NYCC 2015: Game of Thrones Panel

Faith D’Isa ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Marketing Officer
The Empire Stage at New York Comic Con this year was packed, complete with full standing room, for the Game of Thrones panel with stars Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Finn Jones (Loras Tyrell) and Keisha Castle-Hughes (Obara Sand) taking the stage to answer moderator and fan questions about anything and everything, from their personal lives and careers to Game of Thrones seasons past and future–though the trio was particularly tight lipped about the new season (the only hint any of them gave was Keisha stating that she was in it!). The questions were fairly mixed as the group couldn’t talk much about the new season, but it was a nice homecoming for Natalie and Finn who play siblings on the show, and who both met Keisha for the first time that day.
Natalie got a heavy amount of attention, considering her attendance at conventions is fairly rare. One fan asked about her habits of doing long runs, to which she sadly admitted that she wouldn’t have time to run the New York City Marathon this year as she intended as a result of the Mockingjay Part 2 premiere. Her character in Game of Thrones is also extraordinarily popular, so a lot of questions were fielded that way–she was asked everything from if she prefered being “dolled up or trashed up” (to which she called not having to be dolled up “quite liberating”), to compare Anne Boleyn (her character in The Tudors) to Margaery (Anne is fire, Margaery is ice), and a costume question that lead to a few cracks about how “it would not surprise you to know Margaery Tyrell’s costumes aren’t very heavy–because there’s so much of them.
She got questions about other characters, too, with a fan hoping that her character, Irene Adler, or (Spoilers!) Moriarty would have a brother to also be Moriarty and face Sherlock with her–to which Natalie gave perhaps the most cheered answer of the night, “Why does a woman need a man’s help?” (She was also quick to say that if Joffrey hadn’t died at the Purple Wedding, that problem “would’ve been really quick”–so it looks like most of her characters don’t need much help!)
A fan even asked even about her similarities to Kermit the Frog’s new girlfriend on The Muppets. She described how back in school, she was bullied for having a “piggy nose”, and one night while having dinner with the Game of Thrones creators, begged them to put a line in there about Margaery having been made fun of for the same thing, almost as a pass at those people. Finn, her on-screen brother, was quick to defend, calling her “one of the most beautiful women on the planet–Fuck you, bullies.”
Other big topics were things like locations, as Game of Thrones films all over the world. All of them agreed that they loved the sets in Iceland and were very jealous of the actors who spent a lot of time there, like John Bradley, who plays Samwell Tarly, who Natalie joked talks about the Northern Lights saying, “Yeah, they’re alright” because he’s seen them so many times. Croatia was another popular spot, which is where the Kings Landing sequences, and Spain–a particular favorite of Keisha’s, who claimed that it was a pretty easy place to get up and go to work in.
They also had a lot of things to say about other characters and actors on the show–like dream character team ups, a particular favorite question of the crowd’s. Natalie claimed, “I miss Sophie. I miss Sansa.” Keisha wanted Obara to team up with Arya Stark, portrayed by Maisie Williams, because Maisie’s “awesome to hang with”. Finn claimed that he was pretty sure Loras could probably “turn Jon (Snow) gay”, and shared excitement with the crowd over the idea of the duo sharing hair tips. Finn also claimed that his dream addition to the cast would be Rami Malek of the new series Mr. Robot.
Finn is fairly known to be a big Game of Thrones fan himself, with Natalie even saying he’s “a voracious reader, he reads everything”. His love for the books and show was evident at all times, from his fierce defense of the show’s creators and passion for how the show has been moving along the world of strong female characters in television and film. But what might have made it most obvious was his very intricate theory about how the books and show are going to end, citing “a huge battle between ice and fire, where they destroy themselves–and they’ve got to dissolve the Iron Throne because they have to, to beat the White Walkers, and out of the ashes will come the tree people and the only ones left standing will be like, Bran, Brienne, Hodor, Tyrion…” It’s very clear he’s thought very hard about this, and the crowd seemed to buy it.
The only near slip up was towards the beginning of the panel, though–when asked who they hadn’t worked with who they’d like to, all three unanimously decided “Jon Snow”–with a very delayed recovery of “But he’s dead, so–”. We shall see.