BAFTA Winners for Game of Thrones Season 7 Reflect on Wins for Production and Costume Design

706 Beyond Frozen Lake Daenerys Jorah

If you had a dollar for every award Game of Thrones has won, you’d be able to go on a nice vacation. If you had a dollar for every award for which Game of Thrones has been nominated, you’d retire at age 23 and collect yourself a bountiful pension. Being the avid Watchers on the Wall reader that you are, you already know that Game of Thrones season 7 won several BAFTA awards. Since you’ve spent the entire time wondering, “I wonder what the winners thought about this,” we’re here to fill in the gap on what went down at the BAFTA (British Film and Television Awards)…

In an interview with Gold Derby, Game of Thrones season 7 production designers Rob Cameron and Deborah Riley talk about their thoughts on winning, as well as the season as a whole. “When we’re watching the episodes I definitely just look at what we’ve done and analyze it,” says Cameron, juggling the tasks of both watching and working on the show side by side. It’s easy to watch a show at home and enjoy it for what it is, but imagine having worked on it, and hoping the audience will react the way you’ve envisioned it? It must be nerve-wracking! Hopefully the BAFTA award is a confirmation that they’ve done good work!

Reflecting on their proudest moment, Riley says: “For me, I loved the Meereen audience chamber we did in season four.However, hoping to give us a little hint of what’s to come (more like not at all), Cameron adds: …season eight is going to eclipse all of that, I’m just saying.”

By the conclusion of season 8, Michele Clapton will have done the costumes for all seasons other than season 6. In an interview also with Gold Derby she was asked to compare her work on The Crown with that of Game of Thrones. “No, you can’t, you can’t…It was incredibly sad not to do the second season of ‘The Crown’ but I made the decision to get back to ‘Game of Thrones’ because it’s my baby. I grew with it.”

Remember how incredible the shifting costumes of Daenerys Targaryen in season 7 are? Turns out, Dany is Clapton’s favorite character, as she reflects here. “For all of the journeys that she’s been through, she is becoming a Targaryen again…I really enjoyed telling the story with silhouettes and fabrics and colors…someone suddenly starts wearing a color which shifts their allegiance, [and] it makes you question what’s going on. It’s really good fun.”

Click the links to check out the rest of the interviews!

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20 Comments

  1. Well deserved award for Michelle Clapton! The costumes in S7 were top notch, my favourites include Dany’s ice dragon dress and Sansa’s ‘Lady of Winterfell’ dress

    I love what Clapton said about Sansa’s outfit: “I designed it to wrap around over her side-laced dress to represent the absolute removal of any possible physical touch. Her dresses are also tightly-laced on, incredibly difficult to remove; it’s a message to Littlefinger.”
    https://amp.thisisinsider.com/images/598a0f30efe3df45008b48c0-1136-852.jpg
    I like the thought of Sansa dealing with her past trauma after the death of all of her abusers.

  2. someone suddenly starts wearing a color which shifts their allegiance,

    Is Tyrion truly shifting his allegiance or will Cersie start wearing blue to support the night King

  3. Pigeon:
    Ahem….Sean Bean winning lead actor for “Broken”…ahem….👍👍👍

    We never mention that kind of stuff, except maybe in passing. We don’t follow the careers of cast and crew after they’re done with the show, just as we don’t report on their personal lives.

  4. Luka Nieto,

    I was just about to mention it, too. Sean never really wins awards as an actor despite deserving them from time to time.

    Good to know, thank you Luka :).

    Nevertheless it’s great that Game of Thrones also won some of these awards.

  5. Luka Nieto: We never mention that kind of stuff, except maybe in passing. We don’t follow the careers of cast and crew after they’re done with the show, just as we don’t report on their personal lives.

    That’s why I did. 🙂 It’s nice to see him recognized for a great performance even if it’s not GoT related.

  6. Pigeon: That’s why I did. 🙂 It’s nice to see him recognized for a great performance even if it’s not GoT related.

    I understand their decision and practice, but yeah, I think it’s nice to give a shout out for the positive, public non-GoT accolades and events of the cast without necessarily ‘covering’ them. I do like new articles/posts kept show specific as it is. I’ll personally always keep track of and be interested in what this cast is up to though.

  7. Luka Nieto: We never mention that kind of stuff, except maybe in passing. We don’t follow the careers of cast and crew after they’re done with the show, just as we don’t report on their personal lives.

    😩😩 Does that mean…we won’t be getting any news about … Rory McCann?

    #WhereistheHound?
    # PrayforSandor

  8. laiava: I like the thought of Sansa dealing with her past trauma after the death of all of her abusers.

    If that’s just her dress, you don’t even want to contemplate her smallclothes – I’m guessing leather reinforced with steel…

  9. Ryan,

    Davos lives, the Hound dies, and Tormund is a wild card. He’ll probably end it himself after he catches Brienne with Jamie 😉

  10. laiava:
    Well deserved award for Michelle Clapton! The costumes in S7 were top notch, my favourites include Dany’s ice dragon dress and Sansa’s ‘Lady of Winterfell’ dress

    I love what Clapton said about Sansa’s outfit: “I designed it to wrap around over her side-laced dress to represent the absolute removal of any possible physical touch. Her dresses are also tightly-laced on, incredibly difficult to remove; it’s a message to Littlefinger.”
    https://amp.thisisinsider.com/images/598a0f30efe3df45008b48c0-1136-852.jpg
    I like the thought of Sansa dealing with her past trauma after the death of all of her abusers.

    What I wouldn’t give to get a close look at her sketches, notes, and finished work!

  11. Ryan:
    Hound, Tormund, Davos: who lives, who dies?

    Sandor I adore the Hound. He’s my co-favorite character (along with Arya). The showrunners surely know they struck gold by casting Rory McCann. He’s one of a handful of actors on the show I consider irreplaceable.*
    However, I’m afraid to say that I’ve reconciled myself to the Hound’s demise. I am convinced he will go out in a figurative and literal blaze of glory, giving credence to the prediction of Beric Dondarrion: “You can still help a lot more than you’ve harmed, Clegane. It’s not too late for you.” Beric’s words echoed the “sermon” of Brother Ray, directed to Sandor, that it’s never too late to stop killing and robbing people, and start helping people.
    Besides, in my view, Sandor’s destiny is to once and for all overcome his fear of fire and abandon his PTSD-induced “hateful” facade. Those “guns” have been fully loaded and hung too often and too conspicuously to leave unfired. From my my tinfoil, fanfic perspective, a surly, foul-mouthed, misanthropic character like Sandor Clegane would be “the Last Hero” you’d expect to be the one to save humanity. Which would make that twist so delicious. At the very least, I expect him to die with a measure of contentment, with at least one genuine “happy memory” – after his first “death” at the end of S4e10 showed him regretting – and sobbing – that he was going to die without at least “one happy memory.”
    Finally, all of Arya’s significant mentors have died heroic deaths – protecting her or other innocents. (See eg Syrio and Yoren. Jaqen doesn’t count. He turned into a cold-hearted weirdo in S5 and S6.) Sandor already “died” once protecting Arya from someone who appeared to be a Lannister lackey trying to abduct her under false pretenses (just like Meryn F. Trant tried to do with Syrio). Sandor also put his life on the line on other occasions to keep Arya safe (e.g., when she went crazy on the camping Frey soldier, when she was about to make a futile (suicide) run into the Twins, and when Polliver intended to gang rape her). Not to mention his heroic rescue of Sansa during the KL riot.
    So, as much as it pains me to say it, I suspect Sandor is “living on borrowed time”, and will not make it to the end. But he’d better have a f*cking glorious, heroic death with a full-tissue-box, dying speech to his two sobbing surrogate daughters. And me, sobbing along with them. 😢😥

    Tormund I had thought that at least one representative character of all of the societies we’ve seen on the show would survive at the end. Tormund is the only recognizable Free Folk character left. (I exclude Gilly because she was Crasterized and then civilized by Sam; she never really exemplified the “wildling” culture.) I’d be really surprised if Tormund met his demise “off screen” when the Wall came down at Eastwatch at the end of S7.
    After he was riddled with arrows in S4e9?, survived the Hardhome massacre in S5e8, led the Wildlings against the NW mutineers in S6e2, gave that rousing speech to convince the Free Folk to join Jon vs. the Boltons, survived the BoB in S6e9, and got saved by Sandor from wights pulling him into the frozen lake in S7e6, I just cannot fathom the show giving Tormund a Blackfish-type off-screen “oh well, bye bye” quick send-off.
    Further, Tormund has served as Jon’s “conscience” in many respects. More than anyone else, even Davos, Jon has an easy, honest rapport with Tormund. Without a novel’s internal monologues, the show “needs” Tormund as a sounding board for Jon. Though in some respects Sam can fill that role, I feel that Tormund’s character adds weight to Jon’s “big picture/guard the realms of men” philosophy. Not to mention Tormund has given us much-needed comic relief in otherwise perilous situations.
    Finally, the transformation of Tormund from Jon’s bitter enemy to uneasy ally to trusted, loyal friend has been a highlight of the show. To arbitrarily terminate that relationship after all of that careful build up and development would be unsatisfying. (A death can be tragic, shocking, and upsetting – but it should still make sense, eg Robb. Or, like Doran and Dorne, it can be necessitated by “narrative euthanasia” of a plot line that fell flat.) Tormund dying for no good reason at this point would just… suck. I feel he’s got to be around at the end so the Free Folk are part of the new world order. Or else, the show could’ve simply applied the “D&D Dornish Solution”** to the wildling civilization storyline.
    So my guess (wish) is that Tormund somehow survives.

    Davos I have to think he will be around at the end. He’s like the “everyman” – the viewers’ (and readers’?) stand-in.
    My pet theory has been that GRRM/GoT has a penchant for dramatically killing off the apparent “heroes” and kings (like Stannis, Mance, Jeor, Aemon, and Robb) and elevating their right-hand men and “sidekicks” to central figures (e.g., Davos, Tormund, Sam, Jon, and even Tyrion). Davos is the quintessential example of a sidekick-turned-critical character. (I do understand that in the books, “sidekicks” are often POV characters, used to portray the idiosyncrasies and flaws of their superiors, and to illustrate the conflicts they face in making expedient but often fatal decisions, e.g., Stannis.)

    * i.e., lots of other actors have done great work on GoT, and yet, I feel other competent actors in the same age range could’ve been “slotted in” without a noticeable difference. For example – and don’t get me wrong, because I just love Emilia Clarke – but I figure there were a host of other twenty-something actresses who could’ve adequately played the part of Daenerys Targaryen. Likewise, Kit Harington has really earned the praise he’s received for his portrayal of Jon Snow, but I can think of several young British and Irish actors who could’ve done a decent job.

    ** Not my term. I am sorry. I forgot who coined it.

  12. Likewise, Kit Harington has really earned the praise he’s received for his portrayal of Jon Snow, but I can think of several young British and Irish actors who could’ve done a decent job.
    No, no, no Ten Bears ! Who else has got such wonderful hair😉
    Ten Bears,

  13. Ten Bears,

    Yes to everything you said about Sandor– especially the overcoming his fear of fire. I expect he will need to do this in order to kill his brother (with said fire). It would be pretty cool if he was the Last Hero, but that role is saved for another(s). Hopefully we get to see him save his “surrogate daughters” one last time before he goes!

    I’m iffy on Tormund… he is the face of the Wildlings (and I definitely don’t expect him to be dead to start S8), so I expect him to stick around most of the season. But I don’t think there are really going to be “Wildlings” at the end of the series… that is not to say that all the Wildlings will die, but more of that it won’t really matter who you are after the war is done. I don’t think there will be a Wall anymore (maybe it’ll melt, maybe the Night’s Watch will destroy it) so I think Wildlings will sort of drop that name and everyone will just be people. Tormund could definitely live, but I could just as easily see him dying in service to Jon. I haven’t exactly picked up on a strong character arc for him throughout the show so it is hard to see a fit ending.

    I do expect Davos to survive; but I’m having a hard time picking up your point about elevating the right-hand man to a main character. What you wrote definitely makes sense… but are you saying that Jon will die and Davos will kind of step into a bigger role post-war? Because Davos is Jon’s current right-hand man, it seems.

  14. Is Sophie done with filming? Her tweet looks like It.

    I Hope season 8 is filming until August or at least July. June as headey Said is so close, i hope the First rumor is right and pilou as well as he Said in recent Interview season 8 Will have 10 months filming

  15. Jaehaerys,

    What I meant by Davos being a “right hand man” elevated to a primary role is that he started out as wingman for King Stannis – but it turned out Stannis flamed out and Davos became a prominent character. I wasn’t suggesting that’ll happen again, with Davos supplanting Jon.

    I do remain confused how and why Davos quickly glommed onto Jon Snow as his new boss, just like I still don’t understand why Davos, Edd and a few others were so adamant about protecting Jon’s corpse at the beginning of S6. Those are minor details. I’ll just assume Davos got to know Jon well enough to realize he was a leader worth following. As to the body-on-the-slab? I’ve got no explanation… just as I didn’t understand how seemingly out of nowhere, Davos went to Mel and asked “I was just wondering… ya got any recipes to resurrect dead people?”

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