The cast do the rounds of talk shows, joke around, promise emotionally “terrible” Season 8, “can’t imagine a better ending”

Jaime Lannister, Winterfell, Season 8

With the final season premiere a few days away, it’s Game of Thrones week on American TV talk shows, where much of the cast are making regular appearances. Among many others, Kit Harington teases a final season that will be “terrible” for our hearts, John Bradley gives a heartfelt speech on what playing Samwell Tarly has meant to him, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau claims he “can’t imagine a better way of ending the show.”

On Monday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Kit Harington talked about his recent SNL appearance, for which he had to shave (giving him the “tired child” look, as he puts it); the continuing April Fool jokes with cast mate and wife Rose Leslie; the mixed emotions of being told he was great at playing dead; and, of course, his reaction to season eight:

“There was a big temptation to skip ahead [when we received the scripts],” he admits, “because no one wants to know what happens more than we do. But I didn’t. I stopped myself. They came so late, like three days before the read-through, because they didn’t want any leaks. And I stopped myself… We had this big read-through, and [what’s better than] hearing it with all the rest of the cast actually reading as their characters? So I became like a litmus test for the season. They put a camera on me to see my reactions as the events unfolded. And David and Dan, the producers, are looking at me, and they got some pretty good reactions. I think there’ll be a documentary at some point.”

“It’s going to be a terrible last season,” he warns as he laughs, in the context not of the story’s quality but the emotional damage it will inflict. “There are definite big moments.”

That same night, John Bradley got really personal in Conan, revealing how playing Sam—as well as the confidence showrunners Benioff and Weiss placed in him to do so—helped him get past his insecurities and unhappiness about being overweight, and how he hopes the character and his experience on the show help others with similar issues.

In other clips from the interview, the actor talks about Kit Harington’s bachelor party, Bradley’s encounter with Dave Chappelle, and the prospect of meeting Geri Horner from The Spice Girls being his motivation for getting into acting (and hey, it sort of worked!)


Yesterday, on The Ellen Show, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Ellen DeGeneres mostly discussed their shared experience in Rwanda, which I really recommend you watch, though they addressed the final season of Game of Thrones briefly as well:

Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, however, Coster-Waldau did discuss the show extensively and even got a bit philosophical about it coming to an end: “You know that thing when you read a really good book, you get to the last ten pages, and you’re like ‘I’m going to wait till tomorrow.’ Because you know the minute you finish just sucks.”

“Some [people have guessed things correctly],” he admits, regarding the many theories people have about the final season and the fates of all these characters and stories. “But I’ve never read anyone who got the whole thing.”

“When I read [the scripts for the final season] the first time I was blown away,” Nikolaj says. “I wrote Dan and David, the two creators [and I told them] ‘I don’t know how you did it, but I can’t imagine a better way of ending the show.'” High praise, indeed!


Finally, for a bit of fun, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Pilou Asbæk, Jerome Flynn, Iain Glen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gwendoline Christie, Isaac Hampstead Wright, Liam Cunningham, Carice van Houten, and Jacob Anderson are asked by Good Morning America to give advice to their characters back in their first season. Hilarity ensues!

43 Comments

  1. Just seen a headline on another site that the ending of GoT can be discovered in new Spotify playlists?

    I didn’t click on the article because I don’t want to be spoiled but does anyone know if it’s true? Has the ending been partially spoiled or is it BS? Might have to start avoiding the internet.

  2. Undead Elephant,

    No. Dan and Dave created a playlist of 50 songs and said the ending is in the songs somewhere – so people are trying to piece it together to see if they can guess or it they’re just trolling.

  3. Undead Elephant:
    Just seen a headline on another site that the ending of GoT can be discovered in new Spotify playlists?

    I didn’t click on the article because I don’t want to be spoiled but does anyone know if it’s true? Has the ending been partially spoiled or is it BS? Might have to start avoiding the internet.

    Probably is time to start being careful.

  4. It’s really irritating that some YouTube clips of Conan’s show are not made available in Canada. Like.. really?

    Gwen’s laugh in the GMA video is hilarious. Those two are amazing in interviews!

  5. In enjoying a TV drama, I primarily focus on what the writer is doing with the characters and generally the overall story. As a close second, I am interested in the performance of the actor. I insist on a well-done job. (I am not a good TV viewer as I am pulled out very easily from the context of the story so I really depend on the performance. I am much better at immersion in the theatre and cinemas.) At a distant 3rd is the actor as a private person, I rarely pay attention to the actor as a person.

    I am very keen on what GRRM is doing with Jaime’s story and grateful for NCW’s performance. Only over the last 2 years or so that I have begun to appreciate NCW as person especially his work with UNDP and on climate change. Well done!!

  6. This is probably the first time we’re 5 days away and still don’t have a title – intriguing

  7. Jack Bauer 24,

    4 and a half days 🙂

    And I think you’re probably right that we won’t get the episode title until Sunday at this point, but who knows? Maybe the title will just randomly appear in the next few days.

  8. Something bad must happen with Jon for Kit to be the most vocal about how traumatic the ending is. From him saying he wasn’t happy, but totally satisfied with it, to crying at the read-through, to saying the final season will be terrible for the characters.

    While I hope it isn’t a nihilistic ending, I do feel the series demands that it be a dark ending. So it’s a fine line they must walk.

  9. Tyrion Pimpslap:
    Something bad must happen with Jon for Kit to be the most vocal about how traumatic the ending is. From him saying he wasn’t happy, but totally satisfied with it, to crying at the read-through, to saying the final season will be terrible for the characters.

    While I hope it isn’t a nihilistic ending, I do feel the series demands that it be a dark ending. So it’s a fine line they must walk.

    Not just Kit. Emilia has been pretty vocal about her character’s ending and worrying it will be people’s last impression of Dany etc. Gwen paced around after reading-even though I’m pretty sure she’ll be fine. Isaac has made some warning comments about things. Jerome isn’t sure people will find him lovable anymore. Maisie says she’s still in mourning…
    My observations after obsessively watching these interviews when I should be working, is that Sophie is the only one who seems consistently super cheerful about how it all goes down. But then she’s got kind of a dark sense of humor.

    As to my personal feelings, I don’t think it needs to be super dark as in everyone has to die. It’s been super dark. Dream of Spring and that word “bittersweet” that keeps being thrown around means there is hope and even victory for a few if not most of our favorites, but at a painful cost.
    (Unless D&D decided the red comet is a planet and white walker destroying asteroid sent from the lord of light and boom, the screen goes dark ala Sopranos ending. lol)

    Whatever is coming, the only thing I know is that I’ll be crying through most of it because it’s the end. I hate endings.

  10. To add to my previous post on NCW, I have always also noted NCW’s repeated questioning of (i) the use of weapons of mass destruction by a character in GOT; (ii) the handling of Jaime’s love arc especially with regard to his relationship with his sister

    But he seems to be content with how things were wound up. So I am quite hopeful for a worthwhile end to the series.

  11. Ten Bears,

    Episode 5: “Stick ‘Em With the Pointy End”

    Ten Bears:
    Mr Derp,

    In all seriousness, after watching Arya/Maisie grow up over the past decade… I’m going to miss her.

    Me too. The brief time that Arya spent with Tywin in the 2nd half of season 2 is probably my favorite scenes involving Arya. Then again, all of her scenes with the Hound were great too. Then again, I loved her scenes with Syrio Forel.

    I think what I’m trying to say is that I agree with you 🙂

  12. Ten Bears:
    Mr Derp,

    In all seriousness, after watching Arya/Maisie grow up over the past decade… I’m going to miss her.

    Do you remember the movie “Boyhood”. They shot that movie over 12 years following the same actor in the part as he actually grew up…

    Well, that’s what actually happened on Game of Thrones and it wasn’t really planned that way like it was in Boyhood. All of the actors were able to stick with the series the whole time. It just naturally happened, and it is really amazing to watch.. The actors (including Maisie) all reflect about it being 10 years of their lives… Their 20’s for Kit and Emilia, and their childhoods for Maisie, Sophie, and Isaac

  13. Jack Bauer 24,

    That seems kind of dumb imo. Why would I want to watch a clip from the episode an hour, hour and a half before the episode actually airs? BUT, I reckon I’ll be chatting away here on Sunday at about that time and will hear what’s in it anyway…

  14. Liam and Carice taking the piss out of each other is always my favourite part of their interviews. 😆❤

  15. Jack Bauer 24,

    Everyone’s desperate to get a piece of the Game of Thrones cash cow to increase their ratings. Speaks volumes about how insanely popular this show has gotten…

    I’ll most likely be watching a re-run of The Dragon and the Wolf on HBO instead.

  16. Mr Derp: Everyone’s desperate to get a piece of the Game of Thrones cash cow

    Ain’t that the truth… and even just mentioning it on tv and radio. I typically flip on NFLN “Good Morning Football” when I wake up. I think GoT has been mentioned every morning for the last couple of weeks… on an NFL football program…

  17. Loved John Bradley’s story about Kit’s bachelor party 😀

    I tend to like his interviews because he’s got this lovely self-depricating humour but also some great insights. (Was he the one who talke about “dramatically nutrional” scenes or something in another interview?)

  18. King in the North East,

    It’s not that I dislike “dick jokes.” I don’t like unfunny “jokes.” Just saying “c*ck” or “c*ckless” doesn’t make a line funny or the character clever.

    The intro to S7e7 was cringe-inducing, with “c*ck” every other word out of Bronn’s mouth. None of it was humorous or witty.

  19. Ten Bears,

    I do not want to get into this cock joke exchange. I wanted to comment on the original scene.

    I thought several more things were happening than jokes between Bronn and Jaime. I tend to overthink so forgive me. Like the Orson bug scene, I thought the conversation was about something else.

    I thought what the exchange was about was – Why do we fight? How do our motivations affect us? The discussion is that you fight for family – alive and dead. You fight for your home. They used cocks in the sense our source of family and familial relationships/kinships. What does man without a family fight for – Jaime himself had given up a lot in service of family and maybe the question was, what am I fighting for?

    It reminded me of Tyrion’s charge at Blackwater when he told the men to fight for their families. Blackwater and the scene Jaime and Bronn were looking at had some similarities. People facing a more numerous and well-equipped invader – why would we fight anyway? Jaime knew they could not beat the dragon team – but if they had to fight they would.

    Today every invading force faces this issue – our guys are fighting for a paycheck or some ideological beliefs. The home army – they are fighting for their family and ancestors. Vietnam, Iraq, Russia, Afghanistan – lots of cases where it is “cocks” that mattered in the fight. Facing a superior force, things were more difficult than the invaders anticipated. The external force often wins but the fight is fierce. I would classify the belief in Daenerys and her plans as an ideological belief for the Unsullied.

    Now that Grey Worm has found a family with Missy – we know that the fighting has shifted for him. What is he fighting for? Someone else dreams? How does that reconcile with his own dreams?

    On a more basic level as Jaime looked down at the Unsullied, I thought he would be thinking – how many? what kinds of arms etc., can I break their motivation? He had met the dragon and Dothraki in a battle but this was his first good look at the Unsullied.

    Tinfoil warning: as I watched – First, I thought – he is sizing them up for a fight later in the series. Then I thought – oh my god, Jaime is going be in some fighting and the Unsullied will be under his command as well. One army united. Men who will be fighting for family and a common home.

  20. Guys, I have apparently been chosen to be the Mother of Bats. His name is Sparky. He’s very cute and I think he would be a great sigil character for my new house – “House Batshit – We Do Not Guano”.

  21. Ten Bears,

    Depends. If you could ask Freud, he’d have probably agreed that “it is all about cocks in the end”.

    I think the conversation makes sense given the context. Why wouldn’t Bronn ponder these things? I was not on the floor in a laughing fit, far from it, yet I could still see the humor in it. It’s just two guys bantering. Nothing out of the ordinary. No bad writing. No shock value. No “bad jokes”. Just banter.

    I just think it’s silly really. It’s just a word. If they’d said penis instead of cock would it have been better according to you? Because it really just seems to be the word rather than the conversation itself that you call cringy.

    Let me also point out that whenever the hound says “cunt”, people cheer.

  22. I have predicted Winterfell’s doom for awhile go and check. But now rewatching season 6 and season 7. I now believe that Tyrion has masterminded Dany’s “Broken Wheel” ideal. I think he never approached strategy in regards to breaking the wheel. He always played the game (better than all) but within the rules. In Season 7 his battle losses are portrayed as missteps. But really he wanted the power houses to fall.

  23. Ten Bears,

    Yeah, there used to be a word for it, “crude” that isn’t used too much anymore because we no longer live in a “polite society.” I don’t have a problem with one now and then that’s witty (I don’t find it “funny” either) but tis true was overdone in that opener.

  24. Undead Elephant:
    Just seen a headline on another site that the ending of GoT can be discovered in new Spotify playlists?

    I didn’t click on the article because I don’t want to be spoiled but does anyone know if it’s true? Has the ending been partially spoiled or is it BS? Might have to start avoiding the internet.

    It’s extremely unlikely to be true, there are no spoilers out there apart from a couple of snippets from the premiere, I say that as someone who has been avoiding them but has friends who have sought them.

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