Ellie Kendrick, Jack Bender, and Iain Glen on Benjen, “The Door,” and more

The last couple episodes of Game of Thrones have been significant for Meera Reed, and her portrayer Ellie Kendrick. The actress talks to The Hollywood Reporter this week about Meera’s part in holding the door, and Benjen’s reappearance.

When it comes to the question of Meera sacrificing Hodor by telling him to “Hold the door,” Kendrick says, “I don’t think [Meera] realizes” she was doing that.

For Meera, in that moment, she knows her job is to protect Bran at all costs, so it’s like tunnel vision. She’s an incredibly protective person, and she knows that Bran is a person she has to look after. In this moment of complete terror, I think her one objective is to get out with Bran, and she knows that’s the most important thing. It’s what Jojen told her before he died. She has to honor her dead brother’s word over everything. I don’t think she really has the thought process of throwing Hodor to the dogs so that she can survive. I think it’s just a case of brute survival. She does what she has to do.

As for the revelation that Benjen Stark was still roaming around the north, not entirely dead (though not entirely living either), Kendrick is enthusiastic about working with Joseph Mawle, and excited to have a version of Coldhands in the story finally.

If you’ve read the books, then you know about the Coldhands character, who was cut out of the Bran, Meera and Jojen storyline [on the show]. It was always interesting, having read the books, watching this amalgamation of story lines happen. Benjen is sort of like the Coldhands character in that he’s a slightly suspicious guy who is half-dead and half-alive with blue hands. I thought that was very cool, the way it happened. It was a nice marriage between the book and TV revelations rolled into one. I was very excited having him on set. I loved working with [Joseph Mawle], and I loved having another member of our rapidly dwindling gang. (Laughs.) We needed him right then!

When it comes to Benjen though, the actress says that Meera is “still skeptical,” and that her character is “naturally suspicious.”

As for Bran and Meera’s future, Kendrick says, “They’re miles away from home still. It’s not like everything is rosy and perfect for them now that Benjen has shown up. They still have a huge journey ahead of them, and many more challenges to face.”

Read the complete interview at The Hollywood Reporter!

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The director behind the two most recent episodes, Jack Bender, talks to the Wall Street Journal in a new interview. Bender, known for his work with the time-tweaking show Lost, was not a coincidental choice for “The Door.”

“I know the guys were interested in me doing this particular episode, the Hodor episode, ‘The Door,’ because it began to explore different times in their show and that time was beginning to merge through Bran,” he tells WSJ.

Bender also has a taste for theater, having directed it in the past, and “was thrilled” to be handling the Braavosi troupe in these two episodes. As for the troupe’s crude meta take on the story itself, Bender says Benioff and Weiss loved it.

I staged the whole play, we did it, and the producers came in to watch the rehearsal, [including] all the fart jokes, all that stuff, some of which was written. So, after we watched the rehearsal, and the guys laughed a lot, I said, ‘My only concern is, am I mocking your brilliant show too much?’ And they said, ‘No, do it more!’ They’re completely unpretentious, David and Dan, and they loved it. … There’s more than what ended up being in the show, which we always suspected would be the case. There are extra scenes that undoubtedly will be on the DVDs at the end of the season.

He raves about the actors in the Sansa and Littlefinger meet-up scene and Maisie Williams as well. He describes the creation of the climactic scene in “The Door” and also has kind words for the show’s young Hodor, Sam Coleman.

“So, we just did many versions, and I’ve gotta say, that kid [Sam Coleman], he was terrific. He just did it over and over again, which allowed us to get various rhythms to play with in editing, depending on how fast we wanted to build the sequence. We knew we needed different options, which he did beautifully.”

There is far more discussion in the long interview, so it’s a must-read. Check it out over at the Wall Street Journal!

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This week, Iain Glen talks to Vulture about Jorah’s uncertain future on Game of Thrones.

When it comes to the greyscale creeping up his character’s arm, the actor says that “it’s a worry.”

They’ve got a worried actor on their hands. For any actor on the show, most of the time we’re just thinking, “Please keep me alive!” I’ve been very lucky to be a part of the show, right back to the pilot. If I go out in the madness of greyscale, then I’ll have thought I’ve done very well. It’s been a complete treat to be a part of the show. They’re a lovely group of people. But the greyscale has definitely got this actor worried, I’ll be honest about that.

Glen says that he’s just done the DVD commentary for the “fire scene,” from “Book of the Stranger.”

“It’s great,” he says. “I think it was an echo of the scene that we had in the first season, when Khal Drogo’s body was burned on the pyre and she emerged. And both times, the audience sees her through Jorah’s eyes. You can understand his total love and admiration of this girl.”

Swing by Vulture to read more of Glen’s thoughts on the show,  his work on Cleverman and pranks!

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