Spoiler warning: This post contains spoilers forGame of Thronesseason 8, episode 5.
Conleth Hill seems a bit despondent.
A professional royal advisor, the bald eunuch was an unlikely power player in Westeros.
Talking to Hill was not entirely unlike interviewing a man still going through the stages of grief.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:What did you think when you got the scripts?
CONLETH HILL: Mixed, obviously.
Part of you didn’t want it to finish.
Part of you is, “Oh, that’sverygood.”
And part of you is, “Oh, that sucks.”
Very, very mixed.
What was your reaction to Varys fate?
I took it very personally.
I took it as a person, not as an actor or an artist.
I don’t think anybody who hasn’t been through it can identify with it.
They think, “What’s all the fuss about?
You’re all finishing anyway.”
But you take it personally, it’s possible for you to’t help it.
What did you think of the specific way Varys goes out?
In retrospect, great.
At the time, nothing could console me.
I kept thinking: “What did I do wrong?”
There wasn’t any pre-warning.
This was just reading cold hard copy.
Wasn’t that how they did it for every actor this year since it’s everybody’s final season?
Yeah, that’s how they did it this year, because there are so many [deaths].
But still, it added to the personal temporary ill feeling.
What did you think of Varys decision to betray Daenerys?
He was absolutely true to his word the whole way through.
All he wanted was the right person on the throne and a fair person on the throne.
He said it so many times in the scripts.
I don’t have the distraction of love or desire or any of those things.
And the people he needed to see clearly were both in love.
So that makes perfect sense.
And now with hindsight, I’m okay, but I really was inconsolable.
You felt like that even though you made it so far in the show?
You survived to the penultimate episode.
you could’t possibly begin to understand.
It’s a human nature thing.
I think that’s true now.
But no one could have told me that at the beginning of the season.
I’m glad I didn’t say anything at the time.
Were you disappointed not to have a final scene with [Littlefinger actor Aidan Gillen] last year?
I was very bummed to not have a final scene with him.
I was bummed not to have any reaction to him dying, if he was my nemesis.
It’s the nature of a multi-character show.
It was kind of frustrating.
Is there something else you wish Varys had gotten to do?
It would have been great to have had one more meeting with Littlefinger.
I think they tried to make that work and couldn’t.
It just felt like after season 6, I kind of dropped off the edge.
But that’s when It changed for me a little.
There was thatMagnificent Seventrek up north to bring a white walker back.
It makes total sense that Varys wouldn’t go.
But the human in you is like, “I want to go.”
It made perfect sense.
He’s not a hero, he’s not a fighter.
And even when they went back to King’s Landing a couple times they sneaked him in there.
I’m not dissatisfied on the whole.
It sounds like I am.
But it’s been brilliant.
So viewers think you’re on screen more than you actually are because they fill in the world continuing.
I’m perfectly willing to admit this is all personal and selfish.
With hindsight you go, “Of course it was a fantastic journey.”
What was your favorite Varys scene?
I think the stuff that was said in there understood the nature of freaks and outsiders so precisely.
In a way, that was lost when we got past [the narrative in George R.R.
Martin’s] books.
That special niche interest in weirdos wasn’t as effective as it had been.
So I thought he was losing his knowledge.
That added to my dismay.
It’s now being rectified with getting a great and noble ending.
But that was frustrating for a couple seasons.
How do you think fans will feel about the finale?
Without using the word “bittersweet.”
I have no idea.
I don’t know how I feel.
I can’t anticipate it until it happens.
I don’t think they’ll feel cheated.
The fan favorites are all there.
What was your favorite moment working on the show?
He and I were on this clifftop.
We used to play there as kids and there we were back there and working on this worldwide phenomena.
And I could see my house.
That was surreal and brilliant.
