Peter Dinklage played Tyrion Lannister for eight seasons on Game of Thrones, and remains the only cast member to take home an Emmy award (multiple Emmys, actually) for his work. But he’s a fairly private person and doesn’t talk about his career in public that much, which is why it was a delight to see him give an extensive interview to The New York Times.
Dinklage gets into a lot in this interview, including why a show like Game of Thrones appealed to him, and to so many actors working now. “I think what’s fascinating about Game of Thrones and why a lot of actors are now drawn to television, is because they get to do that slow burn,” he said.
For example, if you take the character of Tyrion’s brother Jaime, he pushes a little kid out the window at the end of the first episode, but two seasons later, he’s a hero to the audience. It’s like, did you forget he pushed a kid out the window? It’s crazy the way you can just surf this narrative and take it wherever you want to go. I got to do that with Tyrion and you get to do that in the movie if you’re the lead, though you have to condense it a little bit more.
Peter Dinklage respects the ending of Game of Thrones: “I loved how power corrupted these people”
Dinklage also weighed in on the infamous ending of the series, where Daenerys Targaryen burned down much of King’s Landing. Fans have a lot of critiques of the ending — it was too rushed, people acted out of character, etc — but Dinklage stands by it.
“It was the right time,” he said. “No less, no more. You don’t want to wear out your welcome, although I’m not sure that show could have. But I think the reason there was some backlash about the ending is because they were angry at us for breaking up with them. We were going off the air and they didn’t know what to do with their Sunday nights anymore. They wanted more, so they backlashed about that.”
We had to end when we did, because what the show was really good at was breaking preconceived notions: Villains became heroes, and heroes became villains. If you know your history, when you track the progress of tyrants, they don’t start off as tyrants. I’m talking about, spoiler alert, what happened at the end of Game of Thrones with that character change. It’s gradual, and I loved how power corrupted these people. What happens to your moral compass when you get a taste of power? Human beings are complicated characters, you know?
Personally, I loved the idea of Daenerys becoming corrupted in her own mind and going ham on the people of King’s Landing, although I wish the show had taken more time to get there. Game of Thrones never lacked for nerve, that’s for sure…although it probably could have had a bit more patience.
But I agree with Dinklage that a happy ending was never in the cards, nor should it have been. “They wanted the pretty white people to ride off into the sunset together. By the way, it’s fiction. There’s dragons in it. Move on,” he laughed. “No, but the show subverts what you think, and that’s what I love about it. Yeah, it was called Game of Thrones, but at the end, the whole dialogue when people would approach me on the street was, ‘Who’s going to be on the throne?’ I don’t know why that was their takeaway because the show really was more than that.”
One of my favorite moments was when the dragon burned the throne because it sort of just killed that whole conversation, which is really irreverent and kind of brilliant on behalf of the show’s creators: “Shut up, it’s not about that.” They constantly did that, where you thought one thing and they delivered another. Everybody had their own stories going on while watching that show, but nobody’s was as good as what the show delivered, I think.
Leave it to Drogon to cut through the bull.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 07: Peter Dinklage attends “Cyrano” opening night party at Irvington Bar & Restaurant on November 07, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
Peter Dinklage has issues with fandom culture
After Game of Thrones, Dinklage found it difficult to move to the next thing. “Game of Thrones wasn’t really a TV show — it was like my life,” he explained. “My family was there in Ireland six months out of every year, for almost 10 years. You dig roots down there, my daughter was going to school there. She developed an Irish accent because she was with little Irish kids all day long.”
Still, he did get there. “You feel this void, but then you also go, ‘Oh, wow. I don’t have to do that, so what am I going to do next?’ That’s the exciting thing.”
But the Game of Thrones fame doesn’t go away, which can be as annoying as it is flattering. “It’s myriad different reactions I get on a daily basis,” Dinklage said of getting recognized. “People mean well, but when you’re walking down the street with your kid and people take your picture without asking … I start to talk this way and then I stop myself, because for an actor to complain about that reflects poorly on you. Everybody is like, ‘You have a great life. What’s wrong with me taking your picture? You’re a performer, that’s my right.’”
But it’s not about that. It’s more about just on a human level, I’m not a zoo animal. I’m a person. Let’s say I’m having a really bad day, or I just got off the phone and you’re right in my face. Am I supposed to smile for you? And why aren’t you actually communicating with me? More often than not, people take pictures without asking, and sometimes when I respond, even kindly, they don’t say anything because they’re almost surprised I’m talking to them. It’s really wild. If you’re a fan of what I do, why would you pay me back with that?
You can soon see Dinklage in the lead role in Cyrano, a new musical dropping into theaters on December 31.
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