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The unusual heroes!

Update: 2019-04-14 00:46 IST

The epic series 'Game of Thrones' will end with the much-awaited season 8. In the due course, every character in the show played a pivotal role in taking the series forward.

Grey Worm, portrayed by Jacob Anderson, is the chosen commander of the Unsullied, the warrior-eunuchs of Astapor. He became one of the main advisors to Daenerys Targaryen after she acquires the Unsullied from the Masters of Astapor.

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The unacknowledged bastard son of King Robert Baratheon, Gendry essayed by Joe Dempsie, is a skilled blacksmith who is still in the running to claim the Iron Throne, without even knowing it! He accompanied Davos and Jon Snow north in their mission to capture a wight to use as proof at the Parley in King's Landing.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres in India on Star World on April 16 at 10 pm! In a freewheeling chat, the duo Jacob and Joe share their experiences on the show.

Excerpts from an interview:

How does the final season of Game of Thrones begin for your character?

Joe: When you left Gendry, he was in his happy place, which is being cradled by Ser Davos whilst hyperventilating as well. Gendry's back beyond the wall. When you join the action for Season 8, he's…

Jacob: He's on a really funny horse.

(laughter)

Joe: I've not got the longest legs in the world and it was just literally like that, me with legs akimbo. In my mind obviously, I had this idea that I'd look really badass and then I was swiftly disabused of that notion. Anyway, to summarise, at the beginning of season 8, it's on.

The preparations have begun in earnest for the reckoning. He's trying to prepare himself for the fight to save humanity whilst also trying not to be annoyed with various other characters.

Did he get his hammer back?

Joe: No. He never got that back!

How about for Grey Worm?

Jacob: He's on Dragonstone. Dragonstone is the Isle of Wight of Westeros. I say that with great respect for the Isle of Wight and its people. But best of all Grey Worm starts off on a horse. We never see him on a horse.

Has he ever ridden a horse?

Jacob: Actually, my first season, season 3, I did all these horse-riding lessons and then got to Morocco and I was having dinner one night with DB Weiss and he's like, "How are you doing? How are you finding it and stuff?" I was like, "It's great, been loving the horse riding. It's really fun.

" He's like, "Why are you doing horse riding?"

I was like, "I don't know, it's your show." He's like, "You will never be on a horse because you're a foot soldier." So, after all these years it's quite nice to finally put that to use.

Is there anything you can say, no matter how cryptic, about how things progress?

Joe: The only thing I will say is that I don't think it ends where you think it's going to end.

Jacob: I would agree. Which is great.

Joe: I just think that the season certainly starts off with a very… it feels like, it's not really the calm before the storm, but it's very much that preparation for what will be. It feels hugely like a cataclysmic event.

You must both have become very good at keeping secrets these last few years?

Jacob: Poker face. Everyone's got a really good poker face.

Joe: I said earlier that we're being groomed for careers in politics, most of us. It feels like when I was in seasons 1 to 3, we were told not to reveal any spoilers but even back then it didn't feel like spoilers were as much of a thing.

The show wasn't as big a deal as it became. It just felt like the primitive days of spoiler proofing. Then to come back - and I can't claim to have experience of it over the full course of the show - but there's something about season 8 that because of the excitement and because we're all aware of the magnitude of it, you want to make sure that you see it out. That it is as thrilling for everyone else as it was for us to read and to shoot.

There have been years gone by where I've been tempted to tell mates or something. It's not even been a temptation with season 8. Not even my mum.

Jacob: The closest that I've got to telling anybody anything is that there is a sense with this season that worlds are starting to collide a little bit.

There have been the occasional times where I've got home from Belfast and said to my wife, so and so did this or said this or this happened on set the other day and then she can insinuate from that.

Also, this is actually a relatively spoiler-free show. You can't really spoil the show unless you go into every single detail. You could get the big points and the big moments, but without all the context, they don't have the same impact.

Anything you won't miss about making the show?

Jacob: My costume is really beautifully designed, but it is also not practically designed. It's visually and aesthetically beautiful, but you can't move in it. Obviously, that's hard when you're fighting and stuff.

This year was the moment that I made peace with never wearing my costume again. I mean I'll be honest – I cried when I took it off. I've got all kinds of ulcers and chaff marks and cuts and stuff from this year but when I took off my tunic, the leather bit of my costume, for the last time I just burst into tears.

Joe: I would instinctively say that fake snow, I will not ever miss that. It just gets everywhere but on the other hand, it does give you great nose-picking at the end of the day. I hated it. I hated that stuff.

Then again you think back to the atmosphere that is created when you were shooting that scene and how much it helps. Some of that stuff from beyond the wall where we were stood in a blizzard and we can barely see three feet ahead of us.

They're firing it at you and it really helps to get you where you need to be, and I loved shooting that episode. It's a weird thing. It's all interlinked. I would say instinctively, "I hate that snow," but it was part of my experience, which I loved.

What practical skills will you take away from Game of Thrones?

Joe: I had a couple of sessions smithing with Steve who is one of our on-set armourers. He's part of the art department but he's also an incredible blacksmith.

He makes beds for people on the side and raw iron gates and things. They sent me along to go and learn with him. It was tragic what I made but it really piqued my interest in it as a profession.

Traditionally, it's seen as an incredibly masculine job. You're spending all day literally whacking hot steel with another bit of metal.

Jacob: I can fling a spear around pretty well. If someone said, "Right. Here's a spear, you've got to have a fight." I could probably do some damage.

-Sourced exclusively for The Hans India. 

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