FIRE IT UP!
Beginning of the end of the ‘Game’
‘THRONES’ FINAL SEASON LAUNCHES SUNDAY NIGHT
Winter? This is hardly just
winter to “Game of Thrones” fans. It’s Christmas morning and your birthday all rolled into one.
There’s been a big box bearing your name, with fancy wrapping paper and a big bow tied around it, but all you’ve been able to do is look at it.
Until 9 p.m. Sunday. Then you can rip the wrapping to shreds with the giddiness of a 4-year-old.
Fantasy becomes reality for “Thrones” junkies when the eighth and final season of the HBO blockbuster premieres on Sunday. The journey that began in 2011 will conclude with the epic battle between the living and dead.
As much as fans are waiting with bated (dragon) breath for the final episodes, no one is more excited than John Bradley, the actor who plays the intelligent but awkward Samwell Tarly.
The 30-year-old British actor born in Manchester is thrilled that after spending recent seasons at the Citadel with love interest Gilly (Hannah Murray) and her baby, secluded from the rest of the characters, he’s back in the middle of the action again.
“We felt kind of like satellite characters with our own sub-storyline,” Bradley tells the Daily News. “It affected the main plot in some roundabout way, but there was the isolation of it, going down to the Citadel. But now, we’re back at Winterfell and we’re back where the main thrust of the action is taking place.”
In Season 8, Winterfell is expected to be the setting for the biggest battle in the history of the show. A memo leaked last year from show producers to the crew thanked them for “enduring 55 straight nights” in subfreezing temperatures while shooting a battle scene at three different locations. That easily tops the 25-day shoot for Season 6’s “Battle of the Bastards” episode.
“It’s been a long time since Sam has been involved in a battle,” Bradley says. “So as an actor you get a sense of feeling that you’re contributing to this enormous team effort because you’re put in these iconic episodes in television history again. I’ve only been in one battle before and I remember that feeling really satisfying at the time.”
He’s excited to feel the love from fans too.
“It’s been hard for me to have people coming up to me for years, saying ... ‘My favorite episode of Battle of the Bastards,’ ” Bradley admits. “I want to say thank you, but I can’t really because I had no involvement in it.
“This year, to have Sam right back at the core of the action again, that’s really exciting,” he adds. “And it’s just nice to be involved in something that I know is going to be so memorable and have such seismic consequences.”
Sam is the son of a lord, but because he’s more scholarly than warrior-like, his abusive father sends him off to join the Night’s Watch and guard The Wall in Season 1. Though Sam is introduced as a clumsy, self-proclaimed “coward,” he’s gone on to shape the show’s plot and pull off brave feats.
He killed a White Walker using dragonglass to protect Gilly and her son, alerted Jon to that dragonglass mine, and helped Bran see that Jon’s parents were married, making him the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne.
“Sam’s always very aware of the consequences of things,” Bradley says. “Sam’s able to get inside Jon’s head and maybe change his mind about things and manipulate Jon to his own advantage.”
At the end of Season 7, Jon and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) were getting intimate on a boat to Winterfell, just as Sam and Bran Stark came to the realization that Dany is actually Jon’s aunt — and Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne.
“The responsibility of the knowledge is really hanging over Sam,” Bradley says.
While fans waited anxiously for the show’s swan song Bradley and the “Thrones” cast had one emotional day after another.
“The final season felt like one long goodbye because you’re constantly saying goodbye to something — an actor could wrap, you could be filming in one location for the last time, wearing a costume for the last time,” he said. “Bit by bit, you just felt more parts of this enormous part of your life flaking away.”
“We all knew it was going to feel strange in the following days and weeks,” he adds, “and the following year, it still feels strange.”