The Game of Thrones Exhibit returned to Toronto earlier this week for its third year, and series star Liam Cunningham — better known in Westeros as Ser Davos Seaworth — was on hand to cut the ribbon for this year’s opening. We chatted with Cunningham on the red carpet about his character, the very sweet friendship between Davos and Shireen Baratheon, and how Game of Thrones will be a definitive TV series for decades to come.
The friendship between Ser Davos and Stannis Baratheon’s daughter Shireen is such a delightful aspect of Game of Thrones. Can you share a bit about that relationship and why it’s connected with viewers?
Without knowing it, [Davos] is almost a surrogate dad to this girl. She’s very confident around him instead of [her] monster of a dad. This guy comes in and she’s not scared of coming forward. She tells him, she scolds him, she’s a teacher. I think if anyone in that household gives that girl confidence, it’s Davos … not that he’s aware of it, which makes it even more sweet. He does have a genuine love and respect for this child.
I have to say that Kerry [Ingram], who plays Shireen, is so like that. She’s a little sweetheart and she’s a little shy. Every time I see her, it puts a smile on my face. I love working with her. She’s a doll.
Now that we are four seasons in, do you have the same level of excitement and surprise whenever a new script arrives?
I get these beautiful scripts almost completely, fully formed — there’s very little rewriting that goes on over there — and when they arrive at my house, which is around May or early June, I can’t wait to open them, because I haven’t read the books. I avoid as much [as possible], and people are very good about not doing spoilers and such. So as I’m reading them, I’m just want to know where everybody goes, and it’s almost weird when you come across yourself [and think], “Oh god, I have to work now,” and I look at it with a different set of eyes.
I really love checking out where it’s going to go because it’s so unpredictable. It’s really bizarre. It’s fantastic. It’s all a credit to George [R.R. Martin] and David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], and Bryan Cogman who write the scripts.
I am guessing that filming a series like this can be an insular experience. What is it like to visit different places across the world and see the adoration for Game of Thrones?
It’s fantastic. It’s a different world for us obviously, between action and cut and camera moves and all the technicalities of getting that as good as we possibly can. It’s really gratifying when you go out and people get what you’re trying to do, but it’s also because you’re one link in a very big chain. It’s a big cast, it’s a huge crew, it’s an international success, and to be proud of that. It’s an easy sell because it’s a beautiful piece of television. I think that people are genuinely are going to be looking at this in 50 years time, a hundred years time, and say it’s one of the golden programs of television.
Catch Game of Thrones tonight on HBO and HBO Canada.
Photo Courtesy of HBO Canada
