Yesterday we began our voting for the Watchers on the Wall Awards with the categories of Best Guest Actor and Guest Actress (voting still open!), and today we’ll move on to another performance-centered category: Best Supporting Actress. Game of Thrones is packed with wonderful actresses in a variety of role-sizes, and in this category we’ll be celebrating the women who bring our favorite supporting characters to life.
But before we get to that, our first order of business is announcing the people who will be competing for Best Actress. Because there are only a handful of performers who qualified for that, we’re going to go ahead and confirm that the nominees who will be going ahead to the final round for Best Actress are:
Emilia Clarke
Natalie Dormer
Lena Headey
Sophie Turner
Maisie Williams
Congratulations to our leading ladies!
Now, for the Best Supporting Actress voting!
The standard rules: Select up to FIVE nominees from the poll. You can choose fewer if you like, but you cannot choose more than 5.
At the end of 72 hours (Friday 8/26/16 at 3PM EDT), whichever five actresses have the most votes will continue on to the finals. The results of the poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the final winner of Best Supporting Actress, in a couple weeks. For now, feel free to debate and campaign for your favorites.
My picks:
Carice Van Houten
Ellie Kendrick
Diana Rigg
Gwendoline Christie
Gemma Whelan
Carice for the win!!
ghost of winterfell,
Those were my pucks too!
This year, unlike previous ones, I voted Carice and Gemma, in addition to Gwen who I always vote for every time. :p
ghost of winterfell,
Haha my picks as well!
Dianna Rigg! The one true Queen of Westeros!
This was a tough one all around here, to narrow to five, but here goes. With Natalie Dormer in the lead category this year, it kind of throws the race open, honestly.
Diana Rigg — Naturally. A good deal of additional emotion, and I appreciate when she’s asked to do more than sick burns, such as notably when she pours it all out at Cersei for her “stupidity” and the “way you smirked at me” line. Really heartfelt.
Ellie Kendrick — A solid year for her, doing a lot with a little.
Gemma Whelan — Probably my favorite year for her, as she really stands up and becomes part of something greater, and her sharp-tongued admonishment of Theon as he apologizes, over and over. She’s an ace.
Carice van Houten — Also fantastic this year; Melisandre becomes much more interesting when she’s not just a one-note fanatic, and seeing her spirit broken was enormous.
Gwendoline Christie — She had fewer dramatic moments this year – though the Jaime meeting was another highlight – but I did like her playing off Tormund a lot, and her flustered “And that Wildling fellow with the beard…” line that just trails off is fantastic.
I really liked Faye Marsay’s performance as the waif, of course it will forever be marred by fans from her weird Terminator run while chasing Arya and just the mehness of the ending to that whole story line. I’d still pick her from that list and probably Carice even though she wasn’t given that much to do after the beginning of the season. Probably Gwendoline Christie as well – she’s always good as Brienne.
I went with:
Carice, Ellie, and Faye
Carice and Ellie’s scenes really got to me this season. I hated Melisandre and she made me feel bad for her. Thought she was amazing and truly hope she wins.
Faye was awesome and entertaining to watch, and she was good at being a mean bully lol.
In no special order: Gwen, Faye, Ellie, Diana and Carice
Gah! Might have to change my handle – I keep mistyping it and all my posts go into the moderation queue!
I went for:
Gwendoline Christie (fabulous as always, and had to undertake a variety of scenes with different cast members; her scenes with Tormund were among my favorite of the season, as were those with Jaime – and I love the Brienne/Pod mentoring relationship).
Ellie Kendrick (I feel this was the first season we really got to see Meera as an independent entity – there was so much emphasis on Jojen before – and I love the way in which she has essentially adopted Bran as an honorary younger brother. The scenes she had with Isaac were really moving, and I hope we see more of Meera in season seven).
Hannah Murray (I have loved her performance as Gilly since season two, and I think that she really shone in the Horn Hill scenes; she is sometimes overlooked given the many, many, many amazing performances on the show, but definitely deserves recognition for her contribution to the show).
Diana Rigg (her performance was simply stunning as always, and it was through Olenna that I really felt the extent of Cersei’s malice in the wildfire plot; with Margaery’s demise, I am going to miss her scenes with Natalie Dormer – always a joy to watch – but I do look forward to the potential of maybe seeing her met Daenerys in season seven).
Gemma Whelan (as is the case with Meera, I think that this season was really a time for a long-term character – albeit one missing in season five – to shine; Gemma’s performance brings to life a character that I loved reading in the books, and her scenes with Alfie are fantastic. I really, really can’t fault them).
Although I (somehow) cut it down to five, it will be harder to cut it down to a single person. Every one of the actresses in this preliminary round is worthy of a nomination, and has given a stunning performance over the course of the season. Ultimately I went for the five above, but cutting it down further will be a nightmare!
ghost of winterfell,
My picks too!
I think Carice should win this.She was great this season better than ususal.But in my picks was also Ellie I really enjoyed her performance this year Gemma Gwen and Hannah got a nom too
Many of them are on a similar (high) level, but this year’s top pick for me would be Hannah Murray for the Horn Hill dinner scene. Seeing that she doesn’t appear in most lists so far, I almost wished I hadn’t voted for Gemma, Gwendoline, and Diana as well…
Carice
Ellie
Gwen
Gemma
Dianna Rigg.
Will be a tight category!
A tough category this year! I loved all the ladies, but Gemma Whelan was just too good.
Yara Greyjoy 2016!
ghost of winterfell,
Greatjon of Slumber,
Funny, we have the same choices. I guess it’s to be expected, with only 11 nominees , but still…
BRIENNE OF TARTH FOR LIFE! .. a beast like her deserves it.. she has showed so many different emotions while kicking so much ass.
the rest are good too for sure. but GC for me.
Meera Promotion Squad!
I picked: Meera, Mel, Yara.
Though I chose Gemma Whelan above, I’ve got to give a shout out to Nathalie Emmanuel. I was whinging all year about Missandei having barely any lines in season 5, and the Old Gods answered my prayers this season by letting Nathalie show her range while fleshing out Missandei’s personality (why does writing that give me a bad feeling about her fate?), but like I said before, Gemma was just too good and the lines written for Yara were totally kick arse.
1. Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy
2. Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
3. Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand
4. Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell
5. Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed
I find it weird that Natalie Dormer is considered leading while Gwendoline is not. IMO Gwendoline carries her own storyline while Natalie has always been a supporting character in KL.
Voting for Hannah Waddingham, even though I know she has no chance of winning this, what with all the other names she’s up against. This woman, though… Never before have I seen an actress do so much with so few words. She was a delight (and sometimes quite intimidating) to watch.
P.S.: “Shame! Shame! *ringring* has actually become a real-life meme in the office where I work. God bless this woman.
RandomGoTfan,
It was a tough decision, but this year Gwendoline had a lot less screentime than she’s had previously, and was in fewer episodes. She also did play a supporting role in a lot of her scenes where Sansa came across as the lead. But it’s not an easy call to make.
I always felt Brienne was more of a supporting character, even when she took the helm of a storyline (Brienne/Pod on the road). She is always in transition from one story to another, working as a “side-kick” of another character. I feel this way about Sansa, too. Her arc always moving from one character (Littlefinger/Ramsay) to another (Jon), though she has definitely had more of a lead role in Season 6 which was welcome.
But even with that both ladies had a great year.
But this…this category is all Yara. Gemma Whelan gives you humor, compassion, strength and bad-assery. 🙂 She plays her own game. No bowing to Dany. No mincing words with Theon. No sitting back and letting things happen. She makes her own decisions. She is the smartest of the bunch.
Darn. Was really hoping to vote for Dormer in this category. Switching her out with Gwendoline Christie was probably the right choice on the merits though. Dormer had zero scenes with Cersei this year. Her goals and actions really were distinct from Cersei’s for most of the season. Brienne meanwhile spent half the year in a supporting role to Sansa and even when she was separate from her was pursuing Sansa’s goals, rather than one of her own.
Thankfully there are many other performances to celebrate in this category. That’s how lucky we are, even if we can’t vote for our number one choice there are many more who deserve a vote.
Newbietothegame,
Mine too
Diana or Carice easily
Mel had the best character arc of the season IMO
Alba Stark,
I had all the same picks!
Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth – She’s always stellar, of course, but this year in particular she had some truly incredible scenes. When she swears her sword to Sansa after saving her from the Bolton hunters and Sansa reciprocates her vow, the look on her face speaks volumes about how much that acceptance means to her. Her reunion with Jaime at the Siege of Riverrun features some of my favorite scenes those two have ever shared (and they’ve had no shortage of great moments together). Gwen and Nikolaj have such a wonderful rapport that they can silently convey all their characters want to say to one another, but can’t. And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention her befuddled response to Tormund’s affections. Will it prove to be the greatest love story of our generation? Only time will tell. 😉
Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy – Gemma’s been an underrated performer for a while now, but I thought this was her best season. Whelan’s always had great chemistry with Alfie Allen, but it was even more noticeable this year. The journey those two went on together – with Theon supporting his sister’s claim to the Salt Throne and Yara helping her brother rebuild himself after the trauma he had endured – felt natural, meaningful, and deeply earned. And the mutual admiration/flirtation she shared with Dany was an unexpected delight.
Carice van Houten as Melisandre – We already knew that Carice excelled at playing the Red Woman at her most confident and imperious, but we saw a different Melisandre for most of this season – tired, humbled, stripped of confidence, and quite possibly broken. Even after reviving Jon, she was surprisingly subdued – her hope was rekindled, but she seemed wary of stepping too close to it for fear of losing that light once again (ultimately, it would be the sins of the past that reemerged to tear that hope away). Carice knocked that tormented uncertainty out of the park. She still has some part to play (for good or ill) before this is over.
Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell – The Queen of Thorns is always ready to steal our hearts and minds with a witty quip or an incisive jab, and she had no shortage of good ones this year. But she also had great scenes with Margaery, with Cersei, and with Ellaria in the finale, when she quietly acknowledged that Cersei had stolen her entire future and vengeance was the only recourse that she could pursue. We already know how dangerous Olenna can be to her enemies. Seeing her with nothing to lose next year should be fascinating.
Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed – I’ve always been a big fan of Meera and of Kendrick’s performance in particular. Having lost her brother and her sense of purpose, she started the season adrift, but Kendrick has always excelled at showing Meera’s quiet competence and strength. Though it was brief, one of the more affecting moments of the entire season for me was when the wights were pursuing Bran and Meera through the forest and Meera, accepting the certainty of her death and the failure of her duty to protect her charge, flung herself over Bran’s body and started sobbing “I’m so sorry!” It was wrenching to see the little crannogwoman wracked by such fear and despair, but she has nothing to be ashamed of – this year, Meera became only the third person alive to kill a White Walker!
Toughest Omissions: Hannah Murray and Natalia Tena, with their relative lack of screentime ultimately being the deciding factor. That being said, I could easily make a case for any of these lovely nominees!
Gemma Whelan
Carice van Houten
Hannah Murray
Diana Rigg (Runner Up)
Ellie Kendrick (Winner)
I’m delighted to see that Natalie Dormer is a lead this year as I feel like she deserves it for her work across five seasons (although she stands a much lower chance of winning in that category). Gwendoline Christie was as great as usual, but I don’t feel there was anything sensational this year for her (due to her limited screen time).
RandomGoTfan,
I definately don’t see Brienne as a lead character next to margery
This season Margery story was defintely very lead like compared to Brienne.
don’t see Brienne in the lead category ever
My votes:
-Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy)
-Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed)
-Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell)
-Natalia Tena (Osha)
-Carice van Houten (Melisandre)
Honorable Mentions: Hannah Waddingham (Septa Unella), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth)
1. Gemma Whelan
2. Ellie Kendrick
3. Carice van Houten
4. Faye Marsay
5. Gwendoline Christie
Speak for yourself. I thought Faye Marsay was brilliant throughout the entire season and loved the Braavos storyline.
The fact Sophie Turner is even on that list is comedy gold right there!
Young Dragon,
Seems like you two mostly agree, but disagree on a tiny point.
I gave her a vote in lieu of Diana Rigg this time. Diana was great as usual of course and it was hard to skip her considering the “worst person” scene. Nathalie deserves attention though and Diana was my odd woman out.
Catspaw Assassin,
It could go the other way. Dany doesn’t have Jorah and Daario by her side any more – both effectively isolated from her by Tyrion – so, she’ll need someone to confide in. That is, especially when Tyrion is a puddle on the floor having returned to confront the scene of his crime. It’s an opportunity to give Missandei a bigger role…and Grey Worm too, perhaps.
ghost of winterfell, Newbietothegame,
It’s good to see that you two chose in the same way I did! I think other people did or will, too. I have just begun reading the comments.
Gwendoline Christie is always excellent. Brienne is an incredibly easy character to like and root for, but Christie’s ability to inhabit that character is a big part of her appeal. She had fewer meaty acting moments than the previous couple seasons, but she still had great interactions with Sansa, Davos & Melisandre, and of course Jaime. Very deserving for nomination.
Gemma Whelan also deserves to be in the final five, in my opinion. It’s amazing how few episodes she was in before being elevated to one of the pivotal players in the game this year. I think that says a lot about the strength of that character and Whelan’s performance.
Carice van Houten is another actress who is always excellent, but I think the material for her this year was exceptional. There was a vulnerability to Melisandre that made the character more interesting and van Houten’s performance more impressive, especially as she had to do so much of it non-verbally.
Diana Rigg is the last one who easily made it to my top five. She always so entertaining to watch (“I wonder if you are the worst person I’ve ever met”) but she gets in largely because of her last scene with Margaery. Loved that scene.
I had a hard time picking my final one. Ellie Kendrick was good in the moments given to her, but there were so few of those, and I still don’t feel like they’ve really developed Meera very much as a character. I always enjoy Nathalie Emmanuel’s performance but the little material she had this year wasn’t as emotionally compelling as some of her previous work. I ended up picking Hannah Murray, who I think has created a version of Gilly I enjoy much more than the book version, and had a couple great acting moments at Horn Hill (standing up to Randyl and later saying goodbye to Sam).
LatrineDiggerBrian,
I actually really loved her Terminator run, gave me nice nostalgia for the film at very least :p
1 Diana Rigg
2 Indira Varma
3 Carice van Houten
4 Gemma Whelan
5 Ellie Kendrick
Yeah, I’m with most people so far:
Gwendoline Christie – “Don’t die for pride when you can fight for your blood”
Ellie Kendrick – “Bran, we’re all gonna die!!! … Warg into Hodor, NOW!!!”
Diana Rigg – “I wonder if you’re the worst person I’ve ever met”
Carice van Houten – “I didn’t lie… I was wrong”
Gemma Whelan – “What is dead may never die. But they did. And our invasion died with them”
Almost nobody had enough screen time.
Gemma Whelan and Carice van Houten had impact-full moments , and they have always been good.
I am afraid Faye is going to get forgotten in this voting. Which is too bad.
Gemma Whelan
Carice van Houten
Ellie Kendrick
Diana Rigg
Hannah Murray
I voted for:
Ellie Kendrick
Carice Van Houten
Gemma Whelan
Hannah Murray
Natalia Tena
Mostly for whom I like or participated in my favorite storyline rather than actual performance. So more like the MTV awards than the Emmies. Haha.
I love Natalia Tena as Osha, but this definitely wasn’t her biggest season, unfortunately.
Carice is the easy win for me, with Diana as a close second. Diana has the acting chops as always, but Carice had a killer arc, and seems to have drawn sympathy for a once-hated-by-many character.
I’d guess that the two of them along with Gemma, Ellie, and Gwendoline round out the top 5. Based on the comments, looks like Hannah could pull it out though, but relative to the others, I’ve never loved her in the role as much.
Gwendolyn Christie
Gemma Whelan
Diana Rigg
Carice Van Houten
idk which one I prefer; I love all four.
Easy peasy! ☺
Gwen, Carice, Ellie, Gemma, and Hannah. Wish I could have included Natalia too, but this wasn’t a big enough year for her. Also, sorry, Dame Diana!
They are all excellent but : Diana Rigg! 🙂
I don’t know how to count her, she not listed, but Essie Davis made a bigger impression on me , season 6, than any others on the list.
Just like Birgitte Sørensen did in season 5.
Boojam,
She is a guest actress because she was just in three episodes you can vote for her in that category
When Mel flinches and shakes her head when Davos calls her out is all Carice. She she have won this award numerous times.
I really think this is a two horse race, they may not have had a ton of screen time but they both did a lot with a little.
Ellie Kendrick was amazing not only in the Hold The Door episode but in the following episode “Blood of My Blood.” Watching this teenage girl pushing Bran on a sled through the snow was an awesome scene. She literally pushed for as long as she could possibly push.
Carice Van Houten’s ability to show contrition and remorse went over so well on the screen. I absolutely loved her ability to turn Melisandre into a regular person. It was awesome and completely believable. Her sincerity when she said “please” was just phenomenal.
Some good choices but I think Gemma was a tier above everyone else in S6
Liam Bowditch,
Well LatrineDiggerBrian should speak for himself, cause I had no issues with that run, or that entire sequence. I actually quite liked it. Its different
O/T
CTV Canada aired GOT season 1 marathon, which began on August 8
Here are the ratings for the week of Aug 8-Aug 14
I am not really sure I understand how they calculate their ratings or what the numbers represent, but GOT is on the list
http://assets.numeris.ca/Downloads/August%208,%202016%20-%20Agust%2014,%202016%20(National).pdf
edit: highlight the link and copy in browser, its not working when you click it.
Does anyone understand what the numbers represent? GOT aired every day, so that week, episodes 1-7 aired.
Dee Stark,
Correction: It aired Monday to Friday that week, with the following five airing the week after.
was the number included a total viewership for the 5episodes or an average per episode?
This category was easier to choose from than I thought!
5. Ellie Kendrick
4. Gwendoline Christie
3. Diana Rigg
2. Faye Marsay (Runner-Up)
1. Carice Van Houten (Winner)
Also, I see a lot of people voting for Gemma Whelan. I’m not saying she’s bad, but personally I’m really not fond of her. Ah well…
I thought she was great confronting Balon and at the Kingsmoot.
Absolutely loved Faye’s portrayal of the Waif.
She really fails to capture the picture I have of Asha/Yara. It’s to do with both physical attributes (Gemma looks nothing like Asha is described in the books) AND the way she acts. For me, Yasha is cockier, more sardonic, teasing people, etc. But as I said, this is all a personal opinion, nothing more.
Hodor Hodorson,
I didn’t really have any sort of opinion of Asha in the books, either positive or negative, which is probably why I was more open to the show’s interpretation of the character. If you liked Asha in the books, I can see why you would be upset if Yara failed to live up to your expectations.
Wow, lots of love for Carice here. Maybe it has something to do with me finding the character of Melisandre irredeemably detestable, in both the book and TV versions, but her portrayal has never really done anything for me. If anything, I found her sulking persona this season pretty one-note dull (as opposed to her fanatical self in previous seasons being too one-note nasty). But it’s apparent that her interpretation really works for lots of viewers. No accounting for tastes, I guess!
I never said I agree with the fans who mocked the Terminator run. I didn’t care one way or the other. My point was that it’s unfortunately that it will be the only thing a lot of fans remember about her performance.
I don’t do a very good job of separating the characters from the actors, but here are my votes for everybody:
Gwen: Achievement award for rescuing Sansa and almost talking the Blackfish out of the castle
Nathalie: Sex appeal award (honestly I think they could do more with this character, Nathalie is great but Missandei is too passive, I’d like to see her as more of an intellectual and a foil for Tyrion
Ellie: True grit award
Faye: Best performance by an actress in a totally stupid role
Hannah M: Niceness award
Diana: I told you so award
Natalia: Went down fighting award
Carice: Character transformation award
Indira: Bad person award
Hannah W: Pity vote
Gemma: Total awesomeness award
Tully Baby,
Faye: Best performance by an actress in a totally stupid role
Haha! You know what I realize is it’s easier for me to judge an actor’s talent if I know their real personality a bit. I have never seen Marsay in anything ever but if I had and she were a Suzie sunshine completely different from a sullen faced dominatrix B I might be very impressed but as it is her acting in this role doesn’t stand out against the others
Rigg
Whelan
Van Houten
Emmanuel
Kendrick
Outside of Brienne, I really don’t see the others as competition. Sorry…
Jared,
My sentiments (and votes)exactly, including most difficult omissions.
And I almost wept when she knelt before Sansa after all this time.