This year, Alfie Allen is up for his first-ever Emmy Award, in recognition of his work as Theon Greyjoy in the final season of Game of Thrones. He was among three Thrones stars who put themselves forward for consideration, the other two being Gwendoline Christie (Brienne) and Carice Van Houten (Melisandre). Allen talked about the honor withThe Wrap. “I had people advising me to do it, and it felt right. I really don’t know how the mechanics work, but it felt like the right time to do it. But I had no expectations whatsoever.”
If you ask me, Allen has long been a criminally underrated part of the show, so his nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama is exciting. He’ll compete in that category against castmates Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime) and Peter Dinklage (Tyrion).
Since this is the last time anyone from Game of Thrones will be eligible for an Emmy, you get the idea that the flood of nominations for season 8 is due to part to a desire to reward everyone on their show for their entire body of work. Allen, for example, made an impression on viewers during scene where Theon is tortured at the hands of Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) in seasons 3 and 4. “As an actor, it was a really interesting thing to be able to get at. At times I felt strange and bizarre, but at the end of the day, Iwan and I would just go and play pool together. Sometimes we’d talk about it and sometimes not.”
Allen hadn’t read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books ahead of time, but was still vaguely knew where Theon’s story was going. “I hadn’t heard much about the books before I started. I decided to read them, but then stopped reading about two-and-a-half or three books in. I decided I didn’t want to preempt stuff going forward. I did hear about Theon being taken to the dungeons and tortured, but it became a bigger thing in the show.”
As book-readers know, we didn’t actually see a lot of the Theon-Ramsay torture stuff on the page. Those extended torture scenes were hard to watch, and I can’t imagine what they were like to film.
Image: HBO/Game of Thrones
As for season 8, Allen felt that Theon’s arc came to a satisfactory conclusion.
Some people weren’t satisfied with how it ended, but it’s the same with a lot of these TV shows. But in terms of the arc of Theon, I hope people were happy with it. On the day I felt happy with it, and when I got to see it, I was thankful that Dan and David had given me that kind of stuff to do.
Indeed, the end of Theon’s arc was definitely satisfying, as the former “Prince of Winterfell” died protecting Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright ) in the godswood, trying to make up for when he took over the castle back in season 2.
It was great. There was a sense of camaraderie on the set, because it was in the midst of three or four weeks of night shoots. And to be there with Isaac, who was the person I did my first scene with in the first season, was great. As soon as I saw that, I was very, very happy. It was a slog, those night shoots, but it was great.
Allen spent his first and last days on set with Hempstead Wright? That’s touching.
Game of Thrones is over, but the experience definitely left its mark on Allen. “It’s been my 20s, really. I started it when I was 22, 23. And it’s definitely been life-changing, but at the same time it’s nice that I got this whole new set of friends through it. It’s been amazing.”
The 2019 Emmy Awards air September 22. We’re pulling for you, Alfie!
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