A medieval Sopranos: Who’ll die next?
Can a TV show succeed by killing off its main characters every couple of weeks? That seems to be the challenge facing Game of Thrones, the medieval fantasy that returns for a second season Sunday on HBO. The game in the title is truly afoot as warring factions vie for the crown in the mythical land called Westeros. SPOILER ALERT: Viewers were shocked last season as kings and pretenders were bumped off and beheaded. Sean Bean ( Lord of the Rings), perhaps the best known actor on the series last season as Ned Stark, the Warden of the North, had his heroic character killed off in the second-last episode. King Robert (Mark Addy) had fallen before him. Even children on the series were pushed off ledges on a whim. Imagine if Tony Soprano had been whacked nine episodes into The Sopranos. ( Game of Thrones has been dubbed The Sopranos in Middle-earth.) Or Dexter had been murdered by a serial killer during that show’s first season. Those shows would have ended; on Game of Thrones, death is only a beginning.
Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) sits on the iron throne as the series resumes, but for how long? Ned’s widow, Lady Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), is still on the scene, as is the exiled daughter of the former king, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), and clever scalawag Tyrion Lannister (played by Emmy winner Peter Dinklage).
They and others are preparing for war and, if it is anything like last season, its going to get bloody, violent and nasty.
One character on the hunt is Renly Baratheon, the dead king’s younger brother and the Lord of Storm’s End, played by Gethin Anthony.
The fact that his character could go at any minute is one reason Anthony hasn’t read all of George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy novels, which form the basis for the series. Season 2’s 10 episodes are drawn from A Clash of Kings, the second A Song of Fire and Ice novel by Martin, also an executive producer on the series.
Anthony, who has appeared on such British series as Doctors, doesn’t mind that the sword of Damocles seems to be dangling over every actor’s head on this series.
“It creates great human drama,” he feels. “There’s a lot at stake on every word spoken.”
It suits the violent times, too, he feels.
“This is a world where life can be really cheap, especially for young people and children on the series. That’s kind of terrifying.”