Cast Roundup: The return of Walder Frey, and covering magazines

Here are a few small Game of Thrones related treats for your eyes on this Sunday evening.

IGN caught up with David Bradley recently on the set of his new television series The Strain, and didn’t miss the chance to ask about one of the most hated characters on Game of Thrones.

On the subject of “good” and “bad” characters, Bradley admits that Walder Frey lands in the category of totally irredeemable, and jokes that “You don’t invite guys like that to your wedding.”

He also discusses the reaction to the infamous Red Wedding, and reveals that we might be seeing him again soon:

“I’ve had people winding their car windows down and shouting at me. [laughs] …They shout, “I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done!” Michael McElhatton (“Roose Bolton”), who was my co-conspirator in the Red Wedding, when we finished the scene, we both agreed that we might just stay off the street for a few days. [laughs]

I bumped into David Benioff and a few of the Starks that I, um, got rid of at Comic Con in San Diego last year, and we all had a meal and a drink. And they said, “Oh, we’ll be seeing you again soon.” Obviously not in the fourth season, but I’m sure there’s some kind of retribution waiting for me somewhere down the line. But I like to think he gets away with it. [laughs]”

Maisie Williams has kept busy this week promoting her film Heatstroke, while a few interviewers snuck in some Game of Thrones questions.

Maisie discusses the tragic side of Arya’s journey with Den of Geek. She also touches on a certain spoilery setting that we may see Arya in from A Feast for Crows, so be sure to click through to the article if you’d like to read that.

I would say that in the last season in particular, Arya has been on a darkening path on Game of Thrones. Do you view that as a heroic journey or a tragic one?

A bit of a tragic one, I think. People who love Arya’s story also love to [ignore] the fact that this is a 12-year-old girl with a sword. That’s not okay. And just because she says a couple of funny lines and seems to be killing the bad guys, I think people turn a blind eye to the fact that she is not okay in the head, and that if you experience this sort of world for long enough that you can’t keep on like that. So, it is a really, really sad story.

I think when Arya left the Hound, people were really like “that’s not fair! Why didn’t she just kill him?” They’re not really thinking about the bigger picture. She doesn’t know what’s right or wrong anymore, and she’s desperately trying to be a loyal person, but she’s not quite sure who that is. And she’s trying to not let her own anger get in the way of good decisions and bad decisions. She is really struggling. And as much as people like to think of her as a really strong female role model, it’s not an easy world. It’s not a heroic storyline. It is kind of sad.

In her interview with We Go This Covered, Maisie talks about the positive effect that The Hound and Arya had on each other, and what she hopes to see for Arya in Season 5.

A great element of this season that I think everyone enjoyed was the continued odd couple pairing of Arya and the Hound, but what was particularly interesting about it to me was how you could tell how a little bit of each character was rubbing off on the other as the season went along. Arya becomes a lot more vengeful, killing people without much of a second thought, while the Hound loosened up a little, right up to that point where he “defends” Arya from Brienne. Who do you think ended up changing more from being in the company of the other and why?

I feel like they both went through their own… they didn’t change. I feel like they both had that buried underneath, this big layer that they’ve worn for a long time. It’s not like they changed and warmed up to each other. They both had that loving and caring spirit inside them, but it was just so very deep that they didn’t show it, and as the season went on, it was sort of chipped away from them.

Obviously anyone who’s read A Feast for Crows knows what Arya does when she gets to Bravos, but in terms of the characters herself, how do you see her continuing to change and to grow as we head into season five?

I like to think in the coming season that she’s still going to be influenced by people, but not people who are fighting for the throne, which will be a lot more helpful I think. I think she’s trying to get away from this world that she’s lived in for so long and get away to something new. I think she’s going to realize that there are a lot more important things in life.

The Game of Thrones cast can be seen in a number of publications this month.

Sophie Turner has landed the July cover of Nylon Singapore, with a feature on Being Sansa Stark.

Lena Headey can be found on the cover of the 9th, and most recent issue of Lady Gunn, available in the App Store.

And Michiel Huisman is featured in a fashion spread for the August issue of Glamour Magazine.

• Published on 07/13/2014 at 10:12 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:41 PM CDT