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.
