving Cersei), Jon (who ended up subservient to Dany), Sam, who is far from a dominate male character, and Jaime and Theon for all of a minute or two each. Practically the only time there isn’t a woman dominating the scene is when the boys run off to catch a wight and get themselves trapped and in need of rescue by a woman, or when it’s a woman wearing the man’s face. But there aren’t enough female guest actresses! It’s an outrage!
I’m still too sour from Essie Davis not winning this last year…
UnViserion,
Welcome, first-time poster!!! Hope you post much more. 🙂
I voted for Rosabell for the female guest actor and for Pilou, Richard, David, Jim and Paul for male guest actor. Faulkner and Hopper were runner-ups.
UnViserion,
“go find the female cast stretcher, NOW.”
………………………..
😆😅😄
Jared,
Richard Dormer was the surprise of the season for me. Of course, his voice alone is amazing; he could read the ingredients on the side panel of a box of Twinkies and I’d be spellbound.
But his scenes with Sandor, Thoros, and Jon were alternately humorous and dramatic, and always compelling. And I’ll never forget the iconic image of Beric Dondarrion wielding his flaming sword. (Of course I won’t. It’s my new screensaver, replacing the three dragons streaming fire on the Masters’ ships in S6e9.)
Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand
Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont
Aisling Franciosi as Lyanna Stark
Megan Parkinson as Alys Karstark
David Bradley as Walder Frey
Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion
Pilou Asbaek as Euron Greyjoy
Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr
Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris
(Tim McInnerny as Robett Glover)
(James Faulkner as Randyll Tarly)
(Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose)
ash,
hahah! miss you guys during the off season!
zandru,
lol 😉
As seen on TV, Westeros lacks a cognate for an important vector to power for women that existed in the real Middle Ages: Many bright and ambitious females found an alternative to arranged marriages in religious orders, and not necessarily because they were pious. There’s a long list of famous abbesses who were advisors to kings, influencers of public policy, diplomats via voluminous letter-writing, providers of political asylum, scholars, healers, mystics, philosophers, poets, historians, philanthropists – all flourishing during a time that we think of as strictly patriarchal.
Surely the higher ranks of the Septas included comparably interesting and influential characters. But what does GoT give us in the way of Septas? Mordane and Unella, caricatures of the sour nuns remembered with a shudder by us parochial school survivors.
Unfortunately, cutting storylines from the books in the interests of screen-friendly pacing also cost us some really vivid tertiary female characters. I miss Septa Lemore and Sarella Sand especially. And spending less time among the smallfolk means that we met none of the salty female innkeepers and so on who make their own impressions in the books.
I’m not sour about it but it was disappointing. Our awards aren’t like winning an Emmy or anything, but still. Essie played a pretty major role, did fantastic and was deserving. I understood the ‘fever’ for Bella and finally getting a character a lot of readers were anxious for, but while she did a good job with some pretty fun lines it was still a very limited role in comparison.
Seeing the options we’re given this year I’m actually expecting Bella to win again even though she had little more than just a token appearance. That is why I questioned the absence of Indira in this category because her episode numbers qualify her as ‘guest’ and believe she would have won it. I’m not going to get my boxers in a bunch over it though. 😉
Not much to choose from in the actress category. Baby Bear takes it.
Actor side has more to choose from, but two stand head and shoulders above the rest and it’s a toss up between them; Thoros and Beric. Somehow they became the best characters this season and every scene with them was great. Partly due to the surprise factor; I hadn’t seen any of their scenes take form beforehand besides the lake scene. Their portrayal was a mixture of warmth, mystery, gravity and comedy. I’ll be missing Thoros.
*raises a pint*
Best Guest Actress:
1. Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand
For me the best in that group. Tyene’s death scene was played with such intensity along with Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma).
2. Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont
3. Aisling Franciosi as Lyanna Stark
Only short appearances, but well played and with pivotal moments.
No idea how Megan Parkinson made it onto that list? After all the hype last year (who was this mystery girl – perhaps Sansa’s double, etc) along with PAP4U’s photos, I thought she would have had a more active part to play… Somewhat disappointing!
Best Guest Actor:
1. Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion
2. Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr
Had to include those two. Just loved their banter with The Hound. Both at the farmer’s house and later on their expedition north of the wall.
3. Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose
You knew Sam would get a dressing down from Archmaester Ebrose after going against his orders and curing Ser Jorah of greyscale! All of Broadbent’s scenes were good. That one especially.
4. Ben Hawkey as Hot Pie
Was great to see Hot Pie again. Quite a pivotal moment for Arya who decided to go north to Winterfell after their reunion.
5. David Bradley as Walder Frey (Arya)
Most unexpected! I wondered what the hell was going on (like didn’t Arya finish him off last season?) when S7 opened with that scene. That opener was a cracker 😛
Hahaha 😀 😀 – Nice to see ya back 😛
Megan Parkinson made the short list for Guest Actress because I nominated her. I explained why I did so in my earlier post, even though I ultimately didn’t vote for her to advance to the final round.
Guest Actress:
Aisling Franciosi as Lyanna Stark – In the little screen time she’s had, Aisling’s given a memorable, endearing and powerful performance. She has shown us so much of who Lyanna is in those moments, and to see her wedding scene followed closely by her death scene just highlights the contrast in the stages of Lyanna’s life she had to portray. That death scene gets me every time – and this time around with the added emotion of her son’s name. Urgh. Amazing performance.
Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand – I nominated Rosabell based entirely on her death scene. It was incredibly tense and emotional to watch, and both she and Indira managed to convey the agony of those moments beautifully.
Megan Parkinson as Alys Karstark – Megan only appeared in a couple of scenes, but really stood out for me in her performance as Alys. Re-watching the scene in Dragonstone in particular, she is notable in the background as Alys even before Jon calls her name.
Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont – As was this case in season six, Bella completely rocked it! It wasn’t just her sassy comment to Lord Glover about defending the North, or her plea to Jon not to go, but the emotion and attention she conveyed when her king spoke. We have to see Lady Lyanna again in season eight!
I only picked four in this category – when it came down to it, I really couldn’t separate Keisha and Jessica.
Jared,
Fair enough, but I thought we’d see more of her. Megan Parkinson was also down in the cast list for S7 Ep2, but I never saw her in that.
You say you nominated her in the preliminary round? I thought THIS WAS the preliminary round? I haven’t seen any previous posts in this (or any) category for this years WotW Awards to get to this stage. They have all been preliminary rounds AFAIK?
Wolfish,
I just might! I check the site pretty frequently (especially off season) and occasionally read the comments section anyway, might as well throw in my two cents every now and then!
Ten Bears,
Bobby B may have left us in body but he lives on in spirit… and memes.
Black Raven,
I meant that I put her name forward during WOTW’s initial call for nominations. If a person/moment gets so much as one vote there, they’re eligible to be considered in the preliminary round (this round), at which point we vote for five to move on to the finals.
http://watchersonthewall.com/2017-watchers-wall-awards-now-accepting-nominations/
Megan Parkinson (and Harry Grasby, who played Ned Umber) did appear in 7×02, in the scene when Jon announces to the Northern Lords that he’s accepted Tyrion’s invitation to meet Daenerys on Dragonstone. It’s understandable that you didn’t see them there – they were purely background players and had no lines. I had to double-check as well after I saw their names in the closing credits.
I did wonder if we might see more of them – I know that many were speculating that Alys in particular might be wed to a wildling such as Tormund. But the initial casting call for Alys and Ned said they were needed for a “high-stakes scene with leading cast members”, which turned out to be exactly what we got. Perhaps they’ll return in Season 8 as background lords in Winterfell, or even take on a slightly more prominent role should the White Walkers attack Karhold or the Last Hearth. But if not, they served their purpose, and I thought Megan Parkinson in particular distinguished herself enough to be considered in what’s admittedly a sparse category at this stage.
Fine on that. My short term memory must be getting bad! I checked back and saw I had also voted in all of the categories. I selected Bella Ramsey as best guest actress.
OK on the brief Ep2 appearance. Can’t say I noticed Megan Parkinson or Harry Grasby in that scene. As most of the characters in that gathering of the northern houses in the hall at WF were extras, I didn’t pay much notice. As you say, they may appear again in S8… We’ll just have to see 😉
Jim Broadbent for the win. Also I think he’s won an oscar. The ladies didn’t leave much of an impresión. I chose tyene cos I felt bad about her fate and she had good scenes with bronn cept for that one line
Jared,
“I did wonder if we might see more of them – I know that many were speculating that Alys in particular might be wed to a wildling such as Tormund. But the initial casting call for Alys and Ned said they were needed for a “high-stakes scene with leading cast members”, which turned out to be exactly what we got. Perhaps they’ll return in Season 8 as background lords in Winterfell, or even take on a slightly more prominent role should the White Walkers attack Karhold or the Last Hearth. But if not, they served their purpose, and I thought Megan Parkinson in particular distinguished herself enough to be considered in what’s admittedly a sparse category at this stage.”
——————————
Was Megan Parkinson’s only line, “Now and always!” ?
Frankly, I was a bit disappointed by the paucity of guest actresses and meaty scenes. As you noted, there was preseason speculation that Meg P’s character might be matched up with Tormund to cement a Free Folk-North alliance.
I thought maybe they cast a fiery redhead for a substantial storyline with Jon Snow. (We know how he’s got a thing for nonconformist redhead warrior women…)
I suppose I bring a modern sensibility to my viewing. When I’m out in the world, 50% of the people I see and encounter are women. Half the people I interact with are women.
I am NOT whining about social engineering. I’m not saying they should’ve made 3 of the 7 Snow Patrol women. (Though I would not have minded seeing Meera add another WW kill to her resume.) I just wonder why it’d be so difficult to write some scenes in which guest actresses get some good dialogue and decent screen time.
(* Answers self: because they don’t have women writers, that’s why.*)
Firannion,
I’m not a Middle Ages expert, so I appreciate your comment. It’s too bad we rarely see examples of that kind of agency with female roles in a show like this when, as you say, it could actually realistically apply.
Firannion,
“…Surely the higher ranks of the Septas included comparably interesting and influential characters. But what does GoT give us in the way of Septas? Mordane and Unella, caricatures of the sour nuns remembered with a shudder by us parochial school survivors.”
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Thanks for your cogent observations about the historical imporance of many abbesses, and the comparisons to GoT septas.
Your comment also reminded me that ….
[to be continued. keyboard freezing]
Firannion,
(Continued from 12:28 pm EDT):
Your comment also reminded me that the show introduced us to two promising characters – Kinvara (Ania Bukstein), the High Priestess of the Lord of Light church, and the Red Priestess in Volantis (Rila Fukushima); their subsequent nonappearance was conspicuous.
Kinvara was the only character who ever spooked the otherwise unflappable Varys. After that great scene with Tyrion and Varys, I thought for sure she’d be back, at least to explain her knowledge of whose voice Varys heard from the fire that burned his genitals and what that voice said. Otherwise, why set up that mystery and introduce such an enigmatic, powerful character?
Rila Fukushima’s character freaked out Tyrion in Volantis just by staring at him for a few seconds. (Rila Fukushima was excellent – maybe stole the show – in “The Wolverine”; although I don’t watch “Arrow”, I understand she appears in that Marvel TV series.) After such a charasmatic actress appeared in that scene with Tyrion, I assumed her Red Priestess would be back to at least give us some clues what she “saw” in Tyrion.
S7 gave us lots of Lord of Light subplot via Beric, Thoros and Sandor. With a smidgeon of Melisandre.
However, the showrunners deserve the benefit of the doubt. One or both of the mysterious Red Priestesses played by Ania Bukstein and Rila Fukushima could very well return in S8.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I hope you’re right. Kinvara in particular seemed like an undischarged hung gun, as our wimseycal absent colleague would likely note (if he weren’t pooh-poohing the character as too tertiary or even quaternary).
Ten Bears,
Firannion,
With Kinvara and Melisandre both having freaked out the usually-unflappable Varys, and Mel saying she’s going back to Volantis before returning to Westeros (where they both must die), there just. Can’t. Be. Any. Way. That. Hung gun. Will go. Unfired. Can there? Wimsey? Wimsey? WIMSEY???
P.S. to Firannion: I second Ten Bears’s comment re.: medieval women. It’s deeply ironic how the Church, the very institution charged with maintaining and strengthening patriarchy, also served as a place where some women (literate, strong-willed, and uninterested in the strictures of matrimony) found a haven from said patriarchy.
Isn’t it, though? In their eagerness to segregate women based on the notion that they were unclean and ‘occasions of sin,’ the Church fathers unwittingly created supportive all-female communities in which many women’s talents could blossom. I wish we knew more about what was really going on in those nuns’ heads: probably quite a lot more revolutionary thinking than they ever dared commit to parchment.
Even with this relatively socially progressive new pope shocking the old guard these days with his warnings about global warming and capitalist greed and whatnot, it still seems like the concept of women exercising power is the last, most terrifying, intractable bastion of the RCC’s resistance to change. One of my favorite fantasies as a feminist ex-Catholic is that the reason the Vatican still won’t release the message delivered to the shepherd children by Our Lady of Fatima is that she told them, “Screw this watered-down Mother of God pablum; you tell those jerks in Rome that I’m God the Mother, and I’ll be back.”
But I digress…
Firannion,
I love it!!!
Digressions are welcome when they’re related to the topic at hand. 😉
Wolfish,
Yeah…Where is Ol’ Hanging Gun Wimsey?*
* I forget who came up with that moniker. I wish I had.
Ten Bears,
Wolfish,
Firannion,
TB, you’re right about the writing, I suspect. Brienne particularly would have been as useful as Thoros or Jorah for sure. That might have made the situation with Tormund and Sandor even more interesting. Firannion and Wolfish, you’re spot-on. The rich history of cloistered nuns has barely been scratched by historians. Some were real forces in their time; some were eventually suppressed because of it. Great examples were Hildegarde of Bingen, Juana Inez de la Cruz, the adventurous Nun Lieutenant. The downside is that none had any major power and that they could not reproduce. A book called Daughters of the Conquistadors gives eye-opening facts about women in New Spain (Peru) over several hundred years. The nuns are a major focus. And I miss Wimsey too.