Recently, Star2.com got the opportunity to speak to the cast members of Game Of Thrones in London. This includes actor Aidan Gillen, who plays Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish on the show.
This is how he describes this character, first seen in S1 as a brothel owner in King’s Landing:
“He is quite a treacherous character, devious and manipulative, and also quite playful. There is a warm side as well which is what I try to get across. All of those things. It’s a ruthless world and he does what he has to survive it.
“He tends to have plans that go into the future, and there’s usually a back up in them… He meticulously plans and is often put in a position which completely goes wrong.”
Referring to a speech Littlefinger made in S4 (“People die at their dinner tables, they die in their beds, they die squatting over their chamber pots. Everybody dies sooner or later”), Gillen reasoned: “… so just live your life however you want it whether it’s ruthlessly, dangerously or gloriously. You do it. Go after what you want.”
Littlefinger definitely did this, which is why he has achieved greater things than what fate would’ve granted him. Since the first season, he had schemed his way so he’d come out at the top. One of his “tools” had been the easily-swayed Sansa Stark, the eldest daughter of Catelyn. Catelyn was of course Littlefinger’s first (and only) love, though she rejected him to marry Ned Stark.
Littlefinger is constantly up to something … like whispering threats and what-nots into little girls ears. Photo: HBO
Want to win some exclusive Game Of Thrones prizes? Of course you do. Head over to our Facebook page to find out how!
In S6 of Game Of Thrones, Littlefinger hinted to Sansa that she should be the one sitting on the Iron Throne and that he should be the one standing beside her. When asked about the scene, the 49-year-old Irish actor said: “I don’t think it’s literal. I don’t want to give too much away. But when I said that as my character, it’s not what I meant.”
What is also not what it appears to be is the love story between Littlefinger and Sansa. Is there one?
Gillen clarifies: “It’s not a love story. It’s not romance, you know. If that’s what it appears to be, then in the appearance of that is, you know, the game. There was definitely romance with Catelyn Stark, unrequited love, that’s huge thing in what motivates Littlefinger. That rejection. And that she is gone. There’s obviously echoes of her in her daughter but it’s not romance.”
Needless to say, there’s always something going on where Littlefinger is concerned, that end game. Gillen, however, said he doesn’t know what that is. “It’s good not to know the end of the story because if you know, then you either then play it or play against it. And if you don’t know what’s happening you don’t know what’s happening and you just have to stick to the truth of the moment.”
Game Of Thrones S7 premieres July 17 at 9am on HBO (Astro Ch 411/431).
