Game of Thrones’ Lord Varys actor has “no envy” over HBO’s upcoming House of the Dragon spinoff show. Game of Thrones ended in 2019 with the divisive season 8. However, the fantasy universe the show built, which is based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books, will live on via a series of planned spinoffs.
Reports of Game of Thrones spinoffs being in development began surfacing even before the series ran its controversial final episodes. One spinoff starring Naomi Watts actually made it all the way to the pilot stage before HBO decided to scrap it – despite spending $30 million on the Game of Thrones project. A second idea looked much more promising in the eyes of HBO, however, and will soon reach screens under the title House of the Dragon. A prequel set before the Targaryen Civil War, the new Game of Thrones spinoff series stars Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine and Rhys Ifans.
It remains to be seen if House of the Dragon can carry on the magic of Game of Thrones as HBO hopes but at least one original star is seemingly rooting for the show to succeed. Speaking to Radio Times, Lord Varys actor Conleth Hill expressed nothing but support for the newest entry in the (hopefully) ongoing Game of Thrones TV saga. Hill was discussing the possibility of GoT itself one day being remade when the subject of the upcoming spinoff was raised. Read his comments below:
“Oh, yeah. But no, that's their own thing ... And I hope they have half as good a time on it as me ... But I have no envy. Nothing but support and admiration for them. I hope they have had as good a time as we did.”
Hill’s Lord Varys aka The Spider was of course one of the more popular characters on the original Game of Thrones. A eunuch and spymaster, Varys stood alongside Tyrion Lannister and Littlefinger as one of the show’s array of back-room schemers and puppet-masters, and indeed was deeply involved in the story’s season 8 endgame. Unfortunately Varys’ string-pulling would come to an end when he finally ran afoul of Daenerys and was burned to death by her dragon, Drogon, in season 8, episode 5.
The dynamic between behind-the-scenes players like Varys and more action-oriented lead characters like Daenerys and Jon Snow was indeed a big part of why Game of Thrones succeeded as a story. Unfortunately, the increasing lack of interesting back-and-forth between cerebral characters like Varys and Tyrion was one reason fans became disappointed with the show as it played out. It remains to be seen how House of the Dragon will mix things up between epic dragon action and clever backstage scheming when it arrives on HBO and HBO Max in 2022, but Hill's comments seem to suggest that making a Game of Thrones project should, at the very least, be a positive and fun experience.
Source: Radio Times