This Core Game of Thrones Star Never Thought the Show Was a 'Big Deal'

Game of Thrones, the show that rather unexpectedly turned into a full-blown international cultural phenomenon, altered and boosted the careers of most of its stars. Of course, no one won quite as much from it as Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke, the lead stars — but even their on-screen lieutenants felt the difference.

Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen has had quite a few of those throughout the series: Jorah Mormont, Barristan Selmy, Daario Naharis, Grey Worm…the list goes on. Their actors, too, undeniably benefitted from starring in Game of Thrones — but apparently, not all of them even treated the show as the “big deal” that it was.

Jacob Anderson, the actor behind Grey Worm, shared that he never learned to recognize Game of Thrones’ international success. For him, the TV series has always been just one of his several projects, and the whole “cultural phenomenon” thing kind of didn’t exist for him — largely because of how everything worked on set.

“The experience of making that show was so different to the way it was being perceived and metabolized by people who watched it… It was such a big deal, but it never really felt that way to me because the way we made the show felt quite small,” Anderson explained when talking to NME.

This might sound crazy but makes perfect sense. Unlike many other Game of Thrones actors, Jacob Anderson barely interacted with anyone beyond his small group of Daenerys Targaryen’s closest advisors. For Anderson, Game of Thrones virtually consisted of him, Emilia Clarke, Nathalie Emmanuel, Peter Dinklage, and Conleth Hill.

Only when the actor got to watch complete episodes and face the overwhelming fan love would he realize just how insanely huge Game of Thrones truly was. But yet again, these things changed little for him, personally: at the end of the day, Jacob Anderson would still go and shoot his scenes with the same four people every time.

Source: NME