Game of Thrones Star Had Trouble Getting Cast After Series Ended

John Bradley is best known for playing Samwell Tarly on Game of Thrones, and the actor is currently featured in two new films. Bradley plays moon conspiracy theorist KC Houseman in Moonfall and Colin in the new rom-com, Marry Me. Clearly, the actor is having a successful 2022, but he struggled for a bit after Game of Thrones came to an end in 2019. Aside from lending his voice to an episode of Robot Chicken and appearing in an episode of Urban Myths, Bradley wasn’t getting the post-Game of Thrones roles he had hoped for. During a recent chat with NME, the actor opened up about not being cast after playing the most lovable member of the Night’s Watch. 

“Nobody seemed to want to take a chance on me,” Bradley explained. “My confidence began to suffer.” He added, “I wanted something different… Every time you have a show as successful as Game of Thrones, loads of [similar characters] follow. But I thought: ‘I’ll resist them’.”

Bradley may not want to play similar roles to Samwell, but he’s not leaving Game of Thrones completely behind. Recently, the actor spoke with ComicBook.com about keeping in touch with his longtime onscreen partner, Kit Harington (Jon Snow). 

“We do. Yeah, yeah, we do,” Bradley told ComicBook.com when asked if the Thrones cast still keep in touch. “I went to the cinema to see… What did I go to see? I think it was the Bond movie, and I saw the Eternals trailer and it had Kit in it, and it had Richard in it as well. It feels like there’s a party that you’ve not been invited to. You’re seeing all your buddies in there, they’re interacting with each other and you feel on the outside of it!”

ComicBook.com also recently spoke with Moonfall director, Roland Emmerich, who talked about casting Bradley. 

“No, we actually didn’t write it for anybody,” Emmerich revealed when asked about the cast. “I always had a secret flame on the back of my mind, Patrick Wilson. Then we kind of thought, ‘Oh, it would be cool to have Halle Berry in the movie.’ It was the first two. Then John Bradley. I just had a nice Zoom call with him. And from that moment on, he was my favorite.” 

Moonfall and Marry Me are now playing in theaters, and Marry Me is also streaming on Peacock.