Awards

Watchers on the Wall Awards: Best Supporting Actor & Actress

Posted on by Sue the Fury

Supporting Group Awards

Welcome to Day 2 of the Watchers on the Wall Awards Final Round! Yesterday we started off with leading actors, and today we’ll be celebrating the best supporting actors and actresses of Game of Thrones season 5.

Our readers have voted and chosen the top five contenders in each supporting category, after a particularly rough round of preliminary voting. Out of dozens of actors (not an exaggeration- this is Game of Thrones, after all), we’ve narrowed the field down to the very best according to you, the fans. (To view the detailed preliminary results, click here for supporting actors and here for supporting actresses.)

The nominees are:

For Best Supporting Actress-

  • Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell – Watch her in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon – Watch her in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Hannah Murray as Gilly – Watch her in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell – Watch her in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Carice van Houten as Melisandre – Watch her in Season 5 on Youtube

For Best Supporting Actor-

  • Alfie Allen as Reek/Theon Greyjoy – Watch him in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth – Watch him in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont – Watch him in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow – Watch him in Season 5 on Youtube
  • Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton – Watch him in Season 5 on Youtube

In the finals, unlike the preliminaries, fans have one vote to cast in each category, and 48 hours to make their decision and vote.

Best Supporting Actress Poll:

Best Supporting Actor Poll:

The final round polls will be open for 48 hours each: these two beginning now and running until 9/24/15 at 12PM EDT. The results will be revealed at the Watchers On The Wall Awards ceremony in a few weeks time!

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Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

96 Comments

  3. Euron,

    Damn I voted for Jonathan Price instead of Iwan Rheon. Wish I could take that back as people would be pissed if Ramsay ended up winning >:-)

  5. Iain Glen was just bloody fantastic this season. That expression he made when Tyrion told him that his father had been killed.

  8. My page a day calendar quote for 22-Sept.

    Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.
    -Eddard Stark- A Game of Thrones

  10. Hey, guys, look at this article full of haterd from Wic.com

    Wic writers are one of the biggest Game Of Thrones haters I have ever seen. No matter how hard they try to disguise themselves, it is obvious that they are book purists that hate the tv show. This is evil to buy and run a Game of thrones website and secretly hate it. I bet that they bought/run the site only to bash the tv show.

  17. – Kerry Ingram: because she acted really good this season. Diana Rigg was very good previous season, now her role was a bit too small. The other women are good too.

    – Alfie Allen: he’s not my favourite character, but he had the most difficult role I think and he did it very convincing. I also like Iain Glen as Jorah, fantastic voice. And Liam Cunningham is also very good. And Jonathan Pryce too. And I also liked Iwan Rheon.

    Actually everyone mentioned here deserves the award.

  18. Carice’s acting of slow realisation in Episode 10, when she was told about the troops deserting and then her expression of utter desolation when she returned to Castle Black was, for me, the greatest acting performance of the entire season. I was blown away by Carice’s ability to convey so much simply with an expression. She is such an amazingly powerful actress and seems to have a particular genius for screen acting. Many have compared her to Greta Garbo, who was famous for those quiet emotional moments, able to use her face and body in a way that informs the scene and gives the viewer multiple interpretations of the character. Melisandre does it for me. Fantastic character.

    Jonathan Pryce was superb, as always.

  20. Supporting Actresses:

    1. Kerry Ingram – you might say on the surface that this is a simple role (be the cutest, most likeable child ever, so that we’ll be sad when you die!), but anybody remotely familiar with child actors would know that this sort of part can easily come across as incredibly cloying or annoying. Ingram never did, and held her own in scene with far more experienced actors. She’ll be missed, and she gets my vote.
    2. Hannah Murray – I think I’d call her the most underrated actor on the show. Gilly really is not a character that people talk about; she’s on the periphery of the action, for the most part, and is probably the closest to a true civilian in the story. But I think Murray brings a lot to the part, and she had more to do this season than last.
    3. Carice van Houten – I’ll be interested to see what she does with Mel next season, when you would expect her worldview will be radically changed.
    4. Diana Rigg – the writing for Olenna verges on one-note most of the time, but this season she got a smidge of vulnerability in her scenes with the High Sparrow and Littlefinger, which was a nice new note to see played.
    5. Natalie Dormer – in truth, I’m surprised this season didn’t give Dormer more to do. She’s a highly capable actress, but Margaery’s character weirdly just feels less important in every season after Season 3 set her up to be a big player. She had some good moments this year, but I think the confrontation with Cersei at the end kind of underwhelmed, not because of her, but because of the writing changes that made the hostility between Margaery and Cersei far more obvious up to that point.

    Supporting Actors:

    1. Jonathan Pryce – the best cast addition of the year, and arguably the highlight of the King’s Landing story.
    2. Alfie Allen – this season ended up being less of a showcase for him than it otherwise might have been due to the way the story was changed, but this is still his best work since Season 2, after the somewhat awkward attempts by the writers to bridge the space between Theon’s book appearances.
    3. Iwan Rheon – this portrayal has been controversial in some quarters, but I think his take on Ramsay is quite effectively chilling (leavening a bit more humour in there is a bit of an improvement in my mind).
    4. Liam Cunningham – apart from episode 9, he really didn’t have much to do this season, unfortunately, though his goodbye with Shireen was excellent. Maybe next year.
    5. Iain Glen – a good actor, no doubt. I’ve just kind of lost interest in the character, so I end up not rating him higher.

  23. Kaka,

    Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you, I no longer go on that site because all they do is bash the TV show. This site is far more positive and enjoyable.

  27. Yelmer Motmans,

    Also my choices.

    Glen gave me pause; his expressions are gold. Alfie, however, blew me away this season. I tried to vote based on who best portrays the character from the books. It was a close one between Alfie and Iwan.

  28. Well, Margaery was good as always but didn’t have anything especially meaty (consistently 7-8 out of 10 but never a 10, not that this is a bad thhing). Diana Rigg also pleasant as Olenna but again, nothing to stand above the rest. Carice van Houten also great not not standoutish.

    …I go for range, making this a competition between Gilly and Shireen — hey, remember when they SHAREd a scene? That was a great scene.

    Gilly had some great moments, but ultimately it goes to Kerry Ingram. Lots of screentime, range, really sold her fear at the end, etc.

    Supporting actor: Ramsay…doesn’t have that much range, and wile Rheon is a great actor there’s only so much he can do with him. Frankly he’s had better seasons in the past too. Did like his private conversation with his father in episode 5 learning that he was himself conceived by rape (even Ramsay looks unsettled by tis revelation). Davos…didn’t get enough to do, after they truncated Stannis’s storyline.

    Jonathan Pryce is great but also not a lot of range (he’s also mild-mannered and not a huge presence, so that’s kind of the point). Iain Glen great when he learned Jorah’s father had died, non-verbal acting.

    Still, has to go to Alfie Allen. Above and beyond the rest.

  30. Tough choice, but I went with Natalie Dormer and Iain Glen. They’re two really consistent actors who do a lot with very little.

  31. Diana Rigg
    Alfie Allen

    The other actresses in this category are marvelous, but Diana Rigg steals every scene she’s in and should get all the votes in this category.

    Best supporting actor was much more difficult as I think Iain Glen was unsurpassed this season, but Alfie Allen gets my vote. Allen has taken Theon from a pompous, smartass to Reek, a trembling, empty shell of a man over the past several seasons. The transformation was seamless and brilliant and is a performance that deserves to win.

  35. Damn, the Waif didn’t make it to the final voting :/. Nevertheless I made my decision aswell. Kerry & Iain.

  40. Outstanding nominees in both male and female categories – it’s quite painful to have to make a choice.

    Normally Alfie would be a shoe-in for me but because he had to come in as a new cast member and make an impact I will choose Jonathan Pryce who managed to avoid the pitfall of making the High Sparrow look in the least bit dangerous while putting across a sense of a game changer.

    Kerry all the way for me, the way she played her final scene will forever be very horribly imprinted on my memory, simply excellent all the way and never becoming the deliberately cute/precocious trope – shall really miss not having any more of her terrific scenes with Liam.

  41. Kerry Ingram and Iain Glen. Honorable mentions to Alfie, Iwan and Diana Rigg.

    My two favourite scenes from Kerry: Shireen/Stannis in ep.4 and her death scene. One is truly touching and other incredibly sad. She nails both of them and not to mention others with Sam/Gilly or Davos. Oh poor Davos. That brings me to another poor soul Ser Friendzoned. Iain impressed me a lot in scenes with Tyrion talking about his father’s death and with Dany in the Daznak Pit or in the Mereen throne room without actually saying much at all.

    Again, what a cast! We can’t thank enough Nina Gold and others for that.

  44. It’s slightly weird that I feel for the actors who don’t make it. I was hoping, for example, that Peter Vaughan might make, whilst there are actors in both categories who I feel deserved more votes.

    At the moment I’m not sure who is going to get my vote for best actor, so I’ll have a think for a few hours. My best actress though has to go to Kerry, who absolutely shone in all her scenes. She has a very bright future ahead of her, I’m sure of that. My runner up goes to Diana. She plays the character so well, but she was only in two episodes and didn’t quite meet Kerry’s very high level.

  45. Kerry Ingram and Jonathan Pryce. Though Alfie Allen is always terrific, Mr. Pryce brought so much subtle menace to the role of the High Sparrow that he was captivating every single second he was onscreen. You just knew that neither Cersei or the Queen of Thorns would be able to deal effectively with him. And Kerry is a beautiful performer.

  47. It was a close call between him and Iain Glen, but Alfie Allen is still the very best actor in this show.
    For the women, Kerry, hands down.

  49. These two nailed every scene they were in.
    Kerry Ingram – She conveys such innocence throughout the season until that gives way perfectly to horror, helplessness and agony.
    Alfie Allen – This guy. I mean really. Without even saying a word, he was stealing scenes. He was brilliant.

  51. Sue, it seems the image with ‘supporting actor results’ got cropped and duplicated right after the DeObia Oparei line (he’s there twice, same as Conleth hill etc.).

    Otherwise, I’m glad Alfie Allen deservedly won the first round. He gets my vote. (EDIT: Oh, just realised Peter Vaughan didn’t get to the finals.)

    In the supporting actress category, the choice is harder. I’m also somewhat surprised Kerry Ingram easily won the first round and Tara Fitzgerald ended 6th. I’ll have to decide between Carice, Natalie and Kerry.

  52. – Ingram. ‘Cause good child actors are hard to come across. Plus, rewatching her burning scene has made me reconsider my vote for Dillane.
    – Rheon: ‘Cause Allen or Pryce are probably going to win anyway, and because he reminds me a bit of Heath Ledger’s Joker. Some would say he overacts too much, but I like it.

  53. Kerry Ingram & Joanthan Pryce.
    Ingram just broke my heart from the beginning to the very end. The personification of kindness and goodness in a violent and heartless world would be an easy way to describe Ingram’s role. But she did more than playing a role. She crafted so carefully and eloquently a character that seemed almost natural while at the same time she gave such a delicate complexity to Shireen that made it easier for her fellow actors to enhance their own. And this is not an easy thing to achieve.
    Pryce managed to create a solid and subtle performance. I was impressed by the elegance he exuded authority and the smooth way he managed to convince us about it. Without having meaty, dramatic moments that can easily appeal to the eye, like Allen or Glenn had, he almost built one character’s whole arc and made it indispensable to the show. He also stole without much effort the credits from Rigg’s and Headey’s performances in scenes that were clearly made for them to excell.

  54. Kerry ingram & alphie Allen FTW! My fault I jumped the gun in the previous voting post inquiring about AA being awol, true, he is a supporting character

  56. Kerry Ingram: Her screams still haunt me.

    Alfie Allen: Probably the most underrated performance from the entire season. He’s brilliant.

  57. Had to go Diana Rigg/Alfie Allen. Love Olenna’s cleverness, always a smile when she is on screen. Never a fan of Theon/Reek, but Alfie just draws me in to his performances.

  59. Supporting actress was easy – Kerry Ingram.

    Very strong supporting actors. Alfie Allen will win, and deserves to, and Iwan is fantastic, but my vote is for Iain Glen.

  61. Was really hoping that Tara Fitzgerald and Peter Vaughn would make it to the top 5. (In fact, based on the comments in the preliminary round, I was somewhat optimistic. Should no better than to base my guesses too much on the comments). But I am happy that every nominee is very deserving. I believe Murray and Rheon were the ones I didn’t vote for in the prelims, but I cannot deny how talented they are.

  62. This category was actually easy for me. I voted for Kerry and Alfie. I don’t think any of the other women came close to what Kerry did, and she is so young, it makes it even more impressive, at least to me. Alfie was extraordinary, as well. I love Jonathan Pryce, and I think he did a fantastic job, although that was no surprise, but what Alfie did, especially with so few lines, was just stellar.

  63. Kerry Ingram is one of the easiest votes I’ll cast in this whole process. Everyone else in her category was very good, but she was incredible, holding her own with actors like Cunningham and Dillane, really milking the sympathy without seeming fake.

    To me, the top three contenders for Supporting Actor were Allen, Glen and Pryce. Allen is always so good. I do feel like he had meatier acting moments last year…but that shouldn’t discount him this year. He was consistently excellent, and even though I think his big decision in the finale didn’t completely land for me, that had nothing to do with his acting.

    Glen was similarly flawless, particularly in communicating so much emotion without using words. Can’t really easily discount him either.

    I still ended up voting for Jonathan Pryce. His character really shouldn’t work as well as it did. How many characters come in five seasons into a series with huge importance and are able to pull it off? But, partly because of how well crafted the character was, and how well acted he was by Pryce, he bolstered every scene he was in, a hightlight of every episode in which he showed up. He was able to be charming and seemingly kind, yet also terrifying; someone who could inflict pain on others, but still be a true believer in what he was doing. Given the challenge of playing such a complicated character who rose to prominance so quickly after he was introduced, I think Pryce deserves the award, even though I can point to no wrong in the performances of the other actors.

  65. Ingram and Allen.

    I feel like Iain Glen was also perfect, it sucks that I can’t vote for him as well. But if Allen can’t be in the lead actor group (I understand why), then I have to vote for him here. God, I would have loved season 5 so much more if they’d found a way to put all Theon/Reek’s plot points from seasons 3 and 4 into it (and removed him entirely from those seasons). I know there are like a billion reasons why they couldn’t conceivably do that, but I just like to imagine it anyway. Would’a bin’ some rite good tv.

  66. Kerry Ingram & Alfie Allen FTW! Though Iain Glen killed it this year and just picturing Jorah’s sad face makes me feel guilty for not voting for him. :'(

  69. I went with Alfie and Rigg. Such an easy choice 🙂

    Alfie and Rigg Hmm, sounds like a sitcom in the making….

  70. Supporting Actress: Kerry Ingram is the easy winner here for me, who had a hell of a final season on the show. The others – Rigg, Dormer, Murray and van Houten – were all solid and did great work. As some have already said, Van Houten’s expression when Melisandre returns to Castle Black – her faith shaken for the first time – was really notable, and stands in great contrast to her confident look just before she burns Mance Rayder. Brilliant stuff.

    I wish Tara Fitzgerald had grabbed the final slot instead of Hannah Murray, but I’m okay with it.

    Honorable Mentions:
    Indira Varma’s support collapsed this year, largely due to the writing.
    Hannah Waddingham probably would have made the cut in the “guest” category, particularly given the cultural cachet the “Shame Nun” has been getting (see Jane Lynch at the Emmy Awards)
    Nathalie Emmanuel will get nominated next year, I predict.
    And this category’s “Ms. Irrelevant” is Jessica Henwick, who was thrown a bone by Sue the Fury and ended up getting a whole 18 votes.

    Supporting Actor, and some grumbling.
    I went with Jonathan Pryce. But it was a very tough call. Alfie Allen really does so much with Theon – he’s one of the best non-verbal actors on the show, with one of his few peers being Iain Glen, who did so much with the news that his father had died, and also his look at the end of “Kill the Boy” as we see his greyscale.

    Liam Cunningham remains a steady, unwavering presence, but I don’t think he was a top 5.

    The bone I have to pick is with Iwan Rhoen. He’s fine as Ramsay, but he didn’t really have any interesting notes to play this year, save for the conversation with his father where we get another, better sense of his resentment. He mostly just seemed sadistic and brutal, and it’s just getting tiresome. And I really don’t know how the hell he makes it into this category when we had Peter Vaughan’s great swan song on the show, who gave us several of the year’s best moments.

    Honorable Mentions:
    No Tormund! That sucks too but nowhere near as bad as Vaughan.
    Will Tudor, with 7 votes, is the Mr. Irrelevant in this category. Nice.

  72. Jeb,

    Right, I’ve decided to go with Jonathan as Best Actor. It was really close between him and Alfie, and they both brought their A game to each of their two very different roles, but I can only vote for one, so I’m going to go for the newbie.

  74. Although Liam Cunnigham is my favorite Actor on the Show and Davos one of my favorite characters, i had to vote for Iain Glenn/Jorah Mormont cause he was so fantastic. Also Kerry Ingram. Her death scene was sad and that was the reason she got the vote.

  75. I’m sad that Peter Vaughan didn’t make it to the final round.

    My votes go to Kerry Ingram and Jonathan Pryce. Kerry for obvious reasons (Ep 9 still destroys me) and Pryce for his supreme acting in his scene with Olenna at the Sept and his epic speech just before Cersei’s arrest.

  76. Kerry Ingram by a mile for me. I don’t have anything to add that hasn’t been said already, but I’ll really miss her presence next year. Diana Rigg was great as usual and came in second for me. Third place goes to Carice van Houten, who had some terrific scenes and makes Mel really fascinating to watch. Natalie Dormer was underused this season, hopefully we get to see a bit more of her next year. I like Gilly and think Hannah Murray is doing a fine job, but that whole plot just isn’t doing it for me so far.

    Tough choice between Alfie Allen and Jonathan Pryce. The latter is no doubt a great actor and instantly had a huge presence, but the former held his own and is simply the more interesting character for me. Ian Glen finishes third just ahead of Ian Cunningham, mostly due to better material. Iwan Rheon’s performance is maybe a bit over the top, but still fun and the only thing that makes Ramsay’s continuing presence remotely tolerable, but I just want him to shoot his death scene already.

  77. I am seeing overwelhming number of votes for Alfie but my vote goes for Iwan Rheon.He has successfully managed to get everyone hate Ramsay so much that even joffrey is being missed.Was good in Roose raping his mother scene.
    I was torn in Actress dept and I went for Murray.Just felt she deserved more.Underrated actor.

  78. Had to go with Kerry, for emotional reasons and she doesn’t get another chance at this.

    For the guys I had to throw a dart at the board because they were all so good. It landed closest to Iain so he got my vote. It was just too hard to make a rational decision.

  79. Hannah Murray–took a thankless role and made it memorable.
    Alfie Allen–He’s really really good at both Theon and Reek

  80. Funny: I find the supporting actors / actresses much more impressive then the leads.
    Iwan is a great actor. I do not really like how the show depicts Ramsay but he truly makes the best of it (and terrifyingly so).

    Diana Rigg had less to do this season but she nailed the little moments the show gave her.

    Alfie & Kerry for me; but I wish I could have voted voor Iain as well.

  81. Kerry! Absolutely. If Lena’s WoS took her over the top, then Kerry’s look of utter terror when Shireen realized her fate has her in the same league. Not to say that these are the only good moments Lena or Kerry had all season. Both had great moments but it’s usually that one scene that just takes their character to a whole new level.
    Kerry was just so damn good.
    Jonathan got my nod for best supporting actor for one moment as well! As fantastic as Iain, Liam, Alfie and Iwan where all season, the look of kindness in the eyes of the High Sparrow that quickly changed to contempt, when speaking with Cersei, was brilliantly terrifying.

  82. Oh wow this was quite tricky, trickier than the main cast

    Went with Kerry Ingram and Alfie Allen though

    Pretty much because they played a pivotal role in the most emotional scenes like “you are my daughter” and Allen we saw nailed Reek not only in support of Ramsay but this time in terms of Sansa/Ramsay and melds the entire dynamic together, even though it is opposite “main cast” the scenes would have been much lesser without them

    Rigg I would have said for previous seasons, but like Marge the roles were a bit small

    Special mention has to go to Carice Van Houten for E10 facial expressions, and Pryce all season but the “strip away the gold” speech is so subtle and so brilliant

    I didn’t opt for them though because I reckon that was just warming up for where High Sparrow is a bona fide player so expect more diversity.

    Same with Melisandre who will be in a position to have to totally think on her feet and diverge from the one-note narrative she has been peddling that Stannis=Azor Ahai for so long so her character will be on a rollercoaster and I expect more diversity from CVH too

    Expecting the skills of both JP and CVH to really come to the fore this season

  83. Ravigotto:
    Funny: I find the supporting actors / actresses much more impressive then the leads.
    Iwan is a great actor. I do not really like how the show depicts Ramsay but he truly makes the best of it (and terrifyingly so).

    Diana Rigg had less to do this season but she nailed the little moments the show gave her.

    Alfie & Kerry for me; but I wish I could have voted voor Iain as well.

    Yeah he is different to book Ramsay, but this is part of the shows decision to make him a bit more multi-dimensional with father issues etc and truth be told it is as difficult a role as Reek

    But Iwan Rheon has brilliantly nailed what the TV character is required to be, not just the crazy nut look in the eyes he does so brilliantly, but the diversity of genuinely seeming to be Theons saviour as “the boy” but the look of deep malice during the conversation with Roose Bolton after he learns Fat Walda is pregnant shows there is great menace there, Iwan can project it nice and subtly without having to over-act the part of villain

    Real tell of a good actor is when they can be diverse, not just as different characters in different shows but especially as the same character in the same show and really convey their journey throughout the story being told

  84. Voted for Kerry Ingram (easy choice for me) and Iain Glenn (not so easy, as I was considering both Alfie Allen’s and Jonathan Pryce’s).

    I felt Kerry Ingram was strong in three very important moments of Stannis’ story: the endearing part, where she had the courage to ask her father if he cared for her; the farewell scene with Davos Seaworth, and the terrible death scene… (I can still hear her screaming….).

    Diana Riggs would be the runner up. I think she has been brilliant in the past, but this year I did not feel she was particularly strong. Both Melissandre and Maergery had some strong scenes, but somehow I did not connect so strongly with them. Even less with Gilly (I like her because of her connection with Sam), otherwise I would not really be invested in her character.

    I ended up voting for Glenn as I felt he covered a lot of ground in Season 5 (and I don’t mean only in terms of travelling around) but also in terms of the range of emotions. His acting when Tyrion told him of his father’s death was trully heartbreaking.

    Alfie was another strong candidate: his distress and terror in front of Ramsay, his conversations with Sansa, but most poignantly his expression during the rape of Sansa galvanized the powerlessness of us all. And when he threw Myranda from the tower I fist-pumped. But in the end, though, I felt it was along the lines of what he had shown us in previous seasons.

    And in the case of Jonathan Pryce, his conversations with the Queen of Thornes and with Cersei where magnificent, in fact, his speech of “you are the few, we are the many” is memorable in itself and because the way he delivered it, but I still preferred Glenn’s work this time.

  86. Such a tough vote!

    They all were very good in their roles.

    I went with;

    Carice van Houten as Melisandre and Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont

  87. It kills me!!! I cannot vote for just one supporting actress… they are all great! Same for the guys, but I voted for Iain Glenn because I have a soft spot for him…

  88. I went with Kerry Ingram for Supporting Actress. No surprises here. During her three seasons on the show, Shireen Baratheon was a consistent source of incisive wit, sweet-natured humor, and deep-seated pathos. Playing such a wide range of character beats would be a challenge for any actor, let alone one so young, but Ingram was never anything less than superb. Her portrayal of a lonely girl wise beyond her years fostered a deep sense of investment among the fandom in the young Princess’s safety and happiness, one that felt extremely well-earned. Of course, it all culminated this year in what I believe to be the single most emotionally devastating storyline this show has ever depicted – the tragic conclusion to which still twists a knife in my stomach every time I watch it.

    I’ll refrain from further superlatives because I already wrote an absurdly long comment on Ingram’s Curtain Call a few months back. Suffice it to say that as amazing as all of the other actresses in this category are (and will continue to be) on the show, this particular category was no contest at all.

    For Supporting Actor, I voted for Iain Glen. I was somewhat surprised that I arrived at that decision, even though Glen has been consistently excellent since the very beginning of the show. Around the time of the nomination process, I thought for certain that I would be voting for either Alfie Allen or Jonathan Pryce in this category when the time came to cast our final votes, and I very nearly did. Alfie Allen is unquestionably amazing, never more so than this year, and I’m willing to bet that he will ultimately win this category. He will be very deserving if he does, as it’s been a long time coming. Jonathan Pryce is a master of his craft, and the speech he taunted Cersei with before her arrest may be the single most impressive delivery of any peace of dialogue this season – a brilliant piece of writing delivered by a legendary actor.

    Yet when I rewatched the season recently, Iain Glen’s soulful yet wonderfully understated performance stood out in sharp relief. He doesn’t get the big speeches, but few actors do more with their silent moments – the much-cited scene where Jorah finds out about his father’s death comes to mind, but Season 5 was rich in such moments (the slow passage through Valyria, the Greyscale revelation, the first time he sees Dany again, and everything in Daznak’s Pit, to name a few examples). This was the first season that Jorah spent mostly apart from Daenerys, and while his story will always be tied to hers, stepping out of the advisory role allowed him to expand the role in a way that catered to Glen’s unique strengths as an actor. I must admit that Jorah is someone that I’ve mostly lost interest in the novels, but the show has presented a different take on the character, one that I find far more compelling. Glen has consistently found new ways to enrich him further – never more so than this year. If I had waited until tomorrow, it’s possible that I might have talked myself into voting for someone, but today, Glen gets the nod.

  92. I voted for young Kerry and the masterful Liam because their scenes together defined the utter pathos (ok, big yucky word that shows I had an English teacher for a mother). Their relationship fully illuminated all of the dimensions of Stannis Baratheon (may he burn…). Seriously, great supporting work that served the entire series and the principal themes of honor and the lack thereof.

  93. Jared,
    Glen did not get my vote but I loved what you had to say about his performance this season. I had actually found Jorah to be rather an annoyance but this season, out of Danys’ good graces, he totally upped his game.

  96. I just took a look at the actual results and with Shireen burned and gone, perhaps Carice can net a supporting win for Season Six?

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