Curtain Call: Ian McElhinney

“I am a knight. I shall die a knight.” – Barristan Selmy, “The Pointy End”

Ian McElhinney is one of those long time British TV staples, with a long CV of appearances on BBC One and ITV that includes everything from Hornblower to The Fall. Some may even remember him from Showtime’s The Tudors or Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. But the role of Ser Barristan Selmy, one of the few Kingsguard to serve under both the Targaryen and Baratheon dynasties, and the man who squired Jaime Lannister all those years ago, may be the role that defines his career.

We first met McElhinney as Semly in Season 1, Episode 3, “Lord Snow.” Though he was swapping war stories with King Robert and Jaime at the time, he was not a proud man. He was clearly an old soldier, and an honorable one. Many in King’s Landing looked at Ned Stark askance when he arrived in the city, what with his constant talk of honor and his insistence that everyone being upstanding and forthright, but for a knight known in his prime as Barristan the Bold, the words “honor” and “loyalty” meant something.  McElhinney didn’t have much screen time, but he conveyed all these nuances quickly and easily.

Which is why, only a few episodes later, his removal from the Kingsguard was so shocking (Note that his dismissal was one of Cersei’s first acts once she came into power, a preview of her terrible decision-making skills). It was also a moment where we got our first sense of what a terrible, spoiled, and ugly King had risen to the throne. The moment when Barristan told Joffrey, in so many words, to take this job and shove it was one for the ages, and the audience cheered as he stepped up and defied a character we were swiftly growing to loathe.

Although Barristan’s arrival in Essos and subsequent appointment to Dany’s Queensguard was somewhat overshadowed by Ser Jorah’s jealousy, and a sense that the new arrival would not be as good an adviser to Daenerys as her old bear, the show bode its time and proved the naysayers wrong. Once Dany banished Jorah after Barristan brought her word of Jorah’s betrayal, McElhinney played Barristan like a doting Uncle, one who would do anything to see Dany become a better ruler. Unfortunately, much like Ned, sometimes his commitment to honor and justice led him to advise Dany to make the less savvy political move, but his heart was always in the right place, and the audience knew it. But then again, Arthurian knights never had to rule. They just had to fight. It was no accident that his final episode featured perhaps the sweetest scene he and Dany ever shared, followed immediately by a brutal fight scene in which we finally get to see the venerated knight live up to his lofty reputation as a warrior.

The audience will miss McElhinney’s warmth and wisdom as much as Dany will miss him and his advice. At least the actor has a good perspective on his passing. And of course, we can always see Barristan in the books, where he still lives on to this day.

• Published on 05/05/2015 at 9:30 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT