While on a press tour for Ghost in the Shell, Pilou Asbaek teased the future of his Game of Thrones character, Euron. What is he up to next? And, is he long for this world?
MTV News talked to the actor and he was quite happy to tease his role in season seven. When asked about “just how much shit Euron was going to start”, Asbaek had a gleefully mad answer befitting his character: “Enough to get satisfied — good satisfied.” If the new King of the Iron Islands is satisfied, it’s safe to bet his enemies are in deep trouble!
Miami.com also got to interview the Danish actor, while he was in Miami to promote the adaptation of the popular manga, in which he plays Batou, a cyborg super-soldier. Of course, we know Asbaek for playing a very different kind of warrior, and the local publication stumbled into the topic while asking the actor about his plans for the future:
“I may be going to do some more ‘Game of Thrones.’ Maybe I won’t. I’ll take a break. I want to see my wife and daughter. I’ve missed them a lot.”
How much can we read into his answer? Has Euron’s lifespan been cut short now that his niece and nephew are shacked up with Daenerys, as he had planned to do himself? With his original plans foiled, what’s Euron’s next move? Whatever it happens to be, will it pay off? Will the character survive the coming season, giving Euron a role in the end-game, or is season seven the last we will see of the just crowned Driftwood King?
“Oh ffs, Euron, let me pass that damn bridge !”
“I am the bridge.”
I want to see him in his valyrian steel armor that later Jon somehow takes from him and 1v1 challanges the Night King while wearing it.
r-hard,
That’s not gong to be in the show thankfully because it just reeks of fantasy trope that i simply just despise . Hero gets magical armor and levels up,no,thanks but no .
His crown is so tacky and ugly. I can’t lmao.
He’ll be here for a while though. They’ve just introduced him.
DragonBallfan,
Rotfl that cracked me up … who spent gems on that armor
r-hard,
I think that’s a pretty cool idea.
DragonBallfan,
Well it is a fantasy show and story of course. I guess fire breathing dragons, a fireproof human (in the show only by the way), an ancient man who lives in a tree, a magical race of children and a magical race of ice demons that raise the dead led by a fireproof leader who can also cause turn infants and apparently crack the ground by simple touch (again in the show only by the way) don’t reek of “fantasy trope”.
r-hard,
I love cheesy OTT tropes, so I’m here for it. I’ve been hear for it since I heard about The Foresaken chapter. Sam better steal that shit in the books like he stole Heartsbane on the show.
Game of Thrones is a fantasy? Bring on the magic armor to go with the magic swords
I think we can take away exactly nothing regarding his future on GoT from his comments in that interview. ?
Pigeon,
Lol my thoughts exactly…
Sounded menacing though, mayyyybe?
I rather enjoy tv euron, actually.
He previously implied that he has the dragon horn they just held it off for later.
Blah. His scenes were boring, the Iron Islands are boring, his character’s boring, and his crown is silly.
Bring back Karsi!
Folks please don’t forget today is April Fools. Do not believe any GoT stories what so ever. Someone started a story on Twitter that Emilia quit GoT and people were freaking out lol.
It’s funny but I just liked the iron islands subplot in s6. Bit condensed, sure, but it was surprising close enough to the spirit. My only real complaint is that if they were going to cut out other kingsmoot candidates for time, they could have had them as non speaking cameos holding their banners. New heraldry is always cool. If it’s supposed to be a gathering of a iron islands houses.
Also mildly confused why we didn’t get nagged bones in final version – I mean they made concept art for it, so was it dropped late?
I really wish they’d done Euron in the show not as Drunk Uncle but as Terrifying Madman.
It’s a driftwood crown, as befitting the holy status of the kingsmoot. Do not mock the drowned god.
He was in two scenes, and I think the boisterous uncle routine in the second was his “public” charming face to a group of bros.
I suspect we’ll see more
His introduction is one of the best of the entire show.
I haven’t been impressed at all by his performance as Euron, beyond the fact that he looks like he could be kin to Alfie Allen. I thought he came off as a one-dimensional, scenery-chewing, moustache-twirling supervillain with a plan for world domination. Of course, they don’t have that much to work with; I think he’s an even less nuanced villain than Ramsay in the books as well. I guess there have to be a handful of characters who aren’t grey, but aside from Theon and Yara/Asha, I find most of the Iron Islands side-plot pretty tedious. Having Euron expire quickly once he has teamed up with Cersei will be no great loss, IMO.
Ten Bears,
Funny you should mention that. The Karsi actress and Pilou Asbaek played lovers in the fabulous Danish political series, Borgen. Asbaek made a big splash in that, and ‘Karsi’ was a villain in a recent Pitch Perfect movie, which I’ve not gotten round to seeing. BTW, I don’t find the Iron Island scenes boring or exciting v. the books, but the books were much more intricate and detailed, which made the whole II culture come to life.
orange,
lol dont you know? only daenerys can have cheesy fantasy tropes,no one else.how dare them?!!
If it were to be ‘one or the other’ that’s included in the show then I’d prefer the Valyrian steel armor over the silly Dragonbinder. I’ve mentioned it before, I think the Dragonbinder is one of the dumbest things George added to the books. I don’t think that in regards to magical fantasy or anything. It’s more in line with “Oh come on! You can do better than that.” I think of it every time I see Euron’s name and it makes me despise the inclusion of the character. Without sight of or even a mention of it on the show it just can’t pop up out of nowhere this late… Just can’t!
orange,
Except all those elements that you mentioned have been set up before the show while the valyrian armor feels like something Martin pulled out of his behind at the last minute ,either way it’s not going to be on the show just like the fake Aegon wasn’t and just like LSH isn’t,apparently David and Dan has the same opinion as mine that those elements aren’t necessary for the story,so i guess that sucks for you ?
lady,
Thank you for completely missing my point,also please try to use capital letters once in a while ok ?
The one thing I know is that Dave and Dan don’t have ANYONE still in the show that isn’t important, doing something, or a key to something. Say what you will about the Dornish sequences, what was adapted turned out to be critical to advancing the story (even the &$@##!$ Sand Snakes) so SOMEthing is coming out of Crazy Uncle Euron’s role, either this season or next!
Exactly. I believe Euron did what he had to do to win the Kingsmoot. Once in office, he will involve the Iron Islanders in evil they could not have anticipated.
Stark Raven’ Rad,
Oh, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen (Karsi) was just fabulous in Pitch Perfect 2! Singing, dancing, and snarking as the “Kommissar”, the leader of the world champion German acapella (sp?) group, “Das Sound Machine.” You’ll find it hard to believe it’s the same fierce a Wildling Chieftaness. (I think there are YouTube videos of Das Sound Machine’s PP2 performances.)
And Pilou: I like the actor. He had a supporting/brief role in “Lucy” as Scarlett J’s pseudo-boyfriend. He was slimey good.
I just don’t like the whole Iron Islands business. Just my personal taste. I’d rather watch Arya sweep floors than hear the “Ironborn” babble on about what is dead may never die, or how they pay the stupid iron price.
Again, to each her/his own.
DragonBallfan,
no
Firannion,
Personally, I believe he was miscast.
I was quite optimistic after that first scene on the bridge with Balon, which had some cool lines and was well shot, but then he turned up at the Kingsmoot and it just didn’t work at all in my opinion.
He’s too young (Patrick Malahide is 72. Pilou is 35).
He’s not at all imposing or menacing enough.
And when you think of some of the great actors they’ve had on this show playing really sinister and/or malevolent characters, like Owen Teale, Michael McElhatton, Noah Taylor, Burn Gorman, Robert Pugh and so on, I find it strange that they didn’t go for an older character actor who could bring some real intrigue to the role.
For that reason I’ve started to wonder whether they deliberately cast somebody who they thought wouldn’t outshine Alfie and Gemma and who the viewers wouldn’t find too engaging.
Since Euron is presumably meant to serve only two purposes, 1. to drive Theon/Yara towards Daenerys and 2. act as a secondary antagonist in S7 and most likely die, maybe they wanted an actor that would be relatively dispensable as far as the viewers are concerned.
For example, I was quite disappointed with the manner in which Roose Bolton died partly because I loved Michael McElhatton’s portrayal so much that I wanted to see his character get a great ending.
But so far I’m not really interested in what Euron’s going to do next season and I couldn’t care less how he dies.
I’m open-minded though. If Euron gets some good material next season and Pilou Asbaek pulls it off, I’d be happy to acknowledge it.
Ramsay’s 20th Good Man,
The discrepancy between Euron’s two scenes is so stark that I just have to believe it’s deliberate. Personally, I (like many others) subscribe to the theory / hope that the Euron we saw in the bridge is the real Euron, and the one from the Kingsmoot is just who he had to be to win over the idiot men of the iron islands. We only had two scenes with him, so it’s too soon to tell, but if I’m right, next season we should get to see a bit more of the sinister, mad Euron we saw kill his own brother, and less of the vociferous politician he played to win the Driftwood Crown. We’ll see soon enough if this is the case.
Luka Nieto,
I agreed with you. I notices that the show have the tendency to develop their villain or unlikable characters to something more nasty than the audiences would take them for. Like, initially Joffrey started off as an annoying, spoiled, shit before he turns out to be not just obnoxious, but also sadistic. Ramsay developed from just a bastard and torturer in a dungeon to be legitimatized and the Warden of the North who went so far to kill his father, stepmother, and his infant half-brother. Wader Fray was just a senile man who couldn’t gain anyone’s respect before the Red Wedding reveals he would actually take levels of extreme with what he want regardless how pitiable his reasons was or what law he broke.
So i think Euron is going to be no exception, especially given Joffrey and Ramsay are gone. He give an impression of a drunk man, but his first scene definitely implies there’s more to him.
Luka Nieto,
I agree. In fact, I think he’s going to blow our collective minds. I hope.
Ten Bears,
Karsi already back…… as a wight. LoL!
DragonBallfan,
Hear hear. I’ve never been a fan of too easy, almost children book like solutions to major obstacles or problems just because “it’s a fantasy universe”, which is what I think you meant by fantasy trope.
Kentmid,
Yes, they are there for a reason. I do think and hope that Euron is there to cause a lot of trouble and then to be killed off, preferably by Theon Greyjoy. But anyone of the original cast who’s still alive prior to season 7 is important.
….
I’m a Dane but so far I think Euron has been miscast in large because of his accent.
As for the age gap, men can father children all of their lives so an age gap between 2 brothers of some 30 years is plausible.
Hopefully Euron’s accent will be better in season 7 and his scenes more sinister. I think Ramsay was cartoonish enough villain wise. We don’t need more of those.
Most of all, I’m looking forward to Euron’s violent death.
Ice zombie big boss who only speaks in a language of cracking glass.. sorta boring. Cersei is a fool so if she pulls it off as the main villain.. not buying it. A pirate/viking who uses black magic, can maybe use telepathy and has a connection to Bloodraven.. while travelling the world on a ship crewed by mutes because he personally ripped out all of their tongues…… that is a badass villain I would enjoy going against our ‘good guys’. The show needs a proper villain. What you want? Killer croc.. or the Joker? you want the Joker everytime!!!!! …
His first scene was one of the best scenes in the whole show, and the little reference to Odysseus (who he is based on) was a lovely little inclusion.
The Kingsmoot was poorly writen/poorly directed (like a lot of other scenes from the last two seasons) but if you want to see there was a purposeful contrast watch the extra history of westeros clips where Euron talks about the ironborn and their history/traditions.. he sounds a lot like the real Euron from the book. The ONE WHO IS GONNA **** **** up!!!
EURON! EURON! EURON! EURON! *throws Euron’s plunder of valyrian steel daggers among other nifty little trinkets into the crowd* EURON! EURON! EURON! *Don’t care if he may have done something nasty to his two little brothers, he’s still awesome* EURON! EURON!
lady,
Well i don’t expect anything less out of a 12 year old .
All of this fighting over fantasy tropes lol. This series is full of them and they are unavoidable elements to telling a story such as this. I may disagree with how the show intros certain things or leaves some things out, but fantastical elements belong in this very fantasy based world. Despite the veneer of political intrigue early on.
DragonBallfan,
If you’re going to play the role of grammar Nazi, watch out for the run on sentences there buddy. Use a period once and a while. 🙂
Luka Nieto,
That’s an interesting possibility. I doubt even the Ironborn would choose a leader who cuts out the tongues of men who saved his life. Perhaps we’ll see a darker Euron next season. But I still find the casting strange nonetheless.
Singedbylife,
The age gap is plausible, but I don’t think it works well.
I think somebody around Lena Headey or Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s age would have worked better both as a brother and an uncle.
Pilou Asbaek is the same age as Gemma Whelan and only five years older than Alfie Allen, so he comes across more like one of their peers than like an uncle that would be better respected and well-known.
An actor in their forties would have lent the role more credibility as this legendary, fearsome pirate in my opinion.
FWIW, today IMDB had a profile of Asbaek in their No Small Parts series. They also did one of Gwendoline Christie several months ago. Because of Borgen, I like Asbaek and think he’s very capable of capturing the mad, bad, dangerous-to-know Euron from the books. And he’s almost the spitting image of Alfie Allen. It’s the best casting for likeness since using Robert Aramayo as young Sean Bean last season.
Anyway, the IMDB profile link is:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls036992962/videoplayer/vi759805465?ref_=hm_hp_i_2
Mine is more of a “hope” than a certain “thought”, to be honest. Euron is a secondary character in the books, and as of yet a tertiary one in the show. But, if they spend some time with him in season seven, they may be able to showcase his madness properly. I’m not immensely interested in the character, to be honest (I was never too immersed in the Greyjoy storyline in the books, though that’s the fault of Aeron and Victarion, not Asha or Euron), but he was included in the show, so I’m hoping D&D make him an interesting character.
Euron’s evil-coded blue lips and eye-patch were never going to happen, as they were too much of a cliche for an evil pirate and an evil magician respectively, but his other features could’ve been realized (there’s a reason Mads Mikkelsen was a popular fan casting; he had the look.) Still, even though Asbaek may not look like Euron is described in the books, he looks so much like Alfie Allen that he’s the perfect fit to play Theon’s uncle. And Asbaek can play mad, as we saw in the bridge. So, though he certainly does not fit the original character’s description at all, I think he’s great casting for “Theon’s mad uncle”.