What is dead may never die: What Charles Dance and Pedro Pascal are up to
It’s no secret that Game of Thrones has provided a shot in the arm to the careers of many of the actors involved. Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) are both budding movie stars, with the former appearing in films like Pompeii while the latter is getting ready to headline the latest entry in the Terminator franchise. Some of the show’s more minor players have also benefited, even if their characters were killed off.
Take Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister). Since Tywin was unceremoniously shot in the gut at the end of Season 4, he’s had starring roles in The Imitation Game and Dracula Untold (one of those movies was nominated for Best Picture–try and guess which one), and will shortly be appearing in a film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, presumably as Pride or Prejudice.
We also have a video of Dance recording voice-over dialogue for The Witcher 3: the Wild Hunt, an upcoming action role-playing game from developer CD Projekt RED. “My character is…a very, very powerful man…And he’s ruthless,” Dance says. So he’s been typecast, then.
The actor also had some interesting things to say about the burgeoning popularity of fantasy fiction, something he’s obviously benefited from. “The whole rise in the popularity of fantasy now is quite extraordinary, really. It’s no longer the realm of children’s entertainment…The whole thing now appeals to quite discerning adults.” Amen.
Meanwhile, back on television, Dance will be playing the supreme overlord of Earth (again, typecasting), in SyFy’s upcoming adaptation of Childhood’s End, a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke originally published in 1953. Check out the trailer for the miniseries below, in which Dance gives you a menacing smile that makes you want to flag down a police car.
Dance isn’t the only dearly departed Game of Thrones cast member riding the show’s popularity to new career opportunities. Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell), who famously got his head smushed like an overripe melon in “The Mountain and the Viper,” has lately appeared alongside Heidi Klum in the music video for Sia’s “Fire Meet Gasoline.” Sia has previously featured Shia LaBeouf and that one little girl from Dance Moms in her videos, so Pascal is in good company, depending on your point of view.
What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger and more employable. Look forward to catching up with other displaced Game of Thrones actors in the future.
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