Game Of Thrones star Pilou Asbaek: ‘Villains are the best – heroes are boring’

Game Of Thrones does a baddie better than any other show.

First up: Joffrey, the loathsome boy king who ordered Ned Stark’s beheading in season one and, eight years later, remains arguably the show’s most hated character.

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Considering his competition, it’s quite a title. Walder Frey, Ramsay Bolton, Littlefinger, Cersei Lannister… the list goes on.

We also have Euron Greyjoy, the pirate villain who nails bodies to ships, but is also actually quite… charming?

In this, the final series, many fans will be rooting for inadvertent heir and brooding hero Jon Snow to claim the Iron Throne, but there will surely be just as many who want to see the ruthless Cersei crowned queen, or the evil White Walkers triumph.

Game Of Thrones is not about traditional goodies and baddies (with the exception of lovable underdog Samwell Tarly, and a few cases of pure unadulterated evil); the complex characters fans love to hate are one of the great things about the epic show.

Speaking to Sky News at the premiere of season eight in Belfast, Pilou Asbaek, who plays Greyjoy, said he would always choose to play the bad guy.

Asked what he would miss most about his character now the show has ended, he said: “Him being so brutal and relentless and that he has no limits. I’m gonna miss that.

“You’re working so much [on this show] and you’re so much away from your family that it needs to be fun. With Euron Greyjoy he’s such a fun character that even though I was away from my family it didn’t feel so wrong because I had such fun doing it.

“Villains are always the best. You never want to be the hero; the heroes are boring, they always have to be politically correct. When you create a villain you’ve got to make them human.”

And then, with a raised eyebrow, he adds: “He’s not a villain – he’s just misunderstood.”

Hmm. We’re not sure his niece and nephew would agree.

Asbaek also hinted at scenes to come, saying one episode of the final season “will be so spectacular it will blow your mind”.

We know there will be deaths. So who will win the Game Of Thrones? Good or evil?

Many of the cast have suggested fans won’t necessarily be happy with how the show comes to a close.

“We don’t care about keeping people happy on this show, we never have,” John Bradley, who plays good guy Samwell Tarly, told Sky News.

Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, said the show had been “a rollercoaster and the ending will be just as much of a rollercoaster”. He also said he was “upset” when he first read the script, but quickly changed his wording to “overwhelmed”.

And Ben Crompton, who plays Eddison Tollett, said the finale would be “like the Thrones that you know – and then ‘whoa’, and then even more so”.

What any of this means, we don’t yet know.

But this is Westeros, the site of hundreds of gruesome deaths – and to quote a truly despicable villain: “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”

:: The final series of Game Of Thrones airs on Sky Atlantic on 15 April at 2am and 9pm.

:: Want to recap on the story so far? All episodes of Game Of Thrones from series 1-7 are now available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.

(c) Sky News 2019: Game Of Thrones star Pilou Asbaek: ‘Villains are the best – heroes are boring’