Iain Glen recently chatted about Game of Thrones’ “brilliant yet beautiful” conclusion, stressed the importance of giving actors complete scripts and said that, at the beginning of season 8, Ser Jorah is … actually doing alright.
While promoting his upcoming PBS miniseries Mrs. Wilson with IndieWire, Iain Glen discussed the final season of Game of Thrones and praised the directors of the show for always keeping the actors in the loop, rather than hiding important plot points in the name of secrecy.
“Certain directors work that way…” Glen said. “But I find it slightly belittling to what we do as actors, the notion that we’re denied large [portions of scripts] unless it’s integral to the story that you’re telling,”
According to Glen, it’s not just that it’s insulting to be kept in the dark about a show that you’re on; it also hinders the actor’s artistic process.
“The knowledge you gain about the story, the telling, and the themes that are involved … you piece your little journey into that,” he said. “That’s what we do as actors. We should be given the material. We always got to read everything before we started.”
So, all that said … how does Glen feel about season 8’s material?
“I was in awe at the writing finesse,” he said, “that it just realized everything in a very fulfilled way. I thought it was brilliant, yet beautiful.”
When asked about how his character, Jorah Mormont, is fairing at the beginning of season 8, Glen says (despite any “fucking punkass little shitburger stole my khaleesi” looks he’s given in the past) Mormont is in a good place when season 8 opens.
“I think he’s very, very relieved and content to be back inside Daenerys’ good favor,” he said. “He’s well placed to try and to look after her. Through all the seasons, he’s ebbed and flowed with her, and now he’s well set, so that’s where he is.”
Glen said he feels a “funny old melange of different sensations” about facing the end of Game of Thrones.
“I felt very sad of course, but you don’t want to outstay your welcome,” he said. “I think it’s the right time for us to reach our conclusions. These things have a saturation point, and although people are desperate to see the resolve and see where we go, you want people to wish it was going on, and wish to want more.
“But personally, it’s been a decade of my life. I was in original pilot and every season since then. I’ve gotten very fond of the people… Acting by its nature is ephemeral, and that’s what you’re used to having quite strong relationships with people and then saying, ‘Bye,’ and then bumping into them later. And so, knowing that you were going back each year, and knowing that the whole thing was growing and becoming so ridiculously, massively, globally popular – it transformed all our lives. It was extraordinary. I know I’ll miss it, but I also want to finish when it felt right.”
Hodor????
Joraaah!
(Well, show!Jorah = Iain Glen. Book!Jorah is far less attractive and way more creepy.)
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr Glen on this:
People aren’t tired of GoT yet, they still want more. Better to end there than to stretch it out for several more years until the audience and actors and other makers get totally bored with it, and it just kind of fizzles out.
That’s why I’ve never been able to understand some die-hard fans, who wanted 12 seasons or something. I’m a fan, but 7 or 8 seasons are already pushing it a bit. I want to move on. I bet the actors, however much they’ve loved working on GoT, do too.
talvikorppi,
That’s why I’ve never been able to understand some die-hard fans, who wanted 12 seasons or something. I’m a fan, but 7 or 8 seasons are already pushing it a bit. I want to move on. I bet the actors, however much they’ve loved working on GoT, do too.
I completely agree. I’ve seen too many series (books, television, film franchises) that petered out or severely lost quality as they hung on for dear life. “Walking Dead” comes to mind in the States, and “New Tricks” in the UK. I’ve always thought 7 seasons sounded about right, and considering D&D consider S7+8 one 2-part season, I’m hopeful that not only will the multiple dangling story lines be resolved, but also some of the puzzling and infuriating things from Season 7 at least explained. And with a little bit o luck, maybe GRRM will reveal he had Winds of Winter finished all along and will finally publish it.
Oh yes. I find “brilliant yet beautiful” quite encouraging.
I also like show! Jorah, but man… priorities! You’re no longer doomed to a rotting life of decay and madness as a stoneman in exile.
Count your blessings! (And get over the ridiculous infatuation already. That was never gonna happen, dude)
I read that in his voice, yes I did.
Content? Then he definitely dies. 😂 As I’ve been expecting my 1/2 favourite character Jorah to die since Season 5, I am thrilled to have had him come this far. If he makes it to the last episode, he’d be one of very few characters to be there from Episode 1 (and the pilot) to the last.
Pigeon,
Yeah, I too read that and thought “Jorah dies in S8.”
But better to die defending his unrequited love than rotting away with the Stone Men in Old Valyria.
“brilliant, yet beautiful” conclusion.” Maybe someone should leak some of the details of the final season. So much chatter in praise of the writing cannot be good as it sets expectations high and the show runs the risk of not rising to expectations. Martin has said that a few readers have been able to figure out the end of his story based on the clues he put in the books. So much so, that he thought about changing it but decided not to. All of this praise of the writing in season 8 and the great job the writers did, makes one wonder what, indeed, is the end of this story. God, I hope it is not the Sam reading it to Little Sam theory, but for some reason I have a faint suspicion that it might be something of the sort.
Ser Jorah has always been one of my favorite characters. He is the conscious of the story in the show and in the books. Knowing when to go home and not stay “too long at the fair” so to speak, is important: In this case it is a mistake. GOT should have gone two more regular seasons, I believe. It was just that good and the books provided material enough to do so, according to Martin himself. What has gone on too long is Cersei’s storyline. That character needs killing off as quickly as possible in season 8.
I loved Ian Glenn in Downton Abbey and GOT so I look forward to seeing him in other things. A really fine actor.
If Jorah dies it will be after Jorah saves Queen Daenerys life one more time…. this time from Tyrion… “Shall we Begin”
(I think Jorah survives and gets tatooed for protection and goes back to Old Valyria with Sam and Gilly/son)
If you haven’t yet, you should check him out in “Jack Taylor”, an Irish detective series. He’s fantastic. 🙂
Pigeon: If you haven’t yet, you should check him out in “Jack Taylor”, an Irish detective series. He’s fantastic. 🙂
Thanks for the heads up. I will do just that!
Off-Topic…. Let’s give a little love and support to a GoT alumnus who’s up for an Academy Award this year: Richard E. Grant.
Jorah survives. Marries Danny.
End of story
Jorah for the Throne!
Brilliant yet beautiful?
Better than bitter yet sweet I guess.
Undead Elephant,
I am also perplexed by that phrasing. Let me go on to overthink it…..
I was thinking ” brilliant and beautiful ” was what he meant. Or, did he mean – “I was surprised by the ending but found it beautiful anyway”.
Calling it now if Jorah makes it through S8 alive I’ll be very surprised. Then again I’ve been making similar predictions for the past two seasons as well. I just don’t see any logical scenario for his arc come the conclusion especially if Dany dies.