In an interview, 'Game of Thrones' actor Iain Glen reveals how his character Jorah Mormont will deal with Daenerys Targaryen's new lover Jon Snow.
Less than 24 hours are left for the season 8 premiere of much-awaited show Game of Thrones. The fantasy show is in its final season and people can't wait to know the fact of the characters that are left alive. Apart from several leading characters namely Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark among others, there are many supporting characters as well. One of the most important characters is Ser Jorah Mormont.
The character of Jorah is played by Scottish actor Iain Glen and his maximum scenes on the show are with Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister).
During an interview, Iain was asked about the grand table read of Game of Thrones where everyone found out what happened to everyone else. To which he stated, "It was amazing actually. We'd never done it before. This was the first time all six episodes were read at once. We all sat around one enormous table with all the directors there, all the heads of department. We read it from beginning to end over the course of two days. It was just a really unifying experience and very moving. When you hear it read by mostly the people doing the roles, you do get a lovely arc and you do hear the story. Also, even with Bryan's reading all the stage directions, you got a sense of the impossibility of what it was that we were trying to shoot. Then, jump cut two months later and you see what's being prepared and what's been done and you can’t believe it."
On being quizzed about the framed storyboard, he received as a gift, Glen replied, "It was the gladiatorial sequence in the Great Pit of Meereen in front of Daenerys. It was very beautifully done. It's like you fast track a story of arriving, surprise, fighting, nearly dying, saving the day. Then there were some very sweet words on the back from David and Dan."
Game of Thrones season 8 will air on Star World from April 16, 2019, at 10 pm.
Here are a few excerpts from Iain Glen's interview:
1. How does the final season of 'Game of Thrones' begin for Ser Jorah?
)
Well, I think he's back within the loving embrace of Daenerys which is where he's been working towards for the last couple of seasons. Obviously, the Great War is impending. There have been movements towards the end of the last season of trying to take on the Army of the Dead and trying to persuade people of their existence. That's where he is. He's her head of the military and right-hand man. I think he has accepted Tyrion is now her wise advisor and that he has a different role now. There have been manoeuvrings around Daenerys about whose role is whose but I think he's very content where he is. I think he's shed any sexual passion for her after having been accepted back so completely by her.
2. How does Jorah Mormont deal with Daenerys Targaryen's new lover, Jon Snow?
)
I think probably quite well in the sense that you would obviously not lose entirely the feelings that you had for her, but I think he has been so removed from her and wanted to be with her for so long that he would not want to jeopardize that. He's a noble soul and he absolutely does not want to give any sense that he's either hurt or that it confuses him. Deep down, of course, something must be tearing inside him.
3. A tease as to where you character is going this year?
)
We've got to take on the unbeatable. That's what we're trying to do. It's like the human against the superhuman, but there are other variables including dragons – and there's one of them working for the other side as well. It's about the battle of all battles and whether we can succeed. Everything is thrown up in the air. There are dispute and confusion, even within alliances. It's a very disparate bunch of people who have been at loggerheads for eight seasons that are now trying to unite and serve the same purpose. Anything could go any which way.
4. Anything that you will look back and think I won't miss that?!
)
It sounds churlish because really, there's not a lot that I won't miss. Sometimes the scale of it and what was required meant that you had to be around to go out to do a minute's work or not be used or wait around. Sometimes at the moment, you could feel frustrated as an actor that you weren't really able to exercise your acting muscles in that given moment, but then you take a step back and you remember that you are a part of a bigger whole and you appreciate why that is.
5. A defining moment when you realised Game of Thrones had become a global phenomenon?
)
It was somewhere through season three or four. I was filming something else in South Africa and I was off on my own walking round in a township and I got that look in someone’s eye when you know they recognise you. I mean, there? How?
(All photos via Game of Thrones stills)
