Fans and Fame
coster-waldau You meet people that are so dedicated and know much more about this world than I do, and that passion is exciting. But it’s humbling too, because someone will meet me and they’ll go, “oh Jaime!” but it’s the character. It has nothing to do with me.
turner You can’t see your peers as what everyone else sees them as. You’re like, “oh, that’s my best friend” and to other people they’re these amazing characters that make them go, “oh my God. I’m so excited!”
williams I’m friends with a few of the cast of stranger Things, and that show really blew up. People always say, “oh my God, what are they like in real life?” and I’m like, “They’re just my friends.” People build this idea of someone and it’s beautiful to see the excitement in their eyes, but at the end of the day we’re all still figuring this out like everyone else. We still can’t believe that it’s got so big.
hempstead-wright I can’t get away from fan theories! every time I post anything on Instagram the comments are just, “Are you the night King? Are you the night King? hey night King. how are you, night King?” But it’s really nice to see how much passion it inspires in people, because it’s not like we’re a TV show people just watch on a Sunday and don’t care about. People have literally invested their lives into it. So it’s an honour and a privilege to have people theorising and thinking so intensely about your work.
joe dempsie (Gendry) It hasn’t really affected my day-to-day life too much. I can still walk to the shops. But Game Of Thrones has allowed me to do incredible things. We did the season seven premiere in Los Angeles, and hbo put us up in this lovely hotel in Beverly hills. I went for a wander later on that night and ended up in a lift with just me and [former Manchester United manager] Jose Mourinho. They were doing a pre-season tour, and we got invited to go and watch them train and meet the team. I went with John Bradley, who’s a massive United fan. It was just such an amazing thing to witness him seeing his heroes’ reaction to him. Like, when Paul Pogba saw John, Pogba lost his mind! It felt like appropriate currency, being in this show. Like, it’s just as good for Man Utd to have the guys from Game Of Thrones down as it is exciting for us to be there.