Game of Thrones is now over, but that doesn’t mean the crowd at San Diego Comic-Con is done with the show yet! Got is coming back to Hall H for one last SDCC bow, and there’s no telling how fans in the room are going to react.
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It goes without saying that Game of Thrones‘ ending was divisive, at best. And there are no doubt still a lot of fans with unsettled feelings about how the series ultimately played out.
In attendance were actors Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), John Bradley (Sam Tarly), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Iain Glen (Ser Jorah Mormont), Conelth Hill (Varys), Maisie Williams (Arya), and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark).
The panel opened with Comic-Con Director of Programming Eddie Ibrahim coming out to give a speech about how Comic-Con is supposed to be about accepting one another, and accepting different fandoms. That gave the crowd a big laugh, but Ibrahim settled things by launching a new clip, a featurrette that recaps Game of Thrones in its entirety. To the editors’ credit, the video makes the series look pretty epic, indeed.
EW’s James Hibberd brought out the cast, who all found Starbucks coffee cups waiting for them at their seats. Naturally, that got a big laugh from the crowd.
Hempstead talked about Bran’s rule over Westeros, saying that it’s probably pretty boring and serious. He did lighten up and joke that Westros is now a surveillance state, with Bran watching everyone.
Williams says that Arya is definitely enjoying her “backpacking trip” to the other side of the sea. Arya is good like that, so that’s no surprise.
Anderson says that Grey Worm is on a beach retiring, remembering his lost love, Missandrei. He said that Grey Worm probably wouldn’t love again, which got a big swoon from the crowd.
Bradley was pessimistic about the ending with Sam and Bran’s new council, saying that not much had changed. Cunningham had an issue with that, stating that he saw things as having changed for the better by the show’s end.
Waldu defended Jaime Lannister’s ending, saying it made sense to him for Jaime to die in his sister’s arms. A member of the crowd wasn’t in agreement. But Waldau maintained his love of it.
Hill had to answer for his comments criticizing the show’s ending. He admitted that while he was honest about his feelings about the ending while filming the show, he also worked with a great crast on a great show, and never overlooked that fact. He went on to thank fans for their fandom over the years – but he also blamed backlash about the ending on “Media-led hate,” a controversial statement, to say the least.
Waldau and Cunningham took the baton and lightened things up, giving heartfelt speeches about fandom, and endings, and inevitably not always pleasing everyone, when it comes to endings. Hill still got in another jab, telling haters that if it wasn’t the ending they wanted, it didn’t matter.
A question about what could have been done differently got a decisive answer from Cunningham: “I should’ve been on the throne!” Cunningham also joked about Davos being called the moral compass of Got, even though he didn’t really do more than talk. He suggested that Liam Cunningham may, in fact, kill people.
Anderson got a hard question: Why didn’t Grey Worm kill Jon Snow? He explained that after all the violence Grey Worm saw, he wasn’t going the savagery route, and honored Danaerys by following law and putting Jon on trial.
Hill confirms the theory about Varys trying to poison Dany, just before his death. He jokes that he thought it was a good idea, and that Varys was looking for a way to get killed, while he, Hill, was looking for a way to get fired.
Hempstead took on the “Evil Bran” theory. He gave his own rationalization for why Bran didn’t tell his allies more, or stop more tragedy, just to get himself on the Iron Throne. On a more serious note, he said he likes that there dangling threads left hanging after Game of Thrones, as it gives the imagination something to still work on.
Williams took on the question of Arya and whether she may one day come back with Gendry. She maintains that Arya is actually a “lone wolf” type, and isn’t looking for a partner. Seeing her “at a friend’s wedding” is the most Gendry can hope for. Williams also shoots down the Jon Hleped kill the Night King theory: “She did it on her own.”
Asked about their favorite lines, Waldau picked “Hold The Door”; Cunningham had “Nothing Fucks You Harder than Time”; Anderson picked “valar morghulis”; Williams chose “Not Today”; Bradley picked “I always wanted to be a wizard” for deep character psyche reasons (it reveals the core nature of Sam’s hard life); Hill joked about a RuPaul Drag Race quote, before admitting “I drink and I know things” is his fav; Hempstead picked “Chaos is a ladder.”
Cunningham got called out for being a notorious prop thief, so the rest of the cast were asked what they’ve taken. Hempstead took a wooden spoon; Hill shut it down with “I stole most of the scenes I was in,”; Bradley was so honest it hurt (“I have a pathological fear of getting in trouble.”) and made a joke that while people think that’s very “Sam,” Sam actually steal a lot of stuff – including babies! He drew the line at the accusation that he stole Gily. Someone said Williams “stole our hearts,” but Williams actually stole blood capsules from her Faceless Man finale and left blood in her trailer bathroom as a prank.
The cast was asked if any backstory revealed by George R.R. Martin didn’t make the show. Cunningham reveals that Davos’ character was stripped of his fighting ability by the showrunners early on. He joked that he’s not reshooting season 8.
Anderson made it weird by revealing “Dick, no balls,” as Grey Worm’s official anatomy. Cunningham joked that was Anderson, not Grey Worm.
Bradley freaked about the water bottle incident, repeating his fear of getting in trouble. Someone suggested it could’ve been Cunningham, but he stated he “doesn’t drink water” (wink). Bradley didn’t kind of throw the editors under the bus, citing the fact that the bottle could’ve been but in post production.
Waldau stated the thing he misses the most is working with the cast and crew. Cunningham echoed that sentiment, citing the level of precision and detail the crew put out to make the show happen. He’s going to miss working with a production “at the top of its game,” and doubts he’ll ever hit that level again. Anderson misses Grey Worms calm and discipline, as those are attributes he’s sorely missing in his own life. It did good for his psyche. He’s also going to miss “Spear fights!”
Williams will miss working with daggers and swords, as she probably won’t retread that same ground in other roles. Bradley will miss the GoT family and seeing the growth of Sam. Hill will miss the unifying of humanity that occurred to make GoT possible, in the shadow of the conflict in his native Ireland. He invited fans to come to the country and take some Got tours. Hempstead will miss the stillness and calm and detached point of view of Bran. He’s the first to cite missing the fans.
And with that wise proclamation from the king, Game of Thrones ended its final San Diego Comic-Con panel.
