Last week, we asked our readers to tell us who they wanted to nominate for the big awards this year, as we celebrate the best of Game of Thrones season 4.
The fans have spoken, the numbers have been tallied up, and it’s finally time for the Watchers on the Wall Awards polling rounds to begin.
We’re starting with the major female characters today. In fact, the Best Actress category this year is so narrow, it doesn’t require a preliminary poll. Five performers are headed straight for the final round in the coming weeks, and they are:
Gwendoline Christie
Emilia Clarke
Lena Headey
Sophie Turner
Maisie Williams
Now, onto the supporting cast. In order to wind up with the most accurate assessment of the viewers’ top 5 picks for Best Supporting Actress, we’re asking that each of you select up to FIVE nominees from this poll. You may choose fewer, but you can’t choose more.
At the end of 72 hours (Monday 8/18/14 at 9am Eastern Time), whichever five actresses have the most votes will continue on to the finals. (Note: in the final rounds, you will only have one vote to cast in each category!)
Special thanks to Greatjon of Slumber for handling the huge task of tallying the nominations!
The results of this poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the final winner of Best Supporting Actress, in a few weeks. In the meantime, feel free to debate and campaign for your favorites.
Happy voting!
Even if there are not many candidates in the best actress category, they will be very hard to choose from.
Wow! This was harder than I thought it would be. I love Nathalie and am a fan of the possibilities opened up by the aging of her character. And poor Ellie–not much to work with in her storyline.
The site is doing great, all! Keep it coming! ♡
Sorry Natalie, Nathalie and Rose. The rest had a more engaging season.
Easily Rose. She spent most of the season angry but her face when she saw Jon again…. I cried.
I love Nathalie, Carice and Rose and I think they did marvellous acting this season but they didn’t impress me as much as the rest. Ellie Kendrick did so much with so little, Indira was so captivating, Sibel was fantastic and Natalie and Diana are just amazing. I love this page and I am really liking how you are doing the awards stuff. Congrats!
I voted for the following women:
Rose Leslie – Yes, Ygritte was either offscreen or silent for much of the season, but when her moment came, she rose to the challenge with the same brilliance that I’ve come to expect from her. She was typically badass in all of the action scenes and extremely affecting as she portrayed both Ygritte’s inner conflict in the moments before her death and the sadness of her final goodbye to Jon Snow. Rose has given so much to her character during her three seasons on the show, and her performance is the biggest reason why I was far more invested in Ygritte on Game of Thrones than I ever was in the books. (The crew loved her too – the fact that she received Ygritte’s bow after she wrapped filming with a little placard that said “Kissed by Fire” was so incredibly sweet). This is our final opportunity to vote for her, and I’m certainly going to take it.
Diana Rigg – Our Queen of Thorns and resident Dame is always going to be worthy of recognition, and especially this season, when she successfully assassinated the series’ biggest villain and filled her granddaughter in on the details of her legendary sexual prowess. “I was good. I was very, very good.” Trust me, my lady – you still are.
Natalie Dormer – Speaking of Olenna’s granddaughter, Margaery did unfortunately fade into the background a bit towards the back half of the season as events in King’s Landing intensified, but whenever Natalie was onscreen, she shone brightly. Her seduction of Tommen is one of my favorite scenes of the year – an extremely significant plot development that was also wickedly funny. And her subtle digs at Cersei during their conversation in “First of His Name” were a nice little preview of attractions to come.
Nathalie Emmanuel – Some may disagree, but I think that aging up Missandei has been a smart decision on the part of the showrunners, especially because it has allowed the lovely and talented Nathalie to play her (and she is VERY lovely). I know that there are people out there who think that Missandei and Grey Worm’s nascent romance is filler* and that time could be better spent elsewhere. I’m not one of them. I think that it’s sweet, extremely well-played by both Emmanuel and Jacob Anderson, and provides a nice bit of insight to the Unsullied and the psychological damage caused by enslavement. I’m rooting for those two crazy kids 😉
Ellie Kendrick – This was a tough call over Sibel Kekelli, and I know that Meera didn’t get much to do this year. But I’ve always been a fan of Ellie’s, and I found her reaction to Jojen’s death, brief though it was, to be surprisingly poignant. I don’t expect her to make it through to the final round of voting, but I’ll cast my final vote for her as a sign of support, and in the hope that she’ll get some good material to work with next season (maybe a tale about a certain knight …?)
It was tough not to vote for Sibel Kekelli in her last year of eligibility, but I expect that others will do so. Carice van Houten and Indira Varma unfortunately didn’t get all that much screentime this year, but they were very good when they did. I have high hopes for their expanded roles next season.
*I absolutely LOATHE the word “filler”. In my opinion, it reeks of entitlement and frequently displays a thorough lack of perspective. It’s also a trite term that’s far too easy to fall back on – if someone has a problem with the perceived importance or necessity of a storyline, I think that there are more eloquent and insightful to express it than to rely on this ridiculously simplistic pejorative. I’m not for censorship, but I would personally love it if I never had to hear that word again in connection with any TV show. While we’re at it, “agency”, “fan fiction”, “hacks”, and “whitewashing” can all be put out to pasture as well. *Exhales* Mini-rant over.
I was his horse. So I voted for the best asses. Mel, Missandei, Shae, QoT, and dah bah fooker.
This, on all levels.
Jared,
You’re making me regret not voting for Rose Leslie.
Thanks so much for letting me be involved!
Went with these 5:
Indira Varma — Mostly for the scream alone, and “Don’t leave me alone in this world.”
Nathalie Emmanuel — Her sensitive portrayal of Missandei is a real delight, and I think her scenes with Jacob Anderson are golden.
Diana Rigg — Yeah, it’s hard to really question this one.
Rose Leslie — Just again, for all of the hurt she displays in “Watchers on the Wall.”
Sibel Kekilli — The testimony, the crying, slapping Bronn.
Thought Ellie was quite good but not enough to do. Carice was her usual solid self, and Natalie Dormer was good, but disappears halfway through the season. These were tough calls, however.
Voted for
In no particular order
Emmanuel – Like the actress and enjoy her interactions with Dany, not so much the Grey worm stuff
Kendrick – Enjoy Meera even though she’s had little to do this season.
Leslie – liked seeing angry Ygritte as well as the final scene with Jon
Rigg – funny character if a little under used
Houten – The character really intruiges me even though i don’t necessarily like/trust her
Didn’t vote for
Kekilli – Never warmed to the character after changes but she did well in the trial scene
Dormer and Varma – agian never warmed to the characters and both were significantly under used
Jared,
Whilst i agree ‘filler’ isn’t a nice word and is a cheap and easy word to use i do find myself questioning D&D at times in regards to the amount of screen time given to certain characters but wouldn’t write it off as ‘Filler’. However i will admit to calling D&D ‘Hacks’ and accusing them of ‘Fan Fiction’ in anger after the last season. Though I’m hoping this will change when i reach season 4 in my current re-watch.
How about we actually send something to the actors who won an award? Nothing big obviously, maybe just a pin with the WotW symbol on it. It would be a nice gesture and would help to race the profile of the site a bit. I would be willing to give a small amount of money to that curse, so we can pay for production and shipping, if someone would set up an easy way to pay with credit card. If a couple others join in, that could be a thing. 🙂
I voted Missandei, because out of all of them she was the one I least expected to have such standout scenes this season..not to mention her and Greyworm have the most innocent relationship on GoT, and that’s impressive considering we’re talking about a show that also features the Sam & Gilly ship.
But that pillar/stones convo was still completely random. Way to go making things awkward Queen Danaerys ‘titles titles titles titles’ Targaryen!
Just joshing 😀
Not a strong category this year. It’s between Ygritte and the two Tyrell girls for me.
Abyss,
Maybe even just a pretty internet letter, solid idea for sure! Can we get their emails, or at least that of their agents?
rudie,
That’s perfectly understandable. My little screed was directed more against the words themselves than the sentiment behind them. I certainly understand that people have passionate dissenting opinions – I just want them to express them and defend them in an intelligent and reasonable manner rather than relying on lazy, simplistic, and cliched buzz words like the ones that I mentioned. If someone believes that say, Jon Snow’s trip to Craster’s Keep or Grey Worm and Missandei’s romance wasn’t the most interesting storyline or the wisest deviation from the source material, that’s OK. And if they provide a detailed and civil explanation of why they feel that way, then my response would probably be “I don’t agree with you, but I can understand where you’re coming from.” But if someone describes those same plotlines as “filler” and leaves it at that, as if that’s sufficient and substantive criticism, or if they devolve into hurling invectives at the showrunners, then my response is more likely to be along the lines of “Yeah, that’s utter nonsense.”
Ditto for “hacks” and “fan fiction”. I think that D&D are very good writers and are doing a great job with the series, both with respect to many of the smaller details and certainly as a whole. I know that not everyone feels that way with regard to every aspect of the show. But I’m certainly more willing to listen to people who take the time to explain why they feel the way that they do – in civil terms – rather than angrily branding two people who they have never met as trash because they made a change to a certain storyline or cut someone’s favorite minor character.
Always remember that D&D are making this show with the full consent of GRRM (who has strongly spoken out against people writing fan fiction based on his work in the past). Any changes that they might make are “adaptive choices”, not a gleeful, malicious attempt to take over the world that Martin created. “Fan Fiction”, as I see it, is “Mary Sue/Barry Stu character based on the author travels to Westeros and becomes the biggest hero who defeats the White Walkers, marries Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen and sits on the Iron Throne!” Or “Tywin Lannister and Hodor meet and decide to open a Bed & Breakfast in the Riverlands. They have various X-rated wacky misadventures and live happily ever after.”
By the way, I have little doubt that last story exists in some form on some dark corner of the Internet – one that I hope that I will never, ever stumble across.
Abyss,
This a great idea and something that we have discussed and plan on doing. The biggest help we can get right now is letting more people know that our site is here. As our readership grows, our possibilities become limitless. Thank you and everyone for Taking the Black with us, and please help us spread the word about Watchers on the Wall.
Fixed
Watchers on the Wall,
Great. Let us know if you need a little money for the awards. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would give a little something. 🙂
Abyss,
*raise – Sorry, sometimes I’m not awake when I’m writing, apparently…
Natalie Dormer and Indira Varma for me and no other nominees.
Natalie disappeared later in the season, but her work with Lena and Tommen early on was pretty darn good. Indira Varma didn’t get used much, but I thought her scream when Oberyn died was so good it was worth a nomination on its own.
I think most of the other actresses are good actresses in general, but their performances here ranged from unnoteworthy to a bit disappointing in their lack of complexity.
Agree. I used to be a big poster on Wic long before most of the people currently here started posting, but I became turned off not just because of incivility between posters, but because people could not be civil to people who were not here. I’ve never agreed with the idea that just because the person isn’t here, or is famous, that they are suddenly open to derisive and uncivil commentary.
I’ve long been a defender of D&D. I think overall the adaptation, compared to most, is exceptional. I think it’s an incredibly tough job. But I also think Martin is a better writer and that they have several major weaknesses, primarily in overall story structure — strangely, Game of Thrones rarely feels tight on internal story arcs. They often miss building tension or showing the moment of character decision. At times it is too true to the books and at times they attempt storyline without enough time for them to play out (Where are my dragons!).
But whether it’s Martin or D&D, we often just get name-calling and polarized opinions that would be impossible if they were honest (no is that bad or that good). Calling Martin or D&D misogynists or hacks or clueless seems pretty ridiculous, especially when the people doing the calling almost universally have no experience in the area in which they are doing. I’m not saying you have to be a writer/showrunner to have an opinion on the writing/showrunning — you don’t. But you should allow for the fact that you might just not know everything.
This is especially obvious when you compare the different levels of commentary:
Personal: I didn’t like this sideplot.
“Objective”: This side-plot sucks.
Assuming someone else’s intent: D&D are racist, misogynists trying to keep me down.
The first is inarguable. The second is arguable, but is often how we are taught to discuss (“I think” seems weak). The idea that you can state the third as fact, especially without concrete backup evidence, is ridiculous and insulting.
Alan,
Can we stay focused on the categories and not on telling people that they’re not allowed to call out writers for perceived misogyny and racism? This can only lead to drama. Thanks.
Jared,
Nice reply, i whole heartily agree that simply calling something ‘filler’ without anything to back it up is an easy out. I also agree theirs far to much hostility on the internet where people aren’t willing to discuss things rationally. I never commented on WIC out of laziness really but figured i’d give it a try on WotW. Anyway I didn’t want this to turn into another thread on what D&D done right or wrong.
Also that Fan Fic idea of Hodor and Tywin sounds strangely interesting, almost makes me want to start searching the internet for it :-).
Given that there are 8 I went by a process of elimination, removing 3 to get the 5.
This wasn’t a very good season for Shae. The actress is fine but the writing was sub-par: it *wanted* to be great but didn’t include enough development.
Melisandre was good but it wasn’t her strongest season, she simply didn’t get that much to do, though she is great.
So the final elimination comes down to Meera, Ellaria, or Ygritte.
Meera was good but didn’t have anything mind blowing.
As others have noted, Ygritte only really had one episode of actual acting, but it was her death scene and was filled with terrific acting despite being brief.
Ellaria got a wider range of things but was still kind of brief.
I’m on the fence between Ellaria and Ygritte, but I decided to eliminate Ellaria due to Ygritte getting the sympathy vote that the actress is leaving the show.
Olenna is great, Margaery has had more to do in past seasons but was still great in relatively little time. Missandei also thankfully got her own subplot with Grey Worm commiserating over their former enslavement, that was good to give her more to do.
3 of the 5 permitted votes in.
I’m afraid Ellie Kendrick (Meera) didn’t (yet, perhaps) have enough to do.
Dame Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrrel) sure does her best. But I still see her more as a featured guest character (there indeed I’ll vote for her). This may be unfair of me, but it’s done.
Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand) is one of my preferred actresses, but sadly, she didn’t have all that much to do. But that scream! (While I sat silent and lifeless.)
Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei) did well, but not as well as those I voted for.
I’d say the same for Rose Leslie (Ygritte).
And Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Carice Van Houten (Melisandre) and Sibel Kekilli (Shae) get my votes. I just couldn’t not give a vote for Margaery (great with Tommen, with Joffrey, with Cersei, with Olenna) and Melisandre is perfectly ‘devilish’. Shae was a very difficult character to pull off. I’m not sure I understand her or that I even should understand her. All I can say is Sibel Kekilli did very well and deserves some praise.
Great stuff there from Jared. I too loathe the word filler; actors are hired to act, not stand in the background parroting “It is known.” Else you should just hire a background player and not an actual actor.
I also agree with all his choices, though I would substitute Indira Varma for Natalie Dormer. (Were we looking at Dormer’s entire body of work on the show she would be much higher, just not for this season.)
My votes:
Rose Leslie because I love her in every role I’ve ever seen her, her Ygritte was perfect;
Diana Rigg because she is amazing. Full stop.
Indira Varma because she had a very little time on screen but she was so great…
Katie Dicks appeared in only 2 episodes, but couldn’t she be in the supporting category? She definitely was an important part of the arc she was in.
Still hard to choose anyway.
The 3 for whom I know I’m definitely voting are: Rose Leslie, Diana Rigg, and Nathalie Emmanuel.
Rose Leslie – Others have already covered my primary reasons for voting for her. The look on her face when she saw Jon made me catch my breath.
Diana Rigg – Every moment she had was, imo, brilliant.
Nathalie Emmanuel – She really carried the scenes in the throne room, and grounded that entire plot. Her scenes with Grey Worm were beautifully played.
I think it’s interesting how many comments mention Natalie Dormer not doing much this season. I agree, but compared to the others on this list, she’s been in more episodes (although Nathalie Emmanuel perhaps was in as many or more) and overall had more dialogue and screentime, I’d wager. It’s just that her meatiest parts were in the first half, and she kinda disappeared afrer Tyrion’s trial. But looking at the whole season I think she’s easily a nominee.
Hodor Targaryen,
Quite true.
I’m not sure if there are any ‘time on screen’ numbers anywhere yet for this season. But Dormer’s been interacting with quite a few other characters and featured quite a lot (though only in the first half, yes).
I wouldn’t be surprised to see her having more screen time than any other of these potential nominees for supporting actress.
Let’s see: Meera – hardly anything. Ellaria – even less. Melisandre – she wasn’t all that present this season. Olenna – must have been less than her granddaughter. Ygritte – we really didn’t see much of her. Shae – did have some screentime. Missandei – she could be the only one to have more to do this season than Margaery, thanks to her appearing the whole season and not just half of it.
A poster on Westeros has calculated the screentime for all 4 seasons and each season separately. Look for it under “A Game of Screentime: Season 4” . Here are the top 20 for season 4, plus the other above mentioned nominees (there are 72 characters on the list, but I’m not copy pasting the entire list):
1. Tyrion Lannister – 56:24
2. Jon Snow – 43:53
3. Cersei Lannister – 41:44
4. Jaime Lannister – 38:59
5. Sansa Stark – 35:43
6. Tywin Lannister – 33:11
7. Oberyn Martell – 30:07
8. Daenerys Targaryen – 29:33
9. Sandor Clegane – 29:23
10. Arya Stark – 25:55
11. Samwell Tarly – 25:04
12. Brienne of Tarth – 20:39
13. Margaery Tyrell – 20:30
14. Petyr Baelish – 19:27
15. Podrick Payne – 17:44
16. Jorah Mormont – 14:42
17. Tommen Baratheon – 14:30
18. Ramsay Snow – 13:53
19. Joffrey Baratheon – 12:53
20. Missandei – 12:31
21. Theon Greyjoy – 12:14
22. Alliser Thorne – 11:34
23. Bran Stark – 11:29
24. Grey Worm – 11:27
25. Davos Seaworth – 11:22
26. Meera Reed – 10:43
27. Barristan Selmy – 10:23
28. Bronn – 10:08
29. Grenn – 9:50
30. Lysa Arryn – 9:51
31. Stannis Baratheon – 9:51
32. Karl – 9:39
33. Olenna Tyrell – 9:32
34. Jojen Reed – 9:28
35. Shae – 9:15
36. Mace Tyrell – 9:05
37. Gilly – 8:52
38. Tormund Giantsbane – 8:39
39. Eddison Tolett – 8:35
40. Varys – 8:20
41. Pycelle – 8:04
42. Ellaria Sand – 8:01
43. Ygritte – 7:53
44. Locke – 7:45
45. Daario Naharis – 7:22
46. Hodor – 7:22
47. Janos Slynt – 6:47
48. Roose Bolton – 6:47
49. Styr of Thenn – 6:24
50. Pypar – 6:18
51. Aemon Targaryen – 6:15
52. Mance Rayder – 6:11
53. Rast -5:44
54. Selyse Baratheon – 5:29
55. Melisandre – 5:27
56. Polliver – 5:10
57. Olyvar – 4:40
58. Gregor Clegane – 4:37
59. Robin Arryn – 4:21
60. Loras Tyrell – 3:54
61. Dontos Hollard – 3:52
62. Shireen Baratheon – 2:44
63. Yara Greyjoy – 2:24
64. Hizdahr zo Loraq – 2:15
65. Qyburn – 2:15
66. Tycho Nestoris – 2:15
67. Hot Pie – 1:56
68. Meryn Trant – 1:46
69. Salladhor Saan – 1:37
70. Myranda – 1:21
71. Bloodraven – 1:17
72. Rorge – 0:29
So, yes, Margaery did have significantly more screentime than any of the other ladies nominated here. I was pretty surprised by these numbers; but I think that the reason why I was surprised, and why so many people think that Margaery didn’t have much to do this season, is because the numbers don’t tell the entire story. It’s not just that Margaery disappeared after the trial started, but also, she did not have a big story, anything that strong or memorable this season, apart from her scene with Tommen. She has just a few minutes less of screentime than Brienne, but Brienne had her own storyline and some very memorable scenes. Margaery had lots of scenes in the Purple Wedding, but Joffrey was the focus of these scenes, or Joffrey’s conflict with Tyrion. She also had some long scenes with Olenna, but the focus of these scenes was Olenna, who was explaining what she (Olenna) did, while Margaery was not involved in the murder. And in her scenes with Cersei in First of His Name, she had some interesting moments, but the focus was again more on Cersei. So, while Margaery was indeed a supporting character this season, in the true meaning of the word – supporting other characters in almost all of her scenes – her presence just wasn’t that strong as in season 2 or 3.
Missandei, the only other one of these ladies who is in top 20, also proves that screentime does not tell the whole story; she had her own story about her relationship with Grey Worm (which I loved), but a lot of her screentime is just standing around in Dany’s scenes. One can say something similar about Meera in group scenes with Bran, Hodor and Jojen.
On the other hand, most of Ygritte’s and Shae’s scenes were memorable and plot-relevant. Olenna dominated each of her scenes and certainly left a bigger impact on the season than her grand-daughter, despite her early exit. Melisandre, with with just 5:27 minutes and the low place of 55 on the list, may not have had a storyline, but has the advantage that she usually is a focus of every scene she appears in, or one of the people in the focus.
Ironborn,
Her name is Kate Dickie. 🙂
Annara Snow,
I agree with pretty much everything you said, and it’s why I probably won’t vote for Dormer in the final poll. I just think saying that Margery didn’t have much material is factually false. It maybe wasn’t as good as Ygritte’s or Shae’s, but there was material there. I also think it’s ironic to discount Dormer on amount of material and then vote for Diana Rigg, Indira Varma, Carice van Houten, Nathalie Emmanuel or Ellie Kendrick, who had less material to work with than Dormer.
Annara Snow,
Thanks.
Pretty good analysis also.
I’m torn between Sibel and Rose, agh!
Indira Varma all the way, she blew all the other actresses from that poll out of the water. The only one who comes even remotely close is Diana Rigg.
Good mini-rant, Jared. I wouldn’t be too sorry to see ‘bookburner’ disappear either.
Anyway I voted for –
Rose Leslie – Her last scene at the Wall was so moving, and don’t forget how funny she was during the the Fook a Bah conversation.
Diana Rigg – She just nailed all her scenes (and Joffrey) .
hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely
picked up anything new from right here. I did
however expertise several technical issues using this website, since I experienced to reload the web
site lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK?
Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times
will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage
your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Well I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective
interesting content. Make sure you update this again soon.
I think the SEO industry gets a bad reputation from all the cowboys and overseas companies out there
p.s Never take guidance from people on the Warrior Forums haha