'I have never laid eyes on a shooting schedule.'
Joe Dempsie isn’t a stranger to being in a beloved show given that he started off as Chris on Skins, but Game of Thrones is a whole new kettle of fish apparently. Joe, who has a minor recurring role in the series, revealed how intense the security measures for the HBO series are to keep everything tightly under wraps.
Joe plays Gendry in the epic fantasy, a bastard of the former king Robert Baratheon who could have a claim to the Iron Throne - you know, along with the other millions of people vying for the seat. His character starts off relatively low-key working as a blacksmith before his world is turned upside down in season one when he is discovered. He then becomes a close friend of Arya Stark’s in season 2 and 3, which is when the show really blew up.
His character, who is returning for the next season, was absent for the middle seasons and Joe said coming back ‘was like having an entirely new job…So when I got the call to come back it was basically, ‘Hey do you want to join the biggest show on the planet?’ So I was like, ‘Yeah, go on then.’
In the interview with Metro, he explained that the security measures the team had gone through to ensure the scripts were kept locked down had also ‘upped massively’.
‘The most palpable difference is just in terms of security. I mean security in terms of plot and scripts and any information pertaining to where we might be shooting at any given time. During the whole course of season 7 and season 8 I have never laid eyes on a shooting schedule. Your filming dates are on a need to know basis. You don’t get hard copies of scripts anymore. They are all on this special app. Which are triple locked,’ he said.
Gosh, and we get grumbly at the thought of two-factor authentication on anything. Given that HBO has been prone to a few Game of Thrones leaks and diehard fans desperate for the smallest scrap of information, it’s no surprise that they’ve started to take major precautions - especially since the next season is the last. With stars like Emilia Clarke saying goodbye to Game of Thrones and others like Sophie Turner inking themselves with Game of Thrones tattoos, we're feeling a little emotional about it all.
Joe also revealed that incredibly savvy fans had gone as far as to figure out where the cast and crew were staying, which also posed a security risk. He gave an example when they were on location in Spain, saying, ‘We were staying in this beautiful hotel in the middle of town. Within two days of being there, obviously word had spread that we were there, and just arriving back from work in the car it was like a film premiere. Every night. Just a hoard of people trying to get a glimpse of some of the actors. We never had to contend with any of that before.’
Well, yikes. At least that’ll be one perk when the show finishes airing next year - the cast and crew can leave all the fussy security measures behind. (And hopefully go back to living more ordinary lives.)
Fingers crossed that Gendry and Arya cross paths this season. We’re still holding out for a romance between the pair, though knowing how the show works he’ll probably be shot with an arrow the moment they’re reunited...
