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How successful will the show's actors will be post-GoT?


For many people, GoT is the first time seeing many of the actors who have made a name for themselves on the show. If you had shown a picture of Kit Harington or Maisie Williams or Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to random people on the street before GoT began, I suspect that very few people would even know who they were. Today, of course, things have changed.

So how successful will the various stars of the show be now that the show is coming to a close? Who will see the most success and who will see the least? Who would like to see go on to be successful?

Personally, I would like to see Kit go on to be a star. I have watched several of the films he's made in between seasons of the show, like MI-5 and Pompeii. However, I'm not totally convinced that he's going to be a big deal after his run as Jon Snow is over. My guess is that he's more of an indie darling.

If I were to guess, I think of the entire cast Emilia Clarke will go on to have the most success. Aidan Gillen won't be a big star, but he'll work steadily and be a respected character actor. Lena Headey, I think, will continue to pop up in high-profile projects as well, though most often in a supporting role.

What's everyone else think?

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For most of them, I think the SF convention circuit will be a major source of income.

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Past GoT actors seem to pop up in many Netflix movies or shows, most notably the Red Viper was in Triple Frontier with Affleck. Might not be A-List roles, but enough to keep them working.

Richard Madden has probably had the most success so far post GoT. The lead in two series, the second of which earning him a Golden Globe, and Prince Charming in Cinderella.

Lena Headey already had a level of fame prior to the show. Peter Dinklage will always be around, even though we'll only ever really remember him as Tyrion Lannister. Emile Clarke will do well, and already has, in part because she looks so different from her character.

Everyone else will have varying degrees of success.

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Pedro Pascal (Red Viper) was also the lead in Narcos for 3 seasons after GOT. He was also in The Kingsman: Golden Circle, The Equalizer 2 and will be in the next Wonder Woman. I think he is currently more successful than Madden so far, but both have a bright future ahead of them.

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I think Pascal is also the lead in The Mandalorian, the new Star Wars show that is leading the release of Disney+. Frankly, I would say he is doing the best of anyone.

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Very true. I love him. Was upset when they killed him off in GOT. But I should have known not to get too attached. :-)

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Aidan would be fine without this show. He was already a main character on The Wire.

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He's also the lead in recent History Channel show Project Blue Book, and I know he was one or two of the Maze Runner movies as well.

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I think Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a particularly good actor - how successful he'll be depends on many factors which have little to do with his acting ability.

Peter Dinklage is another decent actor but he has a severe handicap of sorts - so the number of roles he can apply for is limited.

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Many factors like what?

I saw Nikolaj recently in Shot Caller and he was really good in that one.

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He was awesome in that, I loved it!

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Most of them are British so at least they will be all right at home. Which is good because of the opportunity to take normal roles. That, of course, applies only to actors, so Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner are on their own.

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What do you mean by "that applies only to actors"?

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Those with the ability to act.

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I think most of them will work as steady as they want...maybe starring in Indies and co starring in main stream. Hopefully sticking with cable for any tv work..
It's not like being an A list actor is the only path to success. There's not that many at the very top, it makes people crazy and there's nowhere to go but down.
And being in GOT is success already in itself ..

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You forgot Sophie Turner, she is starring at the moment as Jean Gray in Dark Phoenix which is an X-men franchise.

She was already in X-men: Apocalypse but I think in Dark Phoenix she is the main character.

Marvel movies are really popular these days, so I think she has a promising career after GOT.

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Well, I didn't forget. I just left her for someone else to discuss . . . which you just did!

Word on the street is that Dark Phoenix has had a troubled production and test screenings have not gotten good reactions, so I'm not sure how much that film is going to help her.

I guess we'll see though. That is literally the only other thing I know about that she has appeared in, but hopefully she will find success in a post-GoT world.

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Hmm... I see... You had a cunning plan! :)

Yeah, I’m not really into Marvel movies, so I don’t know much about production issues.

So I am not gonna watch it anyways. I just know Marvel movies and comic book heroes are very popular or they wouldn’t still be filming those kinds of movies. I’m just waiting for this trend to die. XD

Also, isn’t she like engaged to one of the Jonas Brothers?! I get that they are famous (don’t know any of their songs, just know about them from celeb gossip) but usually that also helps, dating someone famous so you get famous by association.

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A few headlines that you can glance at:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2018/10/01/dark-phoenix-flaming-sophie-turners-x-men-movie-could-trouble/
https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/x-men-dark-phoenix-spoilers-leak-online
https://cosmicbook.news/x-men-dark-phoenix-disaster

Regarding superhero movies in general, I do still watch the new ones when the trailers look good, but I'm not devoted to them as some people are, and don't watch every single one that is released. The better ones are a lot of fun, but I still think it's a Hollywood phase (fad?) that SHOULD be winding down (even though I'm not sure that it is).

As for Sophie Turner being married to a Jonas brother, I really couldn't tell you. Honestly, I'm fine with her but she has never been one of my favorites on the show, or one of the actors who I've been especially interested in seeing more of her work outside of the show. So I haven't really kept up with her.

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Thanks for the links.

Yeah, she wasn’t my fav character either nor I cared about the actress that much, not enough to actively follow her career.

I saw few minutes of her first X-man movie last year on HBO, and about her personal life it was by accident and I wasn’t exactly looking to read about her, but Priyanka Chopra. It was Movie Chat and their clickbait adds. There was a Priyanka headline about her wedding or something that kept popping up, and it started to get to my nerves and also I was like let’s finally see it and get it over with, and it turned out Priyanka was marrying one of those Jonas bros, and Sophie Turner was mentioned being engaged to the other one. I blame Movie Chat for starting to read random celeb gossip, I also don’t really care about Priyanka Chopra. I don’t know why I read that stuff, I need an Ad Block on my phone.

And about Sophie’s latest X-man movie, I just saw it under the new releases and trailers on IMDb.

It’s just bits and pieces I saw in the media and came to a conclusion that she is getting successful career after the GOT.

But who knows, time will tell.

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John Snow - Will hang around for a while but likely will never have another gig in the realm of his run on GOT. His most notable attempt at a starring vehicle 'Pompeii' didn't go over well.

Arya- Will never be a big star. Will mostly do independent film and television.

Sansa- Hollywood is giving her a shot but I feel she doesn't quite have the talent or charisma to have a successful career as a leading lady

Cersei- Was already a seasoned & reasonably successful actress before GOT. She will be fine

Daenerys- The most successful career of the young relative unknowns who made it big on GOT, showing range and versatility in other roles. Likely also bennifits from looking very distinguished from her GOT character with her natural hair. The most successful outside of GOT so far and probably will continue to be so.

Jaime- An experienced actor who may never be a big star but has enough experience & range to maintain a steady, middling career beyond GOT

Tyrion- The most successful dwarf actor in the business. I imagine he will continue to be around but likely won't come close to achieving the level of success he has had with GOT.

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Thanks for the thorough breakdown.

Let's see. To respond:

Jon Snow - I think he'll continue to get work steadily, though most likely largely in independent films and other TV projects. As you said, when pushed as a lead in the big budget Pompeii it didn't go over well (though I actually enjoyed that film despite its flaws).

Arya - Agreed. Mostly indies and TV. She'll never be a big star. Frankly I think she may struggle a bit but we'll see.

Sansa - Agreed again. I think the lack of charisma is where she's going to stumble. She's certainly a capable performer, but she lacks that special something, that "it factor," that really catapults one to stardom. We'll see what happens to her after Dark Phoenix. What I think would help would be to see her do something really different from the role of Sansa and show off her range, if she's capable.

Cersei - I was not familiar with her before GoT but I did learn just recently that she played Sarah Connor in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. That was a bit of a shock. Yeah, I think she'll be fine. There will always be roles available for her. I just saw her recently in Fighting With My Family and she was great.

Danaerys - She's doing well for herself, and to go back to what I was saying about Sansa, I think a large part of her success is that she's successfully demonstrated her range. I saw her recently in Me Before You and she was like a whole other person.

Jaime - I echo what you said.

Tyrion - Yeah, when it comes to dwarf actors I can think of only two: him and Warwick Davis. And he's the most successful of the two. As long as he remains likable and treats the people around him well, producers will continue to utilize him.

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