Look, no one should expect realism on Game of Thrones, a show with dragons and demon babies and flaming swords. But it’s still hilarious to think about how unrealistically fast Gendry was running in last season’s “Beyond the Wall.” If not for Robert Baratheon’s bastard son and one equally speedy raven, Jon Snow and company never would have been rescued Daenerys Targaryen (who, to be fair, lost an ice dragon but gained a lover in the process).
Alan Taylor, who directed “Beyond the Wall,” tried to wave away the episode’s “hazy” timeline, telling Variety, “We’ve got Gendry running back, ravens flying a certain distance, dragons having to fly back a certain distance… I think there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there.” But Gendry’s ultra-marathon-worthy sprint was turned into a meme, and became a topic of conversation between Emmy-nominated actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and The Huffington Post in a recent interview.
When asked whether the Game of Thrones writers are zipping through plots now that they no longer have George R.R. Martin’s source material to work off from, Coster-Waldau replied, “You’d have to ask [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] since it’s their show. I think that they definitely spoke to George R.R. Martin a couple seasons back to hear how he imagined the ending to be. But it’s not written, so it’s one thing to have an idea but when you’re writing it, it changes. Dan and David had a very specific end in sight and they also understand the fact that you don’t want to overstay your welcome. Game of Thrones has been such a success for that reason — you know there’s an end in sight and they’re not going to stretch it out.” He then added:
“But yes, Joe Dempsie, who plays Gendry, is a very, very fit young man, so I’m sure he can run that fast… He’s a tremendous runner.” (Via)
Gendry run! Gendry rows! Gendry makes the girls go [heart-eyed emoji].
He and Pod should team up and take over Westeros.
(Via The Huffington Post)