Here are some assorted photos from the Comic-Con panel for Game of Thrones. No, Kit Harington did not make a surprise appearance at the panel. Neither did Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane). This year’s panel was mostly about the ladies, with appearances by Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Sophie Turner (Sansa), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Natalie Dormer (Queen Margaery). All of these ladies are SO PRETTY. Whenever I see Carice out of her Melisandre gear, I’m always struck by how modern and beautiful she is. Who else was there… let’s see: Alfie Allen, Gilly, John Bradley, Liam Cunningham and Varys. Anyway, here are some highlights from the GoT panel:
President Obama loved Jon Snow. Director David Nutter told the crowd that he was recently in the company of President Obama and this is what happened: “Three weeks ago, I was the in the company of the President of the United States. He turned to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, ‘You didn’t kill Jon Snow did you?’ I said, ‘Jon Snow is deader than dead.’ I thought I was going to be sent to Guantanamo or something, but fortunately I’m here — but he’s dead.” Obama apparently replied: “You keep killing off my favorite characters.” Ah, so is Obama #HouseStark? For some reason, I would have thought he would be more #HouseTargaryen.
Stannis is no more. I mean, we knew that, didn’t we? I feel like there was an attempt to make Stannis Trutherism happen (like Jon Snow Trutherism), but I actually believe it when GoT people say that Stannis really is dead.
Sophie Turner talked about Sansa’s wedding night. As part of a larger discussion about the way the female characters are treated and whether GoT glorifies rape and rape culture, Sophie told the crowd: “The one thing that Sansa still is, despite what happened to her, is strong. She’s not to blame for that [her rape]. I don’t know why the camera was focused on Theon — because I was giving a great performance! Sansa, yes, has gone through a lot, but she’s developed some skills from Cersei and Margaery and others and she’s still just as strong. What she’s been doing this whole series has been just getting by without doing anything totally radical because she could die — with the Boltons, that’s a big risk to take. She thought it through, and she could have fought back [in the wedding night scene]. But she didn’t. She does her scheming in her mind rather than outwardly.”
Producers released a special video. In previous years, I think producers have released blooper reels and stuff like that for Comic-Con, but this year we got a video compilation of some of our favorite people and their auditions. It’s pretty awesome!
Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.
“Deader than dead” does nothing to answer if he’s going to come back from the dead. I’ll hang on to anything at this point!
I thought Sansa’s assessment on her character this season was so wonderfully accurate
I’m starting to think that this conspiracy involves mimif, since she’s been MIA now for a while. mimif and Jon Snow always at the same place at the same time, hmm? Jon Snow disappears, then goes mimif. Coincidence? I think NOT.
I think I caught a glimpse of Mimif while watching Seven Days in Hell last night.
Was she wearing jeggings with a cuff?
Sansa is quite striking. I never really noticed on the show because I’m generally just waiting for another plot line to return…but damn she is a beauty.
It’s the opposite for me. I don’t like her storyline but I get sucked in by Sophie Turner’s charisma and beauty. She reminds me of a a mystical godess with her amazing eyes combined with her beautiful clear alabaster skin and her tall stature. Lovely, lovely girl.
Right? I just love looking at her.
I agree Sophie Turner is beautiful. I remember reading an article about her and she stated in it, that GOT fans are always disappointed to learn that she is not a natural redhead. She is, in fact, a natural blonde, and dyes her hair red for the show. It wouldn’t matter, she would be strikingl with any hair color.
I also love Lena Heady and think she’s gorgeous. Hate Cersei Lannister, but LOVE Lena Heady.
I think that’s the worst Natalie Dormer has ever looked.
Oh my goodness me too. Maybe she wasn’t feeling well? I’m going to cut her some slack because I like her but, not a good look in these photos.
Yikes.
At first, I thought it was a Natalie Dormer look-a-like.
I’m not surprised that President Obama is #HouseStark. Yes his war and drone policies are brutal but personality wise he reminds me most of of House Stark in wanting to be a do-gooder for his people as opposed to believing you DERSERVE to be in power by birthright or because you think your inbred blood lines are as pure as driven snow (aka British Royality) like #HouseTargaryen. I love Dany but her family lost the war and lost the throne but she believes that the iron throne should only be sat on my her family who views themselves as demigods leading the lowly humans. That has always bothered me about House Targaryen and is the complete opposite of the American experiment where anyone can rise to power regardless of your bloodline.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Obama also included Stannis in talking about killing off his favorite characters. Stannis was unemotional and all about doing his duty and was whom Ned was trying to place on the throne.
Think your analysis about Obama and #HouseStark is spot on, but I don’t think a doting father of two daughters would be able to overlook what Stannis did, even if Stannis did tend to rule from a logical and unemotional place.
I LOVE how the showrunners are hiding behind their nineteen-year-old actress to defend their terrible, awful, stupid, illogical (yes, simply on a basic plot coherence level) decisions. They’re utterly revolting cowards. (The showrunners were in San Diego, they ducked out of the panel to avoid critics)
What? It’s a great show that’s fun to watch. Why so much hate? (and if so, why not just stop watching instead of spewing?).
Well, considering how I’m a TV reviewer and it’s part of my job… And also, um, no, it’s really, really not. I mean maybe you like watching little girls get raped and set on fire. But I don’t consider that “fun”.
Women were treated awfully in the Middle Ages, so I’m not shading them for showing rape scenes. What I absloutely hate is that they change the character of the women. There are a few scenes in the books where Cersei is first saying no to her brother, but it’s clear that she wants to have sex with him. In the series they changed the dynamic and made him rape her. Disgusting, because I think Jamie would never do that. He might be angry or fed up with her, but he would never do that in my opinion.
Same goes for Sansa. In the books it’s another girl who has to suffer and endure Ramsay. I totally get that they have to change scenes for the series and some things go differently in order to end up where the books are supposed to end up. But why doing this to Sansa and changing the whole story? That’s lazy and sloppy and does not do justice to her character. And I disagree with Sophie – Sansa is getting stronger and stronger, but this is the girl who dreamed of knights and stuff…and then she gets awfully raped in her wedding night. There was never a chance to fight back for her and I doubt that she got over it quickly.
Plus they made Littlefinger leave her alone with the Boltons like that – I don’t like Littlefinger, but he would never be that dumb and blind to not see what the Boltons really are – crazy sadistic people. He loved Sansa’s mother and he probably loves Sansa too – and I am supposed to believe that he 1. doesn’t see how crazy Ramsay really is and 2. leaves Sansa there on purpose? What a joke.
Liv, I agree that the Littlefinger we know from the books would not have left Sansa with the Boltons. He’s smarter than that and would had enough intel from his snitches and spies to know that they were a couple of psychopaths.
I have to politely disagree. The strongest characters on the show are women, and instead of just showing “happy happy joy joy”, the women are thrust into terrible situations, where if they live, they do become stronger. The men in the show are also subjected to awful situations, but generally speaking, if you compare the two, the women are always stronger. The most powerful person on the show is arguably Dany, who in the book was just a girl. A girl who could sit in fire unscathed and became the Mother of Dragons! Not to mention Arya, who has grown up to be tougher than many of the men on the show.
Honestly, I think it is refreshing to see women go through trials and tribulations and come out stronger, instead of skipping that step, or portraying women as helpless. I find GoT commendable in that regard, and I feel that the show carries a feminist message.
It’s kind of like the old adage, “You can’t see the forest for the trees,” meaning that if you get caught up on the bad, you will miss the good that arises from the bad. So in that regard, I think that GoT is miles ahead of other television shows. Just my thoughts. 🙂
Love how close they all seem to be to one another!
Love the show but I think all of the buddy buddy cast thing is very much staged. I can’t remember his name but the actor who played Joffrey mentioned in an interview that while he loved acting he wasn’t interested in pursuing fame, hence him not being in any of those cuddly best friends group shots.
Miffy
I read his interviews. He says he has a great relationship with the cast but his true love is academics so he chooses to stay out of the limelight. He also said when on the street we gets repeatedly approached by GOT fans who are upset with him and can’t separate him from the Joffrey character. So I assume he skips these events due to the combo of not wanting more media attention (so he can go to school in peace without being followed by paps) and not wanting to spend hours at fan events defending himself? I never saw any interviews where he seemed to be isolated from other cast members or didn’t feel a friendship towards his cast. They all seem to be down to earth people without mega egos so I can believe they have a friendly set.
I disagree. The cast seem very tight, I don’t think it’s staged at all. Jack Gleeson (Joffrey) did less promotional work for the show than some of its stars but his fellow cast members (Sophie Turner, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer) have regularly praised him and talked about what a standup guy he is.
He also seems to quite like them. He’s participated in audio commentaries and this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YGTR8BCDTM, he seems to have a good rapport with Charles Dance. Cast members have stated that he particularly jokes around with Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner.
Gleeson also stated that while he enjoyed acting as a child because it was a fun side-hobby when considering it as a full time career now that he’s an adult, it’s just not something he wants to pursue professionally.
Here’s an “article” which shows the cast hanging out: http://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/game-of-thrones-squad-goals#.qgGJqKWwN
I love, love, LOVE how Natalie Dormer isn’t your typical beauty but still just oozes sexiness.
Yeah, I have a huge girl crush on her. She’s so hot in the audition video too!
“This year’s panel was mostly about the ladies, with appearances by Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Sophie Turner (Sansa), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Natalie Dormer (Queen Margaery). All of these ladies are SO PRETTY.”
Poor Hannah Murray (Gilly) getting lumped in with all the boys. She’s also very beautiful and quite different looking in real life – less dowdy for sure.
And now I want to cry. They killed off Jon Snow? That sucks.
Moi, I’m depressed too, BUT it will not make any sense if we do not see him resurrected. All the time & energy into his character without the resolution of his origin story and fact that we just learned he & his sword can kill the Wights (or is it the Whitewalkers? I’m confused). Anyway, we always knew he was special. I can’t believe we won’t see more of him!