Have a question: At some point in season 2 or 3 I don't remember which, there was a scene with Tyrion and Cersei drunk and if I recall Cersei basically admitted she had an evil little shit as a son, but she didn't know what to do about it. And there was a moment of bonding between her and Tyrion. Whatever happened to this feeling within Cersei? I feel like it's a bit over the mark to automatically accuse Tyrion given their past.
There have been moments where she herself has had to curb Joffrey, she recognizes how much of an asshole he is. I'm just wondering why she's so upset, I get it's her kid but I mean at some point you disassociate yourself from that when the kid is evil no?
You are asking why a mother is upset that her son was just poisoned at his wedding? I don't think you do get that its her kid...
And despite some moments of decency between Tyrion and Cersei, they've both made an untold number of threats to each other throughout the series and if it were solely up to Joffrey, Tyrion would have already been dead. After an entire day of Tyrion being completely tortured by Joffrey, it is extremely believable Cersei would automatically come to the conclusion it was him.
Also to all: I'm probably the only person on earth who's favorite scene/development in this whole episode was the fact that Bronn is now training Jaime, aren't I
Edit: oh and I love the brilliance of Martin slowly bringing the vileness of the Bolton's into the fold knowing that Joffrey was gonna be gone and allowing us to still have entirely hateable villains
The king is dead, long live Jack Gleeson! Below, the 21-year-old actor whose Game of Thrones villain horrifically died Sunday night talks exclusively with EW about leaving the show, shooting his death scene, and why is is retiring (!) from acting. Plus, we have an exclusive goodbye video from Gleeson from the set of Thrones shot the day of his final scene.
It’s all part of EW’s Purple Wedding coverage, which also includes an exclusive interview with Thrones author George R.R. Martin on why he killed Joffrey, an in-depth Q&A with showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss discussing Joffrey’s death and, of course, our recap of the best wedding ever (links below).
Now here’s Gleeson, who overcame his aversion to media interviews to chat about his character’s last gasp and what comes next:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So you just shot your death scene. How was that?
Jack Gleeson: It’s relieving, in a way. You want to do the scene and character justice. It’s a complicated scene; I’ve never had a death on screen before. You want it to look believable — the choking and the coughing. It’s calming to know I’m in the great hands of [director] Alex Graves.
How did it feel to go through those motions?
Gleeson: It was tough. I suppose it’s one of those things that you have no prior experience in. I’ve never seen anyone die. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like. But Alex very kindly walked me through it. It was fun in the end, but kind of stressful to be so focused, but acting like you’re completely unfocused. Difficult, but exciting.
When you’re doing the pie-cutting scene, showing off for the crowd, what was going through your mind?
Gleeson: When I’m cutting the cake, I’m just trying to make sure I cut it through the center. When I’m gloating to the crowd, I’m just trying to enjoy it — the fake praise.
I’ve been surprised how long it’s taken certain actors to hear about their character’s fate in the books. When did you know yours?
Gleeson: I knew from Day 1. When I got the part, I read the first book. And before that, I Googled the character summaries.
Did you expect Joffrey to last this long, or stick around longer, in the TV version?
Gleeson: I didn’t really think about it. I knew it was coming. I would have been surprised if it didn’t come in season 4. I was just like, whatever.
You’ve played a character fans love to hate for so long. How do you think fans will react?
Gleeson: I think it will be 50-50. There will be a delight that the person tormenting their favorite characters is gone, but I would like to think there’s a certain sadness at the loss of the delight people take in hating a character like Joffrey.
What was your favorite scene to shoot on the show?
Gleeson: Certainly the death scene is pretty cool. And [in next week's episode]
we did the funeral scene where I was on a cliff with stones in my eyes and I just got to sleep all day, and [spoiler happened]. So that was fun.
Was there anything Joffrey ever did that made you uncomfortable to perform?
Gleeson: No, I don’t think so. Oh, certainly the obvious answer — the two prostitutes and forcing one of them to beat and kill the other one. But I don’t remember it being awkward or uncomfortable to film.
Now you’re giving us another twist in this story by retiring at the age of 21. Why?
Gleeson: The answer isn’t interesting or long-winded. I’ve been acting since age 8. I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to. And now there’s the prospect of doing it for a living, whereas up until now it was always something I did for recreation with my friends, or in the summer for some fun. I enjoyed it. When you make a living from something, it changes your relationship with it. It’s not like I hate it, it’s just not what I want to do.
As important as education is to you, what made acting appealing in the first place?
Gleeson: It was just fun. To be able to not be yourself for five minutes, half-an-hour, all day. I wouldn’t say it’s therapeutic, but it’s fun to think somebody else’s thoughts, especially a character like Joffrey. It’s a nice relief to day-to-day life.
What do you want to do instead?
Gleeson: I don’t know. Yeah. No idea. I have one year left in college. After that, I might do a post-graduate of some kind, but I don’t know in what.
I read that you wanted to be a scholar?
Gleeson: I hold a scholarship at my university at the moment. Yeah, I wanted to be an academic when I was 19 or 20. But, I’ve gone off that idea. The lifestyle is kind of lonely and isolated. I don’t think that would suit me.
So after this airs, Hollywood shouldn’t send you any scripts to try to lure you back?
Gleeson: Not for now. When I’m destitute in 10 years time, I’ll accept any script! No. As long as I’m in the not-ungrateful-but-perhaps-happy place where I can say “No” to whatever, I’m going to do that.
Many who follow entertainment in Hollywood will have a tough time wrapping their head around you–
Gleeson: Deal with it.
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has killed a lot of characters across the 4,000-pages-and-counting Song of Ice and Fire saga. But perhaps his single most inspired death was the completely unexpected passing of King Joffrey Baratheon, who was poisoned at his royal wedding feast on Sunday night’s episode. In A Storm of Swords, the event occurs very soon after the infamous Red Wedding. Below, the author — who also wrote the script for tonight’s episode — talks about making the decision to end the young king’s reign, actor Jack Gleeson’s performance, the real-life inspiration for Joffrey’s poisoning, and hints the reaction to Joffrey’s death wasn’t what the murderers had likely intended.
It’s all part of EW’s Purple Wedding coverage, which also includes an in-depth Q&A with showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss discussing Joffrey’s death, an exclusive interview with Gleeson plus his goodbye video, and, of course, our recap of the best wedding ever (links below).
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First, let’s quickly talk about last season’s nuptial violence. How do you feel about the Red Wedding? Did the show pull it off?
George R.R. Martin: Yeah, they pulled it off correctly; it was an amazing moment in television. They turned it up to eleven, as Spinal Tap would say, by picking perhaps the most brutal scene I ever wrote by making it more brutal by adding in Robb’s wife and unborn child.
In some ways, Joffrey’s death is the toughest death for viewers because he’s such an entertaining character to lose. You really had such fun with that character and Jack Gleeson’s performance is so malevolent. Can you talk about the decision you made to end this character when you did and how you did?
Martin: Oh boy, it was so long ago! Lets see, the book came out in 2000, so I guess I wrote those scenes in like 1998. I knew all along when and how Joffrey was going to die, and on what occasion. I’d been building up to it for three years through the first books. Part of it was that there’s a lot of darkness in the books. I’ve been pretty outspoken in my desire to write a story where decisions have consequences and no one is safe. But I didn’t want it to be unrelentingly bleak—I don’t think everyone would read the books if everything was just darkness and despair and people being horribly tortured and mutilated and dying. Every once in a while you have to give the good guys a victory — where the guys who are perhaps a lighter shade of grey have a victory over the guys who are a darker shade of grey. The Red Wedding and this — fans call this the Purple Wedding — occur in the same book. In the TV show, it’s separate seasons. But Joffrey’s death was in some ways a counterweight for readers to the death of Robb and Catelyn. It shows that yes, nobody is safe—sometimes the good guys win, sometimes the bad guys win. Nobody is safe and that we are playing for keeps. I also tried to provide a certain moment of pathos with the death. I mean, Joffrey, as monstrous as he is — and certainly he’s just as monstrous in the books as he is in the TV show, and Jack has brought some incredible acting chops to the role that somehow makes him even more loathsome than he is on the page — but Joffrey in the books is still a 13-year-old kid. And there’s kind of a moment there where he knows that he’s dying and he can’t get a breath and he’s kind of looking at Tyrion and at his mother and at the other people in the hall with just terror and appeal in his eyes—you know, “Help me mommy, I’m dying.” And in that moment, I think even Tyrion sees a 13-year-old boy dying before him. So I didn’t want it to be entirely, “Hey-ho, the witch is dead.” I wanted the impact of the death to still strike home on to perhaps more complex feelings on the part of the audience, not necessarily just cheering.
At the same time, in the moments leading up to that, you seem to really enjoy giving him this grand sendoff by having all these moments during his wedding where he demonstrates the character traits that make us so dislike him. The wedding is self-aggrandizing — he throws his money around, he chops up Tyrion’s present, he orders that offensive dwarf joust. He gets to display all of the reasons why we want him to die just before he dies.
Martin: Yeah. I think Joffrey is a classic 13-year-old bully. Do you know many 13-year-old kids you’d like to give absolute power to? There’s a cruelty in children, especially children of a certain age, that you see in junior high and middle school. We don’t want 13-year-old bullies to be put to death. We probably do when we’re their 13-year-old victims, but they grow up and most of them grow out of it, and sometimes people do regret their actions. But Joffrey will never get that chance, so we don’t know what he would have become. Probably nothing good, but still…
You also deny us the expected way that we would think that Joffrey will die, which would be by one of the hands of the surviving Stark kids, or through some other obvious mechanism from people he has wronged. You give us his death, but deny use the typical pleasure that we would normally get from it.
Martin: I wanted to make it little bit unclear what exactly has happened here, make the readers work a little to try and figure out what has happened. And of course, for Tyrion, Joffrey’s death doesn’t make things better, it makes things worse. Tyrion’s in terrible trouble, and it proves that something I’ve tried to make a point of through the whole series: Decisions have consequences. When Robb breaks his word to House Frey and doesn’t marry one of Frey’s daughters, that has dire consequences for him. One of Tyrion’s problems has been that he has a big mouth. He’s been saying things since the beginning of the series, these veiled threats to Cersei—”someday I’m going to get you for this, someday your joy is going to turn to ashes in your mouth.” Now, all these declarations make him look really guilty.
For me, one of the most brilliant things you did is that you kill off these major characters at a wedding, and then you kill off another major character a few chapters later — at another wedding! I never would have predicted that, precisely because of how much you like to vary things.
Martin: I don’t know how it comes across in the show, because I haven’t actually seen it yet, but the poison that is used to kill Joffrey is one that I introduce earlier in the books and its symptoms are similar to choking. So a feast is the perfect time to use this thing. I think the intent of the murderer is not to have this become another Red Wedding—the Red Wedding was very clearly murder and butchery. I think the idea with Joffrey’s death was to make it look like an accident — someone’s out celebrating, they haven’t invented the Heimlich maneuver, so when someone gets food caught in his throat, it’s very serious. I based it a little on the death of Eustace, the son of King Stephen of England. Stephen had usurped the crown from his cousin, the empress Maude, and they fought a long civil war and the anarchy and the war would be passed down to second generation, because Maude had a son and Henry and Stephen had a son. But Eustace choked to death at a feast. People are still debating a thousand of years later: Did he choke to death or was he poisoned? Because by removing Eustace, it brought about a peace that ended the English civil war. Eustace’s death was accepted [as accidental], and I think that’s what the murderers here were hoping for — the whole realm will see Joffrey choke to death on a piece of pie or something. But what they didn’t count on, was Cersei’s immediate assumption that this was murder. Cersei wasn’t fooled by this for a second. She doesn’t believe that it was an accidental death. You saw the scene filmed, does it come across as he could possibly be just choking or is it very clear he’s been poisoned?
It comes across like it could be either, at least at first. By the time there’s the moment with Tyrion looking at Joffrey’s cup of wine, you’ve put it together. So finally, any thoughts about how Jack played Joffrey now that this is his swan song?
Martin: I think Jack was sensational. I met Jack during the filming of the pilot many years ago now, and he’s like the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. He’s really bright and a fiercely intelligent young man going to Trinity College in Dublin. I don’t know if you’ve seen his speech at the Oxford Union, it’s pretty amazing about celebrity culture. He’s very perceptive and he played this loathsome character and somehow made him more loathsome. He created someone that everybody hates, and loves to hate, and that’s a considerable feat of acting. I feel a little guilty that he’s quitting acting now. I hope that playing Joffrey didn’t help make him want to retire from the profession because he does have quite a gift for it and could have a major career as an actor.
It doesn't bother me that Jack Gleeson is retiring from acting for academic pursuits given his natural passion for intellectualism and distaste for the celebrity, but I hope he recognises that beyond the fandom and nonsense his contribution to performance art is ultimately one of the strongest in the entire show. If that's all he ever wants to do, he should sit well knowing he delivered in spades and accomplished exactly what all great actors should: emotional resonance with the audience.
Didn't Lady Ollena make a 'suggestion' to Sansa prior that she and Tyrion should go visit Highgarden soon after the wedding? Since they have her back, it seems like it would be a good place to escape to. Loras left as well. Makes it seem like the Tyrells knew exactly what was going down.
After Davos set him free there hasn't been any word of him, or of his escape. Which is actually kinda weird. You'd think Stannis or Melisandra would at least say something to Sir Davos.
After Davos set him free there hasn't been any word of him, or of his escape. Which is actually kinda weird. You'd think Stannis or Melisandra would at least say something to Sir Davos.
Joffrey did, but there's no proof he was a bastard. But even if there was proof, I think they still could because why else would they have killed all of Roberts bastards back in S2?
Joffrey did, but there's no proof he was a bastard. But even if there was proof, I think they still could because why else would they have killed all of Roberts bastards back in S2?
Bastards have to be legitimised to have any kind of claim to the throne.
Always thought Joffrey order the bastards killed because he had heard the rumours about Cersei and Jaime and didn't want them to spread when people found out all of Robert's offspring have brown hair.
Oh at Martin wanting the death to come across as a possible choking. The show made it seem pretty obvious that he was poisoned (or do people look like that after they choke to death? Can't say I've ever witnessed it)
After everything that Joffrey had just done to Tyrion, there wouldn't be much of a reason for Cersei or anyone else there to expect someone other than Tyrion being the culprit. At first I wanted to think that it was the Tyrells that were behind the murder. I figured Marjorie would just take over as Queen, but im not sure how it actually works. Thinking more and more about it, could it be someone behind the scenes that wasn't highlighted at the end during the chaos? I'm thinking Varys is in on it somehow. He said himself that he serves the realm. Maybe he and whoever he is in collusion with knew that the time is right and Joffrey needed to go. Who knows though. I hate having to wait to find out more.
But really, that whole episode was just Tyrion getting shat on. The whole scene with Shae and then the wedding. Things just keep getting worse and worse for him.
The scene where Oberyn nods to Loras seems to me like they either want to do it or already have, and nothing more.
It's pretty weird, but I don't hate Ramsey Snow. I'm actually intrigued by his character and want to know more about him and the events of his life that molded him into being who he is. Saying that Reek is getting everything he deserves is a bit much imo, but he is paying for his actions against the Starks. Someone that isn't a main character, but can pick up some of my hate now that Joffrey is gone would be Locke.
Ugh, have to wait another week for the next episode. I can't wait to see some more Daenerys
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It doesn't bother me that Jack Gleeson is retiring from acting for academic pursuits given his natural passion for intellectualism and distaste for the celebrity, but I hope he recognises that beyond the fandom and nonsense his contribution to performance art is ultimately one of the strongest in the entire show. If that's all he ever wants to do, he should sit well knowing he delivered in spades and accomplished exactly what all great actors should: emotional resonance with the audience.
When the pie comes out, Margaret takes his goblet and puts it on a table close to her mum.
So definitely think the necklace stone was put in the wine by olena. But I still think tywin also had something to do with it. This act gets rid of tyrion and Joffrey, makes him king while tommen comes of age.
Don´t agree on Tywin, but on Olena. There were only 3 possible situations how joeffrey could have been poisoned:
1. Sansa gives the goblet to Tyrion. It was emptied before, so no poison could have been inside at this point. She hovers her hand above the cup while giving it, clearly an opportunity to slip something in. Still, the empty cup spend quite some time in the kings hand afterwards - a stone from a neglace could have been spotted easily. IF it was pulled off by Sansa i believe she and the jester did it alone. Rob was killed on a wedding and she has a strong motive - if not the strongest. The jester was the only person left she had a connection too, to whom she could talk about her fears.
2. Olena or Margery: The empty cup stood in front of them while everyone else was distracted with the pigeon slaughtering. A thing they knew about beforehand. The wine itself wasn´t poisened, so it had to be the cup. If 1) is true, they could have spotted the stone quite easily. The reasonable explanation would be to get rid of the king before the wedding night to install margery as the Queen. So what about tommen you say? Tywin and Kings landing depend on the money and the food of the tyrells. Olena would simply cut it off if Tommen or even Cersei (lol) would be installed as a replacement. Cersei is not even part of the game, there are much more dangerous and smart animals thirsty for power in town this time around. Sansa could have been secured to be an asset for future power struggles with the north. I think this is the most reasonable explanation, but also the most obvious one. Tywin will understand this in seconds. He won´t leave this unpunished.
3. It was the pie. No one ate it but the king. Margery even fed him. It was known he would be the one to take the first bite. This leaves us with two options, one is the same as 2), the other is the pie was poisened by a still unkown third party. Maybe by the new guy (which i can´t remember the name) who threatened cersey and tywin, maybe by someone else. I expect 2) to be true, but knowing GoT it might be 3) as well by some person we saw for one second during season 1.
I really wish HBO would open up their programming more to streaming services (other than hbogo). Kills me not to be able to watch these. I'd try one of "those" streaming sites, but I don't know what's a real one and what's going to take over my computer and turn it into a killing machine.
HBO is just too expensive for me right now, especially for just one show, even GoT...
Truly. Not only that, but I wish that poison dragged on for hours, making him suffer for a longer period of time. It went into effect too quickly!
He should've been the one that got ravaged by those dogs at the beginning.
Re: Who Killed King Joffrey Theories:
I really don't think Sansa's bright enough to concoct something like this. She could've been involved but I doubt it, she seemed largely oblivious to her surroundings.
Having said that, atm I really like the Olenna theories. Fucking BLESS!!! Loved that sassy grandma the instant she first came on screen last season, but if the theory proves true she gets all the points in the world for killing the biggest douche bag in the show. UPSTANDING BAMF!
Exactly, don't let Cersei's jealousy make you think different. It was evident that Cersei needs to get laid because she was a little too extra.
Ya know, it wouldn't surprise me that she knew Joffery was gonna die and pinned it on Tyrion. She would be Queen regent forever more and got rid of the problem of her son and her brother. Maybe all of the craziness we saw last night was a hard act (meta) because of a combination of her not getting over the fact that she's gonna watch her son die and she hitting her breaking point mentally.
Just watched the episode. Awesome as ever, I got the death spoiled for me though -.- Someone posted online saying "I wonder if Joffrey will have the heart to get choked up at his own wedding" and I assumed this would happen. Fuck framing Tyrion though!
I can't be doing with the freaky Bolton's though. I don't even remember them besides the Red Wedding. Before then I didn't remember them so that scene confused me a bit, anyone wanna give me a recap on their twisted family?
The wedding reception/feast scene is 20 minutes and 10 seconds. That's 20 continuous minutes in a single scene at the same location. To have all those character interactions, to have all those things for characters to say and do to each other, and all the subtextual things going on in the camera work and the exhanged glances, all in the same place in real-time for such a long stretch and without cutting away is an amazing feat of television making. No other TV show does this. Not even movies do this.
I didnt notice Reek right away at the beginning of the episode. At first I thought it was going to be a flashback to some persona defining moment in Ramsey's past.
