Small Council: Who was the Best Actor in Game of Thrones season 7?

Last week, we debated who deserved the title of Best Supporting Actor from Game of Thrones season 7. This week, we’re turn towards the leading men. Who was the Best Actor in season 7? Read our takes, tell us yours, and vote in the poll!

DAN: I swear there’s no cast out there like the Game of Thrones cast. Looking over the list of names, several jump out at me. I could praise Isaac Hempstead Wright for taking on a new challenge, Aidan Gillen for killing his swan song, John Bradley on his gift for understated humor, Kit Harington for his Most Improved status, Pilou Asbæk for his scenery-chewing heel turn, or Rory McCann and Alfie Allen for starting out awesome and continuing to be awesome forever and ever amen.

But I’ve got to give the nod for season 7 to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, both because he had a lot to do and because of how well he did it. This was probably the best year for Jaime since season 3, when he had his hand chopped off and rediscovered his sense of honor. It was certainly the most momentous.

Jaime began the year wary and uncomfortable, glad that his sister had become queen but unsettled by what it cost her. The days when Jaime would swagger around with a cocksure smile on his face were long gone — this year, Coster-Waldau constantly looked like he was about to bolt, his brow furrowed, his face lined. He’d gone from the guy who let other people do his thinking for him to the one doing most of the worrying. And yet there was still a trace of the romantic in him. After he and Cersei have sex in “The Queen’s Justice,” there’s a shot of him staring at his sleeping lover like a besotted teenager. It’s at once endearing and very, very creepy.

Then there’s the physical aspect of the performance. Coster-Waldau has long been game for action scenes, but the Loot Train Attack really gave him a chance to show his stuff. Along with Jerome Flynn’s Bronn, Jaime was our anchor during this battle, and Coster-Waldau held down the fort by reacting with appropriate horror to Dany’s attack and selling the scraps and scrapes along the way. He also committed to the biggest moment of the episode: Jaime charging Daenerys. It was important that we knew where Jaime was coming from here, and as I watched him gallop pell-mell across the scorched battlefield, his face gritted in concentration and his body pulled taut, I had no doubt what was on his mind: this was a repeat of his earlier assassination of Aerys. Once again, he was going to have to kill a Targaryen to save the kingdom.

After that, Coster-Waldau pretty much followed the thread of Jaime’s conflict to its natural endpoint: obeying that instinct to bolt and leaving Cersei in “The Dragon and the Wolf.” And yet this is also the moment where that romantic part of him — the last, stupid part that believes happiness with Cersei may be possible — is crushed. You can see it when his face falls after Cersei orders the Mountain to block his exit. And yet he exits anyway. After 40-odd years, Jaime finally grew up.

One more year. Bring it home, Coster-Waldau.

COREY: NCdub’s is a nice pick, and Jaime did indeed have quite a bit of meat to chew on this season. But for me, it’s got to be Rory McCann’s continued portrayal of the Hound. I’ve always been a McCann homer, and season 7 was an excellent one for the Scottish actor. It’s no coincidence that season 5 was my least favorite season, and the one season in which the Hound did not appeared.

To be fair, the Hound is often given the most memorable dialogue in any scene he’s in; he’s similar to Tyrion that way. But like Dinklage’s portrayal of the tiniest Lannister, it’s not just about reading what’s on the page. McCann delivers his lines with a gusto and zest that bely the more brooding deliveries of his fellow castmates. Whether he was antagonizing Thoros or cutting through the tension in his Eastwatch cell, McCann has a way of making himself the center of attention.

As the seasons have gone by, we’ve seen the character evolve from a physically intimidating brute capable of cutting down children to a guy who buries his victims in a mock funeral, and McCann has been masterful every step of the way. That burial scene was the highlight of McCann’s work in season 7. There were no tears, but McCann imbued his performance with a sadness that was both subtle and powerful.

It was the same in the season finale when he was speaking with Brienne of Tarth. McCann was quietly vulnerable when discussing Arya, but didn’t outwardly display much emotion. So yes, the Hound may get some of the best lines, but that’s far from the only reason he’s such a compelling character. Rory McCann has deserves much of the credit.

BROOKE: I agree with Dan and Corey. Both Nikolai Coster-Waldau and Rory McCann killed it this season, but I’m going to go out on a limb and give Kit Harington the award for Best Actor of season 7. An actor is confined to the emotional range of his character, and I think Harington has been unfairly judged for Jon Snow’s steadfast gloominess.(Disclaimer: I might be biased after watching Jon Snow attend Seth Meyers’ dinner party.)

Jon Snow is a brooder by trade, and it’s not Harington’s fault that his character lives within certain parameters. Humor and tenderness don’t really have a place beyond the Wall, but this season Jon Snow dealt with more than wildlings and White Walkers. He was more comfortable in his role as King in the North; his mantle of authority was a bit more settled. In the face of Sansa’s rebellion, he trod a narrow line of retaining his position without alienating his sister. Harington showed both vulnerability and power when he left the North in Sansa’s hands, and pure grit when he faced Daenerys for the first time. No longer the Bastard of Winterfell, he came to her as the King in the North, having been Commander of the Night’s Watch and a defeater of nightmares beyond the Wall. His journey garnered respect and he knew it. The shift in Jon Snow’s self-perception was subtle, and Harington made us (or at least me) buy Jon Snow’s transition from embittered youth to self-assured man.

Harington gave us several new aspects of Jon Snow’s character in Season 7. He almost cracked a smile—and a joke—when he met Tyrion at Dragonstone; he conveyed both wonder and fear when the dragons swooped overhead upon his arriva, and again when he pet Drogon; in the scenes at Dany’s door and later in her chamber, there was no dialogue, but Harington still communicated what Jon was feeling with his face. Harington played all these scenes well and true to his character. There was no emotional epiphany, because that’s not who Jon Snow is, but there was a subtle unfolding of maturity and vulnerability that imbued the character with a new dignity.

SARAH: It’s almost obsolete to pick a ‘best actor’ in Game of Thrones because the cast is one of the best on television, and these actors have, for the most part, had a full seven years to understand the characters they’re playing, which means that — for me — it all boils down to content, and what the actors in question did with the lines they were given. I mean… Alfie Allen is an obvious choice for top performer on a yearly basis, alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Rory McCann, as Dan and Corey so rightly pointed out. I’m fairly confident that most of the fandom is firmly convinced of Allen’s greatness, however, so I’d like to cast a vote for John Bradley.

RICHARD: All great choices. This has really been a season for the ladies, with Lena Headey, Emilia Clark, Sophie Turner and Maise Williams delivering powerhouse performances, but the men have also been excellent. There’s no doubt that Coster-Waldau, McCann, Harington and Bradley deserve accolades for their performances, and while I’ve been raving about Alfie Allen’s work this year, I’ll chime in with a farewell nod to Aiden Gillen.

Yes, Gillen has often been maligned for his somewhat odd, whispery-voiced, strangely-accented portrayal of the conniving Petyr Baelish, and there is truth to that. But he also brought to life perhaps the most complex character in all of Game of Thrones: a frightened, lovelorn boy who had encased himself in an amoral, Machiavellian shell. Using every means at his disposal (prostitution, spying, corruption, etc.) to escape his unimpressive beginnings, Baelish achieved great power.

We often felt uncomfortable when Baelish entered a scene, and we were supposed to. We hated him for betraying Ned Stark to the Lannisters and Sansa to Ramsay Bolton. Gillen played his character as a man who had become lost in his manufactured facade, a once-decent person now completely absorbed by the great game and the seduction of power. His every word and gesture was a falsehood, a sleight of hand. He was constantly manipulating, constantly seeking to undermine everyone around him, and he could not stop himself even when it meant exposing Ned or leaving his beloved Sansa in the hands of the despicable Ramsay.

Gillen’s final scene is brilliant. As Baelish’s lifelong quest for power unravels before his eyes and he ends up begging Sansa for his life, Gillen finally frees the tortured boy from his self-made prison, but it’s too late. There’s no disputing that Baelish had to die, but there is also no disputing that he, in his twisted, vulnerable interior, did truly love both Catelyn and Sansa Stark with as pure a heart as he could muster.

Fueled by a deft script and dialogue that allowed him to work the entire dramatic breadth of his character’s downfall, Gillen strips bare the personal cost of a life committed to the collection of power. And what was that power ultimately for? Baelish may have convinced himself he wanted the Iron Throne, but what he truly and desperately wanted was the love the boy had lost a long time ago. And, in his final act, Gillen delivered all of that and more.

Perhaps it’s because Samwell Tarly played a blinder this year, but season 7 has seen me grow fonder than ever of the bookish Renaissance Man, and the actor who has so reliably carried the character through the years. John Bradley’s pickings in season 6 were slim, and he made up for an absence of screen-time this year with some truly excellent material. That’s the main reason why I so fell for Bradley this year — he was given a meaty role and I felt a real connection to the love he has for Sam, for his job and for his character’s place in the overall picture.

Between curing Jorah Mormont’s would-be fatal illness and sticking it to the ignorant maesters of the Citadel, Sam’s confidence has found a home in which it can flourish, and we have seen Bradley’s confidence as a performer match this development beat for beat. He wears the character like a second skin, and appreciates Sam for the strengths he does possess, rather than resenting his lack of physical prowess. Jon Snow may seem like a more attractive prospect for many actors, being the handsome, inscrutable hero of the series, but Bradley’s enthusiastic and grounded performance makes Samwell, for the most part, a far more interesting fellow with which to spend an hour on a Sunday night — or a Monday morning, if you’re me.

Also, when did NCdubs become a thing? Are we settled on that? Doesn’t Nikolaj deserve a better nickname?

RAZOR: As much as I want to give season 7’s Best Actor to Kit Harington — because he really did have a great season — I have to go with Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy).

In Allen’s case, he did so much more with less screentime than his counterparts. His strengths were on display in every scene where he appeared. He especially shined during the sea battle in “Stormborn” and in the season 7 finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf.”

Allen has mastered the art of acting without ever saying a word. Theon’s relapse into Reek as his PTSD kicked in when Euron held Yara by the throat was an excellent display of this talent. In the finale, Allen put Theon through the emotional ringer when he and Kit Harington had their reconciliation talk in the Dragonstone throne room.

The journey from Reek back to Theon has been a long one for Alfie Allen, and each season the actor seems to improve on an already strong acting base.