A lot of people have been through Westeros. We are trying to include as many as we can. This was a major event last night and the Game of Thrones premiere was trending on Twitter for a few hours because of fan excitement – it may have been niche in season one but now? Now it’s the biggest show on television, one of the best shows of all time. So it doesn’t look like HBO spared any expense for the send-off, including as many current and fallen characters as possible. Where do we start?
Let’s start with one of the best players, taken out by Sansa and Arya Stark last season – Littlefinger Petyr Baelish, Aidan Gillen.
We’re all here due in large part because of Littlefinger. Every day next week, we’ll each be writing a post on our favourite Game of Thrones episodes. Without spoiling too much, Duana’s choice of episode is based on Littlefinger. As she said when she made her pick, “All I need is a good juicy Petyr Baelish episode, and some Tyrion”. Look for that on Wednesday.
And here’s someone we haven’t seen in a while: Jack Gleeson aka Joffrey Baratheon.
Last we heard, after Joffrey was killed, Jack quit acting. You know, it’s not a bad way to go out – if that’s the decision he’s sticking with, he’ll be known as one of the most hated characters of all time. It’s a badge of honour.
Honour, as we know, is ostensibly what ended Ned Stark. What really ended Ned Stark is that he was a dumbass who couldn’t see that Littlefinger was after his wife. DUDE. Also I’ll never forgive him for letting Catelyn treat Jon like sh-t, hated her from minute ONE. Michelle Fairley (is she related to the Middletons because she looks so much like Kate and Pippa?) counts as one of the absent. But Sean Bean was there.
Also absent – Lena Headey who explained on Instagram that she’s sick.
There are some conspiracy theorists out there who think that maybe she didn’t show because of Jerome Flynn. They used to date and the rumour is that it ended so badly they can’t stand to be in the same space, which is why you’ll never see Cersei and Bronn in a scene together – you’ll recall, at the summit last season, Bronn peaced out for a drink with Podrick. I don’t know if I buy that Lena would miss the opportunity for one last blast just because of Jerome. It was a big party. They could have been on different sides of the room. And Cersei is one of the most complicated, if not the most complicated, and therefore interesting and intriguing, characters on the show. No actor’s ego would skip this – not even to avoid an ex. Why am I a little bit attracted to real-life Bronn?
I am more than a little attracted to Pedro Pascal. Here he is with Indira Varma, repping the fallen Oberyn Martell, one of the most beloved GoT characters, even though he was only on for one season, and Ellaria Sand.
Whyyyyyy did Oberyn have to die and not Jorah f-cking Mormont? Can Jorah please die in, like, the first five minutes of the first episode of the final season? Preferably while Daenerys and Jon are having sex? He is so creepy and gross – like GET THE F-CK OUT OF THIS SHOT, you perv.
You know what I’ve been looking for though? I can’t find a shot of Isaac Hempstead Wright and Kristian Nairn together, Bran and Hodor together again. Or would that have been too much for us to handle?
Really looking forward to seeing how Bran reacts to being reunited with Jon. He was totally Mr Sensitive when he and Sansa were together again. You think he’s going to open with, oh hey, long lost brother, did you know you’ve been doing incest on your aunt?
And finally, Nathalie Emmanuel and Natalie Dormer, Missandei and Margaery Tyrell, in two of the best looks of the night. As one of the few actors of colour on a show that is really, really white, Missandei’s evolution has been one of the strengths of the series but a lot more could be done. With so much to tie up in the final six episodes, how much air time will she get? And will it be enough?
