The home video release of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones comes out tomorrow, and we’re seeing a bunch of new media featuring the cast and crew. I’m not 100% certain if this battery of interviews from IGN is from the new set, but it is entertaining.
What made Game of Thrones such a hit? Just ask people like Sophie Turner (Sansa), Jerome Flynn (Bronn) and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran):
“The balance between fantastical elements that gives you escapism and the very human interactions and emotions that can resonate with people,” offers Turner. “It’s that magic combination.”
I also like Maisie Williams (Arya) swooping in with another take on that point: “It’s like when you get that egg-to-flower ration just perfect, your cake is *lip-smacking sound*.” If your metaphor involves food, it can only help.
Some other takes:
- Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane): “It’s unexpected. It doesn’t follow the rules of storytelling. It follows the rules of life. And in life a car can hit you down when you’re about to get married.” Way to remind us all of the Red Wedding. “And of course, about 2,000 people have done everything to make it as good as possible, and that has something to do with it as well.”
- Flynn gives it up for “the rich array of wonderful characters,” and also offered a pretty deep take on how the show connects to people on a primal level. “It’s something in all our ancestral past in terms of the human condition that we can recognize…It’s a kind of raw, wild version, going back before we can of became anesthetized, in a way, and compartmentalized in our modern culture. There is, I think, a yearning for that wildness.”
- Richard Dormer has a simpler idea: “And also there’s no mobile phones in it.” Also a plus.
- Wright, King Bran the Broken himself, gets the last word. “I think the attention to detail in Game of Thrones is something that’s unparalleled,” he said. He talks about meticulously hand-written books and scrolls, stuff that only appears onscreen for a couple of seconds but which is crafted with love by the props department.
Finally, Wright saves some praise for Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin. “Cause it’s not like it’s just disparate storylines being made up as they go along. It’s a huge, carefully planned spider’s web of interweaving plots and characters and themes.”
Considering the number of shows taking cues from Game of Thrones these days, you get the idea that a lot of studios are wondering made the resonate with people, too. I look forward to piecing it together over the next bunch of years! Until then, there’s always Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection.
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