Perhaps when you’re an actor, it’s hard to stay in the moment if you know what your character will be thinking a year into the future Maybe it’s harder to portray love when you know you’re doomed to die. But now that Game of Thrones has moved past the books—Season 6 will primarily portray events from George R.R. Martin’s upcoming novel The Winds of Winter —the cast is running out of excuses. It was never endearing, but at this point it’s just obnoxious: Game of Thrones cast members, it’s time you read Martin’s book series, A Song of Ice and Fire .
“So And So Hasn’t Read Game Of Thrones” became a minor journalistic cottage industry over the past few years. Who hasn’t read the books?
Peter Dinklage hasn’t read A Game of Thrones.
Lena Headey hasn’t read A Clash of Kings.
Liam Cunningham hasn’t read A Storm of Swords.
Maisie Williams hasn’t read A Feast For Crows.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau also hasn’t bothered with A Song of Ice and Fire.
To be fair, none of the cast members are making pretentious excuses about their process or anything like that. When asked about reading the books on Letterman, Dinklage responded with more chagrin than attempts at justifying not having read the novels.
Of course, many cast members have read the books, or at least a few of them. Alfie Allen (Theon), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons), Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy), John Bradley (Sam), Kit Harrington (Jon Snow), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) have all read at least one of the books.
Iain Glen read A Game of Thrones then stopped, offering the only semi-plausible excuse. “The writers themselves, David and Dan, they didn’t particularly want actors coming to the scripts from the book, always suggesting what the book did and how it was different – I could see the glazed look in their eyes when that happened,” Glen told Radio Times. “They were quite happy for us to move forward and treat them as screenplays with no history, so that’s the reason why I only ever read the first novel.”
That’s dumb. Sure, for Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the idea of actors fussing over rigid, nit-picky adherence to the novels sounds like a pain. No writer wants pesky actors stepping on their precious words.
Are you going to let your bosses tell you what you can’t read?
It’s not that the actors who have read the Game of Thrones novels are doing a better job. There are fantastic performances from actors who both have and have not read the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. But actors who haven’t read the books are missing out. The Game of Thrones series is loaded with interior monologue, enriching detail and raw emotional data.
Plus, they’re just great books!
Here’s an idea for Game of Thrones cast members: read the books, but don’t bombard Benioff and Weiss with your notes on the matter. Respect the difficult and tricky work of adaptation. That way you get to read books, you no longer have to be embarrassed or out of your depth with the fans, plus you get to read a landmark fantasy series.
The new Star Wars cast couldn’t go through an interview without slobbering all over the original Star Wars. To be caught not having seen Star Wars would have been unthinkable. We expect actors who have long-time investments in source material to have a more than passing familiarity. So why is the same not true of Game of Thrones?
It’s been five years since Game of Thrones first aired. For all that time George R.R. Martin’s vision has kept you employed and made you famous. It’s time to read the books and get a little knowledgeable about the topic.
