Game of Thrones Panel - Dutch Comic Con 2016

Although I'm a true Summer person, I'm thrilled to announce that in just about three weeks Winter will finally be here. Yes, I know it's almost July, but on July 16th the seventh season of "Game of Thrones" will finally premiere! I choose to ignore that there will only be 6 episodes and that it will conclude only 6 weeks later. 

In celebration of our return to Westeros, we thought it would be nice to look back on the Game of Thrones Panel at Dutch Comic Con 2016. We were very thrilled, when Dutch Comic Con announced four Game of Thrones guests: Ian Beattie (Ser Meryn Trant), Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy), Eugene Simon (Lancel Lannister) and Ian Whyte (several roles because of his height, like White Walkers and Wun Wun the Giant). We already wrote about meeting Ian Beattie, so be sure to check out just how scary Ser Meryn Trant is in real life. We also wrote about meeting Eugene Simon, who plays the role of Lancel Lannister. Of course we also attended the panels on Saturday and Sunday. Actually Carola did, I only attended Saturday and the last part of the Sunday Panel (I was in line for my Billy Dee Williams photo op during the second panel). I thought it was a shame that I missed a part of the Sunday panel, because we had a lot of fun during the Saturday panel. 

Eugene started the panel by thanking the people for speaking English and apologizing about how they can't speak Dutch. Ian Beattie added: "We can actually barely speak English, we've got a problem with English. Let alone Dutch, so thank you!" And then Ian McElhinney responded with: "Speak for yourself..." That set the tone for the  rest of the panel(s). Like I said these 4 guys have an amazing chemistry together, especially Ian Beattie and Ian McElhinney.

- Ian Mcelhinney would choose Bronn to represent him in a Trial by Combat, because "He's totally ruthless and doesn't really care. He doesn't give a damn and would kill anybody". Eugene Simon would choose Oberyn Martel. Ian Whyte would choose Ser Barristan Selmy. Ian Beatty said: "I would choose Jaime Lannister...before he lost his hand."

- At one point someone asked Ian McElhinney what he thought about the death of Barristan Selmy and Ian Beattie responded with: "Don't ask him about his death, we will be here all night!". McElhinney talked about how he was very disappointed about his death. He read the books and had hoped for great things , In the books Selmy was still alive, but the writers of the show decided to let him be killed by the Sons of Harpy.

- In preparation for the scene where Lancel has the seven pointed star carved into his forehead, they had to make a full cast of Eugene Simon's head. This was to make a prosthetic for his forehead. At the moment they made the cast, Simon didn't know what was going to happen yet, so he was afraid it was because they were gonna cut his off his head in the show. In the scene we see Lancel break his nails, when he grips the wooden arm of the chair because he is in pain. Before the shot Simon cut vertical lines in his nail to weaken them. When he squeezed the wood, his nails actually broke and started to bleed. There are no props used in this shot. You only see it for a second but Simon says it was worth it, because the shot looks great.

- Eugene Simon also talked about how happy he is with the way Lancel's story line  developed throughout the seasons. He says: "It's an amazing story line and I'm very happy to play it."

- Ian Beattie talked about how much he loves Utrecht and The Netherlands. He said that it had been a while since he last visited and usually he was visiting Amsterdam, which is full of British and Irish tourists. But being in Utrecht made him see that this (The Netherlands) is the most enlightened and civilized country he has ever visited. Eugene Simon added he loves how Dutch cities are based on the canal system. He loves the architecture and the civility of everyone.

- When someone asked the guys what they would change about there character in the show, Ian Beattie talked about how he would love to could have change what was revealed about Ser Meryn Trant in his last two episodes (he had a thing for young girls). He really had a hard time playing that, he hated it.

- When asked about their favorite and least favorite character Ian Beattie talked about how Cersei is his favorite character. he says that you know you love a character when you can't wait until the next time she will be on screen. He says he has that with Cersei. He already passed on the microphone when he realized the question was also about the least favorite character, so he took it back and said: Ramsey Bolton!  and he gave it back to McElhinney. He said his least favorite character has to be Joffrey and that he loves Arya. Beattie's reaction to this was great (Arya's killed off his character). You can see it in the video. It's hilarious. Ian McElhinney says he thinks it is a great character and he thinks Maisie (Williams) does an amazing job playing her. He also stated that he would love to have played Arya (lol). Ian Whyte : "My least favorite...there's so many...my least favorite is Roose Bolton actually. How?...What the F..were you doing when you were raising a child like Roose Bolton? You raised a demon!" His favorite character is Brienne of Tarth, because she is such a worthy and misunderstood heroine. Eugene Simon said one of his least favorite characters is Ser Alliser Thorne and he really liked Harry Lloyd as Viserys. Why? Well you can find that and a lot more out by watching the video below. Enjoy!