Game of Thrones is a show that is unpredictable. Characters die all the time, and some even go away to be never seen again. As such, it’s no surprise that actor Pilou Asbæk assumed he wouldn’t be returning for Season 8. Read on!
In a segment on Making Game of Thrones, Asbæk said that he didn’t know about his return because he didn’t quite go through the scripts:
“So when I did Season 6 I only got my scenes because I wasn’t a series regular and it was a different contract. When I came on for Seasons 7 and 8, I got all of the scripts — but having the scripts doesn’t necessarily mean reading all of the scripts… I only read my scenes. Which meant when I left the Dragonpit in Season 7, I thought I was off the show.
I remember I was sitting in the Seville airport with Nikolaj [Coster-Waldau who plays Jaime Lannister] and I said, “Nikolaj I think I’m out of Game of Thrones. It’s kind of weird they introduced me as a character and didn’t use me more.” And he just looks at me and says, “Are you f**king kidding me? Have you read the scripts?”
I had to confess I hadn’t read them all. And he goes, “In the next scene after you leave Cersei tells me you went to get the Golden Company!” And I was like “Oh! OK!” But I thought I was out.”
In the Season 8 premiere, we also saw Euron and Cersei Lannister do the deed. This seems to have split the fandom.
Pilou had interesting comments on how Euron feels about Cersei, and why Cersei agreed to do it with him:
“I think she did it because she had to, but the way we did it is to make clear he actually loves her. He’s intimidating and evil, and in many ways a menace, but for me it was very important it was genuine love, or else it would be a bit one-dimensional. You always want to make a more three-dimensional villain because those are the most interesting ones. So he loves her and wants to be with her, but he’s also not a guy that you can bully around and that’s why he bullies her.”
Speaking of Euron Greyjoy’s sudden swagger, Pilou gave us an insight into how he played the character:
“Although the bridge scene in Season 6 was an awesome introduction, I felt like I needed a little bit more of a swagger than we saw in that season. And for me it’s really important to have fun while I’m working. So I thought, “Why don’t I do a character who is just enjoying it?” Be totally fun and loose about it. Not like Jack Sparrow or something, but a little more like, “I’m on Game of Thrones and I’m going to have fun.” So self-aware in a way, but never more self-aware than followed the stream of the story.”
Well, we’ll see how it goes for Euron Greyjoy. What do you guys think? Talk to us in the comments, down below!
