When Game of Thrones began to go “off book” as it were, first in small moments in Season 4 and then more widely in Season 5 is was thrilling for book readers, who were finally getting the first new information on the events in Westeros since 2011. But what no one seemed to consider was that, as we got deeper into uncharted territory, the closer we were to deaths we didn’t know were coming.
Where scenes like Ned’s execution and the Red Wedding were known years in advance by book readers (if not a decade for some), it seemed like we blithely went into Season 5acting like there wasn’t another one around the corner. Of course there was (Jon SNow’s death), but somehow we innocently seemed to think that was the only one.
Perhaps that’s why Shireen’s burning at the stake (a confirmed scene coming in a later book, we assume in The Winds of Winter) was such a shock to viewers, even though the show had been telegraphing it for weeks. In a new interview at ComicCon Copenhagen, Kerry Ingram, who played Shireen, reflected on the experience.
But if you think Shireen’s death had us shook, that was nothing like the first true red Wedding level death shocker that came in Season 6. The loss of Hodor was perhaps the biggest gut punch the show delivered–because for the first time no one was expecting it. Of course, Kristian Nairn, being a jolly fellow, talks about playing videogames on the set of Game of Thrones. After all, one does tire of talking about being a human doorstop after a while.
But one death we did see coming (and was widely anticipated in Season 4) was the final moments of Tywin Lannister, aka actor Charles Dance. Dance was in Washington, DC recently for the annual Harman Center for the Arts Gala to accept the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre. He sat down with The Washington Post to discuss his career, and (of course) Game of Thrones came up.
“The scripts for ‘Game of Thrones’ are superbly written,” he said. “And we’re usually wearing leather and suits of armor and that sort of thing. Those of us who aren’t taking our clothes off, that is. I felt at home. I felt I was doing Shakespeare.”
In 400 years if people are still acting out the Red Wedding, we’ll know why.
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/09/27/video-kerry-ingram-reflects-on-shireen-baratheons-horrific-death/
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