Game Of Thrones Celebrates Death At Comic-Con

So many shows and panels at the pop culture fantasia that is San Diego Comic-Con celebrate life with visions of endless joy—Game of Thrones is not quite that. Oh, to be sure the HBO juggernaut had plenty to revel in when it made a triumphant victory lap on the Hall H stage Friday afternoon following its record breaking fourth season. But this wasn’t just a chance to celebrate its ever growing success and goodwill—which much like Daenerys’ dragons seems limitless—it is also to bask in the grim finality of it all.

While the biggest immediate news to come out of the event was the reveal of an entire slew of new characters from Dorne (and suspiciously not the Iron Islands) for season five, as well as the coup d'etat of getting Jonathan Pryce to play the High Sparrow. However, for those actually in Hall H, the events were just as much to celebrate the end of all things.

This was demonstrated when Rory McCann and Pedro Pascal both entered the stage alongside creators and executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, author George R.R. Martin, and fellow stars John Bradley, Rose Leslie, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Natalie Dormer, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gwendoline Christie, and Maisie Williams. While Ms. Dormer came out sporting the still groovy high Hunger Games fashion ‘do, which cut off half her golden locks, McCann came out covering half his face with his hand, imitating the melted flash of his Game of Thrones character, the Hound. Meanwhile, Pascal did him one better when he came out imitating how his head had been exploded at the hands of the Mountain at the end of his one and only season on the hit show.

It is all so wonderfully gruesome in its brutality that host and panel MC Craig Ferguson asked the panel of actors to raise their hands if they were still alive. More than a few did not. At least, as Martin joked alongside that query, the thespians all know the best way to maintain job security is to not ask for a raise.

One of the best laughers of the hour came when McCann looked around at how he had been sandwiched between Christie and Williams. When Christie suggested that the Hound deserved worse than being left on that hill, McCann briefly entered his Hound voice to say, “Nasty bitch.” He then added in a more relaxed, if nervous tone, that he felt “very, very uncomfortable sitting between Gwen and Maisie.” Perhaps, he should also take note of George R.R. Martin being only a few chairs away, the mastermind of it all.

To be sure Martin is the creator of “A Song of Ice and Fire” that made everyone’s appearance on that stage possible. As regaled by Weiss and Benioff at Hall H, every actor is there due to inhabiting some dark corner of George’s imagination, which began dreaming of Westeros over 30 years ago. Maisie Williams can joke that she tries to be very nice to Benioff and Weiss, lest Arya Stark meet a woeful fate, but it is Martin who remarks that the show has no real influence on where he is taking these characters in the source material books.

During the question and answer session, a fan remarked that Martin is the most like the Many Faced God of Death of all the Westerosi deities, because Martin kills without impunity. However, the writer is quick to note that Benioff and Weiss have killed off more characters than he has.

But it wasn’t just all death. This was a celebration on another great year for the show, because like Coster-Waldau pointed out, the only way this cast all meets up is when they go to the bar after shooting. Indeed, now that Tyrion Lannister is separated from Sansa Stark, Sophie Turner’s faux-hope for a “power couple” Lannister-Stark hybrid seems as unlikely as the two possibly working in the same country for a whole season.

In fact the whole cast might find that difficult since Benioff and Weiss revealed that season five will have two foreign country locations (away from the Game of Thrones Belfast set in Ireland): Croatia and Spain. Croatia has served as the backdrop posing as King’s Landing since season two while Spain has been the long forthcoming and expected locale for Dorne—which will be populated with terrific actors like Alexander Siddig (Kingdom of Heaven) as Prince Doran Martell—but it is also revealing that Benioff did not mention Iceland. It appears that we will not be seeing much of “Beyond the Wall” in season five.

However, not all locations are welcoming. When prompted by a question if the show’s lurid reputation has been an issue in scouting, Benioff offered, “If Bible thumpers would stop thumping the Bible for 10 minutes, they’d see there is just as much incest in it.” Weiss helpfully contextualized that they had lost the ability to shoot on one location, because the owner thought of the show as “Porn of Thrones.”

Yet, it is not so grisly as all that. Why even Craig Ferguson helpfully noted that nearly every location in Westeros—including King’s Landing and Winterfell—sounds like a fine cheese. Martin at first deadpanned that “I like cheese.” However, he then noted how hard it is to come up with names in fantasy for new places and that with “Misty Mountains” taken, he may soon name another range the “Grilled Cheese Mountains.”

It sounds like a tasty place for the Many-Faced God’s appetite to be further quenched.

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