The last day of shooting Game of Thrones was a bit anticlimactic for Peter Dinklage, who opened up about the experience during a recent interview with Vulture. The actor, who played Tyrion Lannister for almost a decade, also said it was bittersweet to bid adieu to one of cable TV’s most beloved characters.
“It’s always anticlimactic for the character’s last day. Nothing is shot chronologically, so you don’t get some big mountaintop scene or anything. It’s just, ‘That’s a wrap on Peter Dinklage,’” the actor told Vulture. “But as anticlimactic as it was, my last day was also beautifully bittersweet. A lot of people whom I love were on set that day. Even if they weren’t working, they came to set, which was beautiful.”
Dinklage repaid the favor by going to the set when other actors completed their last days of shooting. He noted how the cast and crew got extra emotional when one of the younger stars filmed a final scene.
“I won’t say their name or their character’s name, but one of the young people on the show wrapped this past season and everybody was a wreck,” he said. “This person had grown up on the show, you know? They were a child and now they were an adult. And then they’re done. It’s like we were witnessing this person saying good-bye to their childhood.”
Tyrion went through quite a transformation during the show’s seven seasons, eventually becoming Daenerys’ Hand of the Queen.
“He certainly developed a deeper sense of responsibility over the course of the show,” Dinklage said. “He was a pretty irresponsible character to begin with. He used his position as the outcast of his family like an adolescent would. He pushed it in their [the Lannisters’] faces. The beauty of Tyrion is that he grew out of that mode in a couple of seasons and developed a strong sense of responsibility. Not morality, because he always had that, but what to do with his intelligence.”
Dinklage did not reveal very much about what’s in store for season eight, only that he was satisfied with his character’s ending.
“I feel very, very — I’m trying to find the right word. I think he was given a very good conclusion.” He added, “No matter what that is — death can be a great way out.”
In August, HBO released a tiny teaser for the eighth season, which will air in the first half of 2019. In the meantime, screenwriter and producer Jane Goldman is working on a prequel pilot that is set in the Game of Thrones universe. There’s no word yet on when the series will debut.
For those not ready to give up the show, fans will soon be able to visit the actual locations in Northern Ireland where it was filmed. The network has revealed plans to convert several GoT filming locations into tourist attractions. The tour will spotlight GoT components from every season and setting.
Dubbed the Game of Thrones Legacy attractions, HBO is striving for a 2019 launch. The network is capitalizing on the popularity of the show, which drew a record-breaking 16.5 million viewers during its seventh season finale last year.
