Game of Thrones Villain Spills the Beans on How Being Evil Pays Off
Joffrey Baratheon was probably the most hated character in the Game of Thrones, winning the title against the stiff competition.
He already was in the shortlist of most hated characters in George Martin 's books, thanks to being an incompetent royal brat, drunk with power, but the series upped the ante, by making him responsible for some crimes, originally ordered by Cersei, and turning him into a budding serial killer to boot.
While Ramsay Bolton may have ticked more boxes on the checklist of evil deeds and Freys may have surpassed everyone in sheer gruesomeness of their key crime, Joffrey had more time to establish himself as a hate sink, and no "cool" qualities whatsoever, not even basic competence.
But however hated Joffrey was and is, the negative sentiment never touched the actor who portrayed him, Jack Gleeson, even though people who have trouble separating fiction from real life really do sometimes harass actors who played especially hated villains. As Jack recently said to those attending his panel at the official Game of Thrones Convention:
"Thankfully, I've never had any negative fan experiences or anything.... There's still a chance, if anybody wants to throw a punch."
And he immediately explained the reason for that.
"A lot of people come up to me because I guess this rumor started that people were horrible to me on the street or I get attacked… whereas I've never had one negative experience. I feel like people are extra nice to me because they think people attack me, so maybe I should keep the rumor going."
Well, that really sounds like something a villain from Game of Thrones would do! Jokes aside, Jack Gleeson could think of only one negative to playing Joffrey: once the series became famous, he could no longer just hang out with friends anywhere in public: "…whenever I go to a pub all of my friends then just have to become photographers because people give them their phone and then their night is ruined,"
Otherwise the role proved to be a great boon to him, catapulting the fairly obscure Irish actor to worldwide fame. Apparently, evil pays off sometimes, at least as long as you're just acting.