Game of Thrones star proud to defy stereotypes

LONDON — Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie was a “total mess” on her last day of work on the set of the global hit HBO series.

In Game of Thrones (a.k.a. GOT), the 40-year-old English actress plays the kickass warrior Brienne of Tarth, one of the main GOT characters that many a fan would find very hard to say goodbye to as the show enters its eighth and final season on April 15.

For Gwendoline, the feeling is mutual. 

“I was an absolute mess. I thought I would be completely fine. I really did! The night before, I rationalized it completely and accepted it. It was a job and there had been other jobs before it and hopefully other jobs after it,” Gwendoline revealed in a roundtable interview during the international press junket last February. “But on the day itself, I was feeling quite shaky. By the end, I think that I’ve taken the character so firmly to my heart.”

According to her, she loved being Brienne because here was a character who existed and thrived outside the confines of society. Playing a character, whose physicality and appearance may have been described as not up to par with “standards” on femininity, spoke to the actress and it would have spoken to her pre-teen self. In past interviews, the 6’3”-tall actress-model had spoken about receiving discouragement in her chosen profession because of her own physique.

Gwendoline, who in person is ethereally stunning and oozing with girl power that no doubt left the ladies in the interview room feeling better and prouder of themselves, said, “That the way, the random group of elements that have been thrown together while I was forming in the womb would not define me. The hope that the choices that I made in the person that I chose to be and what to become may have some relevance rather than just how I was formed physically. I felt that this part was doing that. It was saying, there’s something else.”

She particularly noted how Brienne has emerged as a most unlikely hero. “It took me a long time to realize that because I saw how I was breaking her down as a human being and looking at her as a warrior and looking at her as a soldier, a bodyguard and also as a woman. Because she was so removed from stereotypical forms of what a female character is, it took me a while to notice, oh, she’s sort of a hero. She’s a very human one because she fails but she tries again.”

She cited the core qualities that make Brienne such a fan favorite. “It’s her resilience that we fall in love with and her desire to do good and to be in service of something that’s greater than herself. That has oh, god, really meant a great deal to me — to have that opportunity — because I really wish that I had been able to see something like that when I was growing up. I had to watch, try and find different sorts of people whether they’re women or men or how they try to identify and find those people that I felt spoke to me.”

For giving her so much inspiration, it was hard to let go of her character despite knowing very well how the show’s storytelling works, fearlessly letting go of characters from time to time, season to season, no matter how much they were loved by fans. “To be frank, each season you’d be praying you would be employed for another season given the nature of the show (laughs). I had to hold her effect on me very tightly because I was aware that it was something I had to let go,” Gwendoline said.

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“But, I think, what this opportunity has presented to me transcended time and I will always have that. And really, it’s given me a lot of inspiration in how I choose to live my life and in the decisions I make. It’s very hard of not accepting of being compromised for no real reason other than a traditional format that is tried to be pushed upon you; to say okay, this is my difference however it may manifest itself — emotionally or spiritually or physically — and this is where I exist with it, and I would endeavor not to deny that.

“So, it’s incredibly painful to say goodbye to that character but I have to trust that what I learned is the greatest gift from it. Hopefully, that will continue and I have something that I can always be proud of.”

Gwendoline gave a resounding yes to a question if she viewed her role as a redefinition of female characters on TV and in movies. It’s the reason why she wanted to play the part in the first place.

But other than defying gender norms, she said she was attracted to the idea of stripping away her personal and actor’s vanity so as to inhabit the character. “I remember at that time thinking it doesn’t matter if this succeeds, just having this opportunity as an actor, to be able to explore this type of woman and that being out there in mainstream media is significant because I was always taught at drama school, if your work resonates with just one person, if it changes one person’s mind or causes them to question, then you’ve done your job.”

For her, she saw the part as a strong social and political device in expanding perceptions of women. 

Conventional perceptions and portrayals of women include them having love interests. And Game of Thrones through the years has had fanned the fandom’s imagination of her possible pairings. Google Brienne and results will display links to forums, articles and polls on who will she end up with. There’s Jaime Lannister the “Kingslayer” with whom she has developed an “unlikely friendship” in the course of several seasons, and which fans are hoping would grow into something more. Then there’s Tormund Giantsbane, the other guy fans on the other side of the fence are rooting for since Season 6 when the powerful Wildling warrior first laid his eyes on Brienne and has since become a one-sided lovestruck fool in her presence.   

Asked by The STAR if she wants Brienne to find love in the new season, she mused, “Personally, I would like her to end up with (Dragon Queen) Daenerys Targaryen (laughs).”

“It’s interesting one, isn’t it? It’s very much two pronged because we have a character here that is unconventional, that hasn’t had to fulfill the traditional role of love interest. And she’s done something else and she has existed outside of these realms,” Gwendoline further reflected. 

“Same time, as the seasons have rolled along, what we have seen is a human being and we’ve seen someone who wants to reach out of their naivety and experience more of life. We see her starting to develop a strategic mind, when she’s engaged in military negotiation and so, why shouldn’t she have that, why shouldn’t she explore that? I certainly have been very happy that so far that hasn’t been at the forefront of her character. It hasn’t been used as a device. (But) yes, it’s interesting to explore that.”

The final season of Game of Thrones will debut in Asia same time as the US on April 15 at 9 a.m., with a same-day encore at 10 p.m., on HBO GO and HBO. New episodes will premiere every Monday at the same time.