Growing up game of thrones vanity fair full#
Growing up game of thrones vanity fair tv#

“Yeah, me too,” Gillen agrees with a laugh. Martin novels) who miss the unconventional fantasy world where someone like Littlefinger could wind up taking the Iron Throne. While the Stark ascendency is popular with many, there is a contingent of viewers (usually fans of the George R.R. In your mind.”īut with Team Stark on a seeming upswing, dropping Freys like flies and treating Boltons like dog kibble, this latter-day version of Game of Thrones no longer feels like the same morally chaotic world where Littlefinger once held a dagger to Ned Stark’s throat. “Don’t fight in the north, or the south,” his character intones in the Season 7 trailer.

Growing up game of thrones vanity fair full#

Having watched his protégé and the object of his creepy affection, Sansa Stark, rise to the top of the northern political set (both because of and despite his machinations), Littlefinger is poised to go full Iago-skulking in the shadows and purring poison in her ear.

That mandate of secrecy applies to Gillen as well, of course, but we do know a few things about his role in Westerosi politics this year. “I played this quite lovable, optimistic character called Aidan, conveniently enough,” he says, sounding almost wistful for a project where he wasn’t actively backstabbing anyone.

While Gillen admits there are echoes of all those villains inside of him-“everything an actor does exploits an aspect of their personality”-he says a lesser-seen project, a 2011 British film called Treacle Jr., is more in line with who he really is. “I’m often mistaken for a villain-a moody type-which I’m not really,” the actor explains in a relaxed Dublin accent that sounds as different from Baelish as can be. Whether as the sexually aggressive Stuart Alan Jones in Queer as Folk, the politically slimy Tommy Carcetti in The Wire, the smirking criminal kingpin John Boy in RTÉ’s Love/Hate, or, of course, the opportunistic striver Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in Game of Thrones, Gillen has taught audiences over and over again that he is not a man to be trusted.īut those scheming backstabbers couldn’t be farther from Gillen himself-and in advance of this Sunday’s Season 7 premiere, the Game of Thrones star got on the phone with Vanity Fair to both set the record straight and weigh in on whether this is still a show where someone like Littlefinger could ever wind up on top.

Growing up game of thrones vanity fair tv#

Even if you’ve never seen an episode of Game of Thrones, chances are that if you’re a TV lover, you’ve watched Irish actor Aidan Gillen manipulate someone.