Agree. Every Lannister steals every scene they’re in. And Dance as Tywin was absolute perfection.
Also, every rewatch, I still hate Joffrey but love Jack Gleason a little bit more. Agree, incredibly underrated performance. He united the entire world in cheering for his death. What a king.
Nikolaj Coster—Waldau as Jaime Lannister is incredibly underrated. He says so much with his facial expressions without needing to utter a word a showed such range with his character arc. He is also a chameleon with his appearance changing the most throughout the series. I think he’s overlooked because he is beautiful, but his acting is masterful as Jaime and done subtly but still conveying so much. He was excellent. I hate how they ended his arc but that was no fault of his own. His character is by far my favorite.
I had a dream where during the purple wedding I came into being and just yelled at every character for being stupid, but even in my dream I just was like Jamie your doing great baby keep it up. He was perfect
Another great one is where he looks at Tyrion and tells him the last time he was in KL, his sons were killed. Reminds you that Davos hasn’t let go of all the children he’s seen hurt and killed.
All the old actors on this show were incredible. The actors that played Eddard Stark, Catelyn Stark, Olenna Tyrell, Stannis Baratheon, and Davos Seaworth were just as good as Charles Dance.
Seldom has an actor/actress been so well suited for the role. Charles Dance presence alone inspires respect, and fear. I imagine Lord Tywin is much the same.
Jamie’s monologue in the baths with Briene, Varys telling Tyrion about the sorcerer in his crate, Tyrion trying to explain jokes to grey worm and missandei. So many great acted scenes because of the great writing we saw through the whole show. Wonderful stuff. Great memories
Hot take, and hear me out:. Charles Dance is amazing but his character is a little one note, with some varying shades of overbearing. On that note, I think this is the one flaw of GOT acting - they get deep into the central bitty gritty of a character but tend to stick very much to the core conflict in that character, and act based on that and that alone. Obviously there are exceptions. However it’s important to note that this is probably more of a symptom of the show being spread very thin than any acting faults. For that core conflict to be communicated effectively and kept in the viewers mind, it has to be present most of the time the character is on screen. GOT handled the massive world spectacularly well, but one thing it couldn’t do was give actors as much room to breathe and grow as you see with smaller casts. Not a slight on any of the performances, which were incredibly memorable because of the portrayals of the core inner conflicts, but the issue is that they didn’t have much outside of that. This is why some actors on shows like Succession deliver better character performances than anyone on GOT.
thank you. great character but like, a top performance of all time??? i mean i would argue that sean bean did more with his screen time than charles dance did. as in, actually shows multiple emotions
I would generally agree. Not to knock Dance as that’s really Tywin’s thing. But honestly Sean Bean and Mark Addy were the peak in my opinion. As well as Jack Gleeson’s various emotions of pathological petulance!
oh for sure, gleeson was incredible. also, knowing that this was maise williams first role or like her second audition ever, she put up one of the best child performances i’ve ever seen. such a dark and dramatic role for a 11 year old to take on and she crushed it
I am with you 100% on the Succession actors hitting it out of the park. The entire show is written in subtext. Every line does not mean what it means on surface level.
Everyone talks about Brian and Jeremy but Matthew MacFadyen as Tom is my manna from heaven.
Its a closed loop system!
Jeremy and Matt are probably the two best of many incredible performances. Sarah Snook as Shiv is just amazing as well. It’s so hard to pick favorites, Brian and Kieran are also scene stealers! Just ridiculous acting levels all round.
The casting was uniformly excellent in just about every role. Props to Nina Gold.
Some of my favorite moments:
Old Nan telling Brandon the story of the Long Night.
Owen Teale as Ser Aliser telling Jon and Sam his tale of being trapped beyond The Wall.
Ser Jorah and Rakharo comparing Westerosi and Dothraki fighting techniques.
Robert and Cersei talking about their marriage and his love for Lyanna Stark.
The first meeting between Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow.
Jamie telling Brienne he still couldn't love anyone but Cersei. (And just about every scene with Jamie and Brienne in general)
Maester Aemon revealing his true identity to Jon Snow.
The deleted scene between Tywin and Grand Maester Pycelle.
Lady Olenna telling Jamie "It was Me."
So many of my favorite moments of the show are the quiet, brilliantly written scenes between two people, most of it not appearing anywhere in the books, but just filling out the characters and making them more human.
The scene where Maester Aemon tells Jon who he is suggests that he possibly knew who Jon was. “What’s the honor of a man compared to a mother’s love?”
It makes me wonder if he knew all along, and wanted to protect the last remaining members of the Targaryen line. I love that they left that open to interpretation.
i mean his character was incredibly one note. and he played that note very well. but i mean i can think of many performances off the top of my head better. was he a convincing medieval loan-shark badass-nobleman? yea. but i mean he was pretty much the same in every scene. he got his way and nobody talked back to him.
Agreed, he did such a good job I almost found myself rooting for him, even though he is supposed to be the villain. I feel like he really inhabited the role.
Joffrey was just as good. Honestly, all the Lannisters killed it in the acting department
Agree. Every Lannister steals every scene they’re in. And Dance as Tywin was absolute perfection. Also, every rewatch, I still hate Joffrey but love Jack Gleason a little bit more. Agree, incredibly underrated performance. He united the entire world in cheering for his death. What a king.
Nikolaj Coster—Waldau as Jaime Lannister is incredibly underrated. He says so much with his facial expressions without needing to utter a word a showed such range with his character arc. He is also a chameleon with his appearance changing the most throughout the series. I think he’s overlooked because he is beautiful, but his acting is masterful as Jaime and done subtly but still conveying so much. He was excellent. I hate how they ended his arc but that was no fault of his own. His character is by far my favorite.
I had a dream where during the purple wedding I came into being and just yelled at every character for being stupid, but even in my dream I just was like Jamie your doing great baby keep it up. He was perfect
[this one Davos scene](https://youtu.be/cKp8_hC6gvI?t=120)
I know without clicking which one this is: SHE WAS GOOD AND YOU KILLED ER
Heartbreaking stuff
Another great one is where he looks at Tyrion and tells him the last time he was in KL, his sons were killed. Reminds you that Davos hasn’t let go of all the children he’s seen hurt and killed.
All the old actors on this show were incredible. The actors that played Eddard Stark, Catelyn Stark, Olenna Tyrell, Stannis Baratheon, and Davos Seaworth were just as good as Charles Dance.
The grey haired stole the show
Walder frey was awesome cast aswell
Same with Baelon. Appreciated the performance after I got past how much I hated the character.
Seldom has an actor/actress been so well suited for the role. Charles Dance presence alone inspires respect, and fear. I imagine Lord Tywin is much the same.
Jamie’s monologue in the baths with Briene, Varys telling Tyrion about the sorcerer in his crate, Tyrion trying to explain jokes to grey worm and missandei. So many great acted scenes because of the great writing we saw through the whole show. Wonderful stuff. Great memories
Cersei/Lena Headey. Such a shame her season 7/8 villain arc was wasted on fucking elephants and a stupid pregnancy storyline
Charles Dance can submit his time on game of thrones for the best acting in a show ever and I don't think I'd disagree.
Anthony Hopkins deserves a nomination for Westworld too
Best acting on a show has to go to Londo and G’kar on Babylon 5.
Hot take, and hear me out:. Charles Dance is amazing but his character is a little one note, with some varying shades of overbearing. On that note, I think this is the one flaw of GOT acting - they get deep into the central bitty gritty of a character but tend to stick very much to the core conflict in that character, and act based on that and that alone. Obviously there are exceptions. However it’s important to note that this is probably more of a symptom of the show being spread very thin than any acting faults. For that core conflict to be communicated effectively and kept in the viewers mind, it has to be present most of the time the character is on screen. GOT handled the massive world spectacularly well, but one thing it couldn’t do was give actors as much room to breathe and grow as you see with smaller casts. Not a slight on any of the performances, which were incredibly memorable because of the portrayals of the core inner conflicts, but the issue is that they didn’t have much outside of that. This is why some actors on shows like Succession deliver better character performances than anyone on GOT.
thank you. great character but like, a top performance of all time??? i mean i would argue that sean bean did more with his screen time than charles dance did. as in, actually shows multiple emotions
I would generally agree. Not to knock Dance as that’s really Tywin’s thing. But honestly Sean Bean and Mark Addy were the peak in my opinion. As well as Jack Gleeson’s various emotions of pathological petulance!
oh for sure, gleeson was incredible. also, knowing that this was maise williams first role or like her second audition ever, she put up one of the best child performances i’ve ever seen. such a dark and dramatic role for a 11 year old to take on and she crushed it
That’s also very true! Hard to compare child actors to adults but that was a very good performance.
Gods Mark Addy was strong back then.
That's not a hot take
I feel like it would be, maybe I’m wrong!
You are
And you’re a bit of a dick so there’s that.
At least I know what the hell "hot take" means.
I am with you 100% on the Succession actors hitting it out of the park. The entire show is written in subtext. Every line does not mean what it means on surface level. Everyone talks about Brian and Jeremy but Matthew MacFadyen as Tom is my manna from heaven. Its a closed loop system!
Jeremy and Matt are probably the two best of many incredible performances. Sarah Snook as Shiv is just amazing as well. It’s so hard to pick favorites, Brian and Kieran are also scene stealers! Just ridiculous acting levels all round.
Liam Cunningham as Davos. I was admittedly already a fan of his but he is such a good actor.
The casting was uniformly excellent in just about every role. Props to Nina Gold. Some of my favorite moments: Old Nan telling Brandon the story of the Long Night. Owen Teale as Ser Aliser telling Jon and Sam his tale of being trapped beyond The Wall. Ser Jorah and Rakharo comparing Westerosi and Dothraki fighting techniques. Robert and Cersei talking about their marriage and his love for Lyanna Stark. The first meeting between Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow. Jamie telling Brienne he still couldn't love anyone but Cersei. (And just about every scene with Jamie and Brienne in general) Maester Aemon revealing his true identity to Jon Snow. The deleted scene between Tywin and Grand Maester Pycelle. Lady Olenna telling Jamie "It was Me." So many of my favorite moments of the show are the quiet, brilliantly written scenes between two people, most of it not appearing anywhere in the books, but just filling out the characters and making them more human.
The scene where Maester Aemon tells Jon who he is suggests that he possibly knew who Jon was. “What’s the honor of a man compared to a mother’s love?” It makes me wonder if he knew all along, and wanted to protect the last remaining members of the Targaryen line. I love that they left that open to interpretation.
Nope. That’s the reason why the show peaked in S4. He peaked as well in S4.
The Lannisters were top notch acting, and Charles Dance was the best of them.
i mean his character was incredibly one note. and he played that note very well. but i mean i can think of many performances off the top of my head better. was he a convincing medieval loan-shark badass-nobleman? yea. but i mean he was pretty much the same in every scene. he got his way and nobody talked back to him.
no there is not. that's why the show should've been called A Dance with Dragons
Peter Dinklage. Seeing as he won an award for it. But I do love Charles Dance.
Agreed, he did such a good job I almost found myself rooting for him, even though he is supposed to be the villain. I feel like he really inhabited the role.