I know the cast doesn’t get a chance to rehearse before the season starts, but they do get a chance to interact with each other virtually. Ben, how did you two find the relationship between your characters?
BEA: : I remember having a conversation with Ryan and some of the directors, as you say, before we started filming. He was great at portraying the bones of a relationship. I think the rest of it happens while we’re filming and exploring, while we’re figuring it out and blocking and rehearsing on the day. I believe it’s that mix: what we’re doing at work, interacting and then reacting to each other that day.
JN: and time! I am sometimes asked to give advice to actors. I’ve reached that stage in my life where I’m not going to take it anymore. I’m in the middle of taking it and giving advice. But my advice is always: spend time with the people you’re working with. We were lucky because HBO had the resources and commitment to the show, where we came in for eight days to read each episode. We did one episode in a day. We would come in and make an appointment in advance to have coffee. Ben and I sat next to each other at those readthroughs, so we were able to meet, chat, and hear a little about life. I met your parents and your family. When we arrived on set there was already a relationship there.
There’s nothing worse than arriving on set and having this type of relationship where there’s history and it’s a complete stranger. Had already met Ben and, not literally, but broke bread, talked, drank coffee and whatever was important. Then, as Ben said, the time spent on set is important because you build rapport, you build chemistry. Those later scenes, which obviously we don’t shoot in linear sequence, but are essentially the last block later episodes. By then we had spent a lot of time together and had developed a rapport that we could trust.
Ben, when you were conceptualizing Deron, what was it on the page that you wanted to make sure you got across in your performance?
BEA: : I think there’s this internal pull or tension between morality, who she is as a person and what her identity is. He’s somewhere between Hightower and Targaryen. Around Ormond, he’s definitely Hightower. But as the season progresses, being a Targaryen becomes more valuable to Ormond, both for himself and for the possibility of becoming king and within this war over which he has no control. So during all this chaos around who he is and who he wants to be, that was the main thing I was excited to explore. A lot of this comes through her relationship with herself and Ormond.
And, as James was talking about, the history between these two characters. What does it look like when Ormond is about to unleash his anger and try to capture those things? Her awareness has increased due to the trauma she has endured over the years with Ormond. So yes, the exploration of those relationships, especially her relationship with Ormond, but also those questions of identity, of who she is despite all this chaos.
