Connect with us

Entertainment

‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Bertie Carvel Reveals Why We Never Saw Baelor’s Trial of Seven Fight

Published

on

Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen in his armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

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.

Advertisement

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…”

Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen in his armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Image via HBO

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.

Advertisement

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.

Duncan and Egg cheering in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.


‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Timeline Explained: Where Dunk and Egg Fit in ‘Game of Thrones’ History

The ‘Game of Thrones’ series is not told chronologically.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.”

Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen and Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen standing next to each other in armor in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen and Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Image via HBO

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.

Advertisement

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.


a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-poster.jpg
Advertisement


Advertisement

Release Date

January 18, 2026

Network

HBO

Advertisement

Showrunner

Ira Parker

Advertisement

Directors

Owen Harris

Writers
Advertisement

George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker

Advertisement

  • Headshot Of Peter Claffey

    Peter Claffey

    Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall

    Advertisement
  • Headshot Of Dexter Sol Ansell

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Entertainment

Laura Dern says supporting Ellen DeGeneres coming out on sitcom is among 'the most incredible experiences of my life'

Published

on


Dern starred alongside Oprah Winfrey, Demi Moore, Billy Bob Thornton, and more in the 1997 episode of “Ellen” in which DeGeneres made queer history.

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

“Wuthering Heights ”ravishes the weekend box office with a remarkable $76 million global debut

Published

on


The domestic leaderboard this weekend was dominated by new releases — “Wuthering Heights,” “GOAT,” and “Crime 101” — a rarity in recent box office history.

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Former President Barack Obama Clarifies Claim About Real Aliens

Published

on

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.

Advertisement
Whoopi Goldberg Claims There Are Space Aliens Are Already on Earth


Related: Whoopi Goldberg Claims There Are ‘Space Aliens’ Are ‘Already’ on Earth

Whoopi Goldberg went a little extra on the Wednesday, March 27, episode of The View — as in, extraterrestrial. During a discussion with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire star Kumail Nanjiani, The View cohost Sunny Hostin asked the actor, 46, whether he believes in ghosts after filming the movie. While Nanjiani said, “I don’t believe in ghosts, […]

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.”

Advertisement

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.”

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Nate Diaz Hoping For UFC Return, Wants White House Card

Published

on

020925_nate_diaz_kal

Nate Diaz
Ready to Throw Hands for America
… I Want In On White House Card!!!

Published

Advertisement

Advertisement


Advertisement

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Selling Sunset’s Jason Oppenheim’s Dating History: Jessica Vargas and More

Published

on

Selling Sunset's Jason Oppenheim’s Dating History: Jessica Vargas and More

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham’s 114-Minute Crime Caper Is Quietly Dominating Streaming

Published

on

01617958_poster_w780-1.jpg

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.

Advertisement

‘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.


Advertisement
01617958_poster_w780-1.jpg

Advertisement


Release Date

March 3, 2023

Runtime
Advertisement

113 minutes

Producers

Jason Statham, Steven Chasman, Bill Block, Ivan Atkinson

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Ted Danson looks back on “Cheers”' slow start: 'We were dead last one week in the ratings'

Published

on


The iconic sitcom struggled with ratings after its debut, but soon accrued a dedicated viewership.

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Savannah Guthrie Shares Plea for Safe Return of Mom Nancy Guthrie

Published

on

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.

Advertisement
Savannah Guthrie Tell Mom's Kidnappers 'We've Received Your Message'


Related: Savannah Guthrie Tells Mom’s Kidnappers ‘We Received Your Message’

Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s family has spoken out amid her mother Nancy Guthrie’s continued disappearance, seemingly addressing their mother’s kidnapper or kidnappers directly. “We received your message and we understand,” Savannah, 54, said in a new video shared via her Instagram on Saturday, February 7, while flanked by and holding the hands of her […]

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.

Advertisement

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.)

savannah guthrie shares another emotional video tk hours before mom nancys ransom deadline


Related: Savannah Guthrie Shares New Statement on Mom Nancy Before Ransom Deadline

Advertisement

Savannah Guthrie has shared a new video statement pleading for missing mom Nancy Guthrie’s safe return less than four hours before the latest ransom deadline. “I just wanted to come on and share some thoughts as we enter into another week of this nightmare,” Savannah, 54, said in a video shared via Instagram on Monday, […]

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.”

Savannah Guthrie Shares Home Videos of Mom


Related: Savannah Guthrie Shares Home Videos of Mom Nancy: ‘We Will Never Give Up’

Savannah Guthrie shared a new message nearly two weeks after her mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing in Arizona. “Our lovely mom. 💛,” Savannah, 54, captioned an Instagram post on Thursday, February 12, alongside a montage of throwback videos and photos. “We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope.” Nancy, […]

Advertisement

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.

 

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

“The Simpsons” showrunner breaks down “The Pitt” stars, Kevin Bacon, and other cameos in historic 800th episode

Published

on


Matt Selman also dishes on Quinta Brunson’s appearance and the episode’s multitude of Easter eggs.

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco Dine at L.A. Hotspot Max and Helen’s

Published

on

selena-gomez-benny-blacno-main-backgrid-1

Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco
Keep It Sunny-Side Up at Hot L.A. Breakfast Spot

Published

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025