Entertainment
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Bertie Carvel Reveals Why We Never Saw Baelor’s Trial of Seven Fight
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5.After building up the last couple of episodes, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms finally reveals the Trial of Seven on screen in Episode 5. After Aerion (Finn Bennett) is attacked by Dunk (Peter Claffey) at the end of Episode 3, and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) reveals his true identity to his companion, tensions have been high. Refusing a one-on-one match against Dunk, Aerion instead calls for a Trial of Seven to settle their problems. While Aerion has his father, Maekar (Sam Spruell), his brother, Daeron (Henry Ashton), three kingsguard, and the recent turncoat Steffon Fossoway (Edward Ashley), it’s a bit more difficult for Dunk to find the other six knights he needs for his side of things.
By the end of Episode 4, he’s lost Steffon to Aerion but gains his cousin Raymun (Shaun Thomas) instead. Egg manages to get him the one-eyed Robyn Rhysling (William Houston), and both Humfrey Beesbury (Danny Collins) and Humfrey Hardyng (Ross Anderson), and of course, Dunk has his new friend Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) to help him out. However after all of that, Dunk is still missing one more person, and it is Bertie Carvel‘s Baelor Targaryen who steps in to face off against three members of his family. In a daring and chaotic fight, we ultimately see Dunk come out on top after overpowering Aerion, but in the final moments of the episode, Daeron’s prophetic dream comes true, and Baelor, after being struck by Maekar, falls dead after removing his helm. We discussed this final battle and death with Carvel, as well as Baelor’s true nature and how it differs from his other Targaryen family members. Carvel also gets into his love of the universe of A Song of Ice and Fire and reveals what attracted him the most to this story.
Bertie Carvel’s Love for ‘Game of Thrones’ Goes Much Deeper Than You Think
“We should be telling stories about how the ordinary people matter…”
COLLIDER: What was has it been like stepping into such a massive universe like Game of Thrones, and how much knowledge did you have about the world coming into it?
BERTIE CARVEL: Quite a lot, I suppose. I loved the show. I went out and bought all the books after the first season, tore through them, and then tore through the rest of the show and loved it, and it felt very familiar to me. I spent a lot of time — more time than a modern human should — with a sword in my hand, pretending to be a hero or a villain in a complex moral universe, so take that how you will. It felt very familiar to me and very real, and I loved its contours.
And then I didn’t know these stories until I was sent the script. I tore through the scripts, really, really rare this in this day and age to get all the scripts to sort of land like a monolith on your desk, and so I loved reading them, and I felt something wake up that I used to feel as a boy reading stories about knighthood and chivalry that seems to have been asleep for some time. A story in a world I recognized that contained cruelty and cynicism and hard truths, here was a story in which there was a space for a hero, and I really felt like, yes, this is what I need. This is what I want to be a part of.
And that’s a good thing. The more I reflect on it, and the more I talk about it, the more I realize that there is something really important about those stories right now. We should be telling stories about how the ordinary people matter, and what you do and say matters, and standing up for what’s right matters, and I don’t know what the end of this story is yet — none of us does — but I’ve got a feeling that it counts. And I want to hear those stories right now.
The ‘Game of Thrones’ series is not told chronologically.
Carvel Discusses Baelor’s True Nature in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
“That’s what I think makes the story have some kind of moral weight to it.”
Targaryens are often portrayed in the show as these semi-villainous characters, but Baelor is actually a very noble character, and very chivalrous. What was it like for you balancing those two aspects of his character? Did you talk to Ira [Parker] or George [R.R. Martin] about playing him and how you lean into this good nature that he has?
CARVEL: I don’t believe anyone has a good nature. Well, actually, that’s a bit flippant. I guess I believe profoundly that character is behavior, so what we do is what we are. And I suppose I’d like to be more essentialist than that; I’d like to believe that people have a good nature, that in general, people have a good nature. But I guess what I’m trying to say is you don’t know before, until after. Baelor does not know that he will do the right thing from one moment to the next, and what makes it exciting is to find out he is good because he chooses to do good things, and he is bad when he chooses to do bad things, and we have to make up our minds from one moment to the next, which is which. That’s what I think makes the story have some kind of moral weight to it.
So, it’s not a given that he will, in fact, in order to make the story exciting, I want you to believe that he might just as well rip your head off as wrap his arms around you in a warm embrace. And he has to contain the potential of the best of the Targaryens, to strike clean and hard and cut through the jugular. That was what made it exciting. But yes, you’re right. What he does in the story is certainly what I regard to be deeply noble, and I think, yeah, I’m really up for hearing those stories right now.
Carvel Reveals Whether We Were Ever Going to See Maekar and Baelor Fighting in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
“…we’re not really with Baelor, in that sense, we’re with Dunk.”
I love that scene when Baelor rides in for the Trial of Seven. I think that was a fantastic moment when he came out. Was there ever a version of that final sequence where we see him actually face off with Maekar? Because I was very sad that we didn’t get that. Was there ever a version of that, or were we always meant to see him come in at the end and assume that everything was okay before he dies?
CARVEL: This is probably a question for Ira [Parker] more than for me. I mean, the two things that strikes me to say, one, is that I think one of the things that’s kind of thrilling about this series is that we’ve gotten used to this universe where no one character is the protagonist, and where in A Song of Ice and Fire, George changes the angle of attack all the time and destabilizes you in that way, and you see that everything has multiple viewpoints, there’s a sort of moral relativism there, which is really exciting. In this story, we very much stay with Dunk, and so I guess you see that sequence through Dunk’s eyes.
There was a moment where it was like a fleeting moment that we shot, which was the moment where Maekar strikes Baelor, and the moment just leading up to that with the brothers. But, I guess you’d have to ask Ira, but I think they probably chose not to show that because it sort of spoils what’s about to come next. But we’re not really with Baelor, in that sense, we’re with Dunk. And I hope that answers the question, but the short answer is no.
New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms airs every Sunday on HBO in the U.S.
- Release Date
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January 18, 2026
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Ira Parker
- Directors
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Owen Harris
- Writers
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George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker
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Peter Claffey
Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall
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Entertainment
Laura Dern says supporting Ellen DeGeneres coming out on sitcom is among 'the most incredible experiences of my life'
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Dern starred alongside Oprah Winfrey, Demi Moore, Billy Bob Thornton, and more in the 1997 episode of “Ellen” in which DeGeneres made queer history.
Entertainment
“Wuthering Heights ”ravishes the weekend box office with a remarkable $76 million global debut
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The domestic leaderboard this weekend was dominated by new releases — “Wuthering Heights,” “GOAT,” and “Crime 101” — a rarity in recent box office history.
Entertainment
Former President Barack Obama Clarifies Claim About Real Aliens
After stating that the truth is indeed out there, former President Barack Obama clarified his comments regarding extraterrestrial life.
Following up his interview that discussed “real” aliens — conducted by political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen and published on Friday, February 13 — Obama, 64, took to Instagram two days later to address his claim. “I was trying to stick with the spirit of [Cohen’s] speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low,” he wrote.
Obama, who served as the 44th President of the U.S. from 2009 to 2017, concluded, “I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”
The politician had stated during the podcast interview that he hadn’t “seen” aliens himself while in office. “They’re not being kept at Area 51. There’s no underground facility — unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States,” Obama told Cohen, 37. He also noted that getting to the bottom of extraterrestrial life was the “first question” he wanted answered after becoming the President. “Where are the aliens?” he recalled asking authorities.
Fans took to Obama’s Instagram post with light-hearted jests at his interview comments, with one fan writing, “Which aliens made you clarify this statement 😂,” and another writing, “Blink twice if the aliens made you say this.”
Obama shone a public light on his extraterrestrial curiosity during an appearance on The Late Late Show in 2021. While speaking to the former show’s host, James Corden, Obama said, “The truth is that when I came into office, I asked, right, I was like, ‘Alright, is there the lab somewhere where we’re keeping the alien specimens and spaceship?’ And … they did a little bit of research and the answer was no.”
He also noted to Corden, 47, at the time, “What is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there are, there’s footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don’t know exactly what they are. We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”
Obama also said during a 2021 appearance on The Ezra Klein Show podcast, recorded after his Late Late Show spot, that if aliens were proven to exist that the impact of the confirmation would alter Earth as we know it.
“There would be immediate arguments about, like, well, we need to spend a lot more money on weapons systems to defend ourselves,” he said at the time. “New religions would pop up. And who knows what kind of arguments we would get into. We’re good at manufacturing arguments for each other.”
Obama noted that the world of politics, however, would not be impacted, “Because … politics is premised on the fact that we are these tiny organisms on this little speck floating in the middle of space.”
Entertainment
Nate Diaz Hoping For UFC Return, Wants White House Card
Nate Diaz
Ready to Throw Hands for America
… I Want In On White House Card!!!
Published
TMZSports.com
Nate Diaz has his sights set on kickin’ ass on one of the most unexpected stages possible: the White House.
The MMA star tells TMZ Sports he’s all-in if talk of a potential fight card tied to the nation’s capital ever becomes reality … making it clear the idea of scrapping under a red, white and blue spotlight has his full attention.
“Yeah, that’d be dope, too,” Diaz said. “America gang, baby. You already know what’s popping.”
While Diaz is hyped about the possibility of fighting on a patriotic mega-card, he says he’s not picky about who he faces — as long as it’s a legit, high-level fight.
And if he gets his way, the White House event could feature some familiar names from his past.
Diaz says he wants to run back his legendary rivalry with Conor McGregor for a trilogy bout — a fight that would instantly become one of the biggest attractions possible for a blockbuster event.
He also called out Dustin Poirier as another potential opponent, though Diaz didn’t exactly extend the olive branch … saying he’d be down to fight him “if he stops being such a p****.”
Diaz even floated Mike Perry as another name he’d gladly throw down with … making it clear he’s ready for whatever matchup gets him back into what he calls “real action.”
The 40-year-old last fought in the UFC in 2022, but his message now is loud and clear: he’s ready to return.
Entertainment
Selling Sunset’s Jason Oppenheim’s Dating History: Jessica Vargas and More
Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim has dated several of his costars — including Nicole Young and Chrishell Stause — during his time in the reality TV spotlight.
While Young joined the cast of the Netflix reality series for season 6, which premiered in May 2023, her relationship with Oppenheim started and ended long before her debut.
“[Nicole] dated Jason [10 years ago] — she was the first,” Amanza Smith exclusively revealed to Us Weekly in August 2022. “I’ve known her for 10 years and she’s amazing. She’s not new to me. I’m just very glad that she’s finally on the show with us and we get to spend more time with her in the office because I adore Nicole.”
Young isn’t the only ex with whom Oppenheim has maintained an amicable personal and professional relationship. The real estate mogul and Stause were friends and coworkers before they went public with their romance in July 2021. The pair split later that year. (Stause has since moved on with G Flip and the pair tied the knot in May 2023.)
Keep scrolling for a look at Oppenheim’s dating history:
Entertainment
Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham’s 114-Minute Crime Caper Is Quietly Dominating Streaming
Guy Ritchie doesn’t usually need an algorithmic boost to get people clicking, but streaming has a special talent for resurrecting the in-between movies. And Ritchie doesn’t have a lack of slick genre hybrids that aren’t quite as universally embraced as The Gentlemen, yet play incredibly well when audiences just want a tight, propulsive hit of cinematic wit and competence.
This week, one of his most debated post-2019 pivots is getting that exact kind of second wind: a brisk, star-powered spy caper that suddenly feels like a perfect one-sitting antidote to bloated action slates. The appeal is practical, not mysterious. At 114 minutes, it moves like a con job: clean set-ups, quick payoffs, and a cast that knows how to turn exposition into jokes and tension into rhythm. Jason Statham plays the cool-headed pro, Aubrey Plaza brings a chaotic edge, and Hugh Grant weaponizes smugness. So even viewers who bounce off the tone still tend to respect how efficiently it delivers its “mission movie” pleasures. Guy Ritchie’s brand is pace, and this is pace-first Ritchie.
The title is Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, and as per FlixPatrol, the film has been trending across multiple platforms and regions. In the U.S., it’s surged onto Amazon Prime Video’s Top 10 Movies at #2 at the time of writing, while in Finland, it’s already hit #3 on HBO Max’s movie chart the same day. And this is landing alongside the full Top 10 archives for Denmark and Finland on Viaplay, in the #7 to #10 range on Hulu in Japan, and consistently at #5 for the last week on Vidio in Indonesia.
‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre’ Didn’t Do Well at the 2023 Box Office
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre didn’t have much theatrical muscle in 2023, and the grosses show why it quickly became a catch-it-on-streaming title. In the U.S./Canada, it opened to $3.14M and finished with just $6.50M domestic, meaning most of its ticket revenue had to come from overseas to even look respectable. Internationally, it did the heavy lifting at $42.49M, pushing the worldwide total to $48.98M. That’s not disastrous for a mid-budget programmer, but for a film reported to have a $50M budget, the theatrical run feels like a clear underperformance before marketing and distribution costs are even considered.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is available to stream on Prime Video and HBO Max. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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March 3, 2023
- Runtime
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113 minutes
- Producers
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Jason Statham, Steven Chasman, Bill Block, Ivan Atkinson
Entertainment
Ted Danson looks back on “Cheers”' slow start: 'We were dead last one week in the ratings'
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The iconic sitcom struggled with ratings after its debut, but soon accrued a dedicated viewership.
Entertainment
Savannah Guthrie Shares Plea for Safe Return of Mom Nancy Guthrie
Two weeks after Nancy Guthrie mysteriously disappeared, her daughter Savannah is pleading for her safe return.
“I wanted to come on. It’s been two weeks since our mom was taken, and I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope. We still believe, and I wanted to say to whoever has her, or knows where she is, that it’s never too late and you’re not lost or alone,” the Today show host, 54, said in a video shared via Instagram on Sunday, February 15.
As she held back tears, Savannah addressed her mother’s would-be kidnapper or kidnappers directly, saying, “It is never too late to do the right thing and we are here. We believe. We believe in the essential goodness [of] every human being, and it’s never too late.”
Nancy was taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of February 1. She was last seen by Savannah’s sister, Annie Guthrie, who had dropped Nancy off at home following a family dinner the previous evening.
In the video — the fourth released by Savannah in the wake of Nancy’s disappearance — the TV personality was seen sitting on the ground of an outdoor garden. She wore minimal makeup and her eyes appeared heavy and bleary.
The video was published just hours after Fox News Digital reported that local authorities had deployed a digital scanner to help track Nancy’s pacemaker. The outlet stated that the ongoing search introduced the “high-tech Bluetooth scanner placed on the bottom” of “helicopters” in an attempt to track the pacemaker’s signals.
“The helicopters fly low, typically in grid patterns, at a slow pace to pick up signals,” the outlet reported, adding that a helicopter was seen flying “near Guthrie’s home” three days after she was reported missing (It is not known, however, if the bird was fitted with the scanner at that time.)
Also on Sunday, Matt Finn, a reporter for Fox News, shared alleged fresh information regarding the investigation via X. “Sheriff [Chris] Nanos responds to me about the local Phoenix news report that cites an inside source who says investigators believe the Guthrie case was a burglary gone bad and that Nancy Guthrie is still alive,” Finn wrote before reiterating the unverified nature of the report. “Did not come from us. No idea and even though that is one of many possibilities we would never speculate such a thing. We will let the evidence take us to motive.”
Pima County Sheriff Nanos told the New York Times on Friday, February 13, that the search for Nancy has engaged about 400 people in total. He also noted that a timeline for the potential safe retrieval of Nancy remains unclear. “Maybe it’s an hour from now,” Nanos detailed. “Maybe it’s weeks or months or years from now. But we won’t quit. We’re going to find Nancy. We’re going to find this guy.”
News of Nancy’s disappearance broke on February 1 after a family member reported her missing and called 911 as a result.
The search has seen multiple SWAT, forensic officers and other law enforcement departments comb Nancy’s neighborhood in the Catalina Foothills and surrounding areas, per reporting by CNN and NewsNation.
Entertainment
“The Simpsons” showrunner breaks down “The Pitt” stars, Kevin Bacon, and other cameos in historic 800th episode
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Matt Selman also dishes on Quinta Brunson’s appearance and the episode’s multitude of Easter eggs.
Entertainment
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco Dine at L.A. Hotspot Max and Helen’s
Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco
Keep It Sunny-Side Up at Hot L.A. Breakfast Spot
Published
Do even Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco have to wait in line for L.A. hotspot Max and Helen’s?
The couple were spotted at chef Nancy Silverton and TV producer Phil Rosenthal‘s insanely popular diner on Sunday, where the wait times are routinely said to be 4 to 5 hours long!
Selena was seen talking on her phone as she made her way in to the crowded eatery, wearing a casual black outfit, while Benny was snapped in a comfortable hoodie and corduroy pants.
Their cozy-core looks were a far cry from their glammed-up date night at the Golden Globe Awards last month.
Selena and Benny brought a special kind of elegance to the red carpet when they showed up in their old-Hollywood inspired fits.
It’s unclear if they had to wait for their breakfast this morning, but if they did, they sure looked good doing it!
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