‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Conleth Hill Says He Was Blindsided By Varys’ Ending: “I Felt That Last Series Was A Bit Rushed”
Spencer Baculi
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Like most of the series’ fanbase before him, Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill has admitted that he was dissatisfied with the HBO series’ “rushed” ending, particularly as it led to a sudden and uncharacteristic ending for his character, Varys.
Varys (Conleth Hill) offers guidance to Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) in Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 “The Bells” (2019), HBO
The Irish actor shared his feelings on the notorious television disaster during a recent interview given to UK news outlet The Times in promotion of his upcoming project The Power of Parker, a BBC ‘dramedy’ series which will tell the story of a fictional Manchester business owner whose less-than-admirable lifestyle begins to catch up with him.
“Comedy makes me laugh when I read it, but I don’t really approach it any differently,” said Hill of his decision to join the show’s cast. “I’ve done some of my straightest work in comedies. The funny thing in Parker is the desperation of this man and his downward spiral, which he finds terribly serious, but everybody else finds funny. If it’s a great script it doesn’t matter if it’s funny or dramatic. It’s just what appeals to me.”
Varys (Conleth Hill) is summoned in Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 “The Bells” (2019), HBO
Making note of Hill’s appreciation for scripts, The Times’ Pavel Barter then recalled how during a 2019 table reading for the fifth episode of Game of Thrones’ eighth season ‘The Bells’, the actor was visibly upset to discover that Varys was set to meet a sudden end at the hands of Daenerys.
“I thought I’d done something wrong,” Hill proceeded to recall of that specific moment. “Right up until the last two series, I had no complaints at all. I just felt frustrated with the last couple of series because Varys wasn’t the all-knowing character he had been.”
”I think the writers wanted to do one thing to end it and the studio HBO wanted to do another,” he ultimately asserted. “I felt that last series was a bit rushed. I was inconsolable, but now I’m fine about it.”
Varys (Conleth Hill) prepares to receive judgment in Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 “The Bells” (2019), HBO
Notably, Hill is not the first Game of Thrones-related personality to claim that the series’ final seasons were a perfect storm of bad decisions and miscommunication.
Speaking with The New York Times in August 2022 ahead of House of the Dragon’s then-upcoming premiere, franchise creator George R.R. Martin himself admitted that “by Season 5 and 6, and certainly 7 and 8, I was pretty much out of the loop.”
Varys (Conleth Hill) is unaware of what his immediate future holds in Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 “The Bells” (2019), HBO
Asked by the NYT’s John Koblin if he had any theories as to why series showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss had chosen to seemingly cut him out of his own creation, Martin simply asserted, “I don’t know — you have to ask Dan and David.”
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