John Bradley Struggled To Find Acting Roles After Game Of Thrones Ended
Regardless of how you feel about "Game of Thrones" and how it ended, most can agree that Samwell Tarly was a good friend, a better scholar, and a truly solid character. Unfortunately, following to the backlash to the series' ending in 2019, the man who portrayed Sam had a hard time finding work. English performer John Bradley recently had a chat with NME about his upcoming appearance in Roland Emmerich's disaster film "Moonfall" and the Jennifer lopez-led rom-com "Marry Me."
He also opened up about why he's been out of the public eye for a little bit, and it has everything to do with a little place called Westeros. It took Bradley more than two years to sign on for another role, in part because people had been so burned by the "Game of Thrones" finale, and in part because he wanted to try something new but people could only see him as Sam:
"Nobody seemed to want to take a chance on me and my confidence began to suffer. I wanted something different ... Every time you have a show as successful as Game of Thrones, loads of [similar characters] follow. But I thought: 'I'll resist them.'"
There were some offers for characters similar to Sam, as bumbling big-hearted best friends to protagonists, but Bradley wanted to prove he could play something completely different. While Sam is a lovable character who will do anything for the people he loves, he would also be terribly boring to play for the rest of Bradley's life. He's a sweet but goofy soul, which isn't exactly the meatiest role. But faced with offers for sidekick characters and not much else, Bradley began to wonder if the biggest role of his career was already behind him. "I was lucky enough to get that one thing," he told NME. "The chances of me getting another role [as big as] that seemed pretty outlandish."
Avoiding Typecasting and Negative Takes
Bradley recognizes that he was lucky to get a chance to be a part of something as huge as "Game of Thrones," though he did mention that he thinks people went a bit overboard with their response to the final season, and dnies claims that the cast and crew knew season 8 was going to turn out bad while they were making it:
"We genuinely wanted it to be great. We genuinely thought it was going to be great. We were really proud of it. We weren't arrogant enough to think: 'Oh we'll just put it out there and they'll swallow it'. We only ever wanted people to like it ... I was really disappointed. The fan reaction was so fierce and vociferous, when people think of 'Game of Thrones,' they have a sense of disappointment because they didn't like the finale. I'd like it to be seen as a complete body of work ... Those great moments are not going to be forgotten and they shouldn't be dimmed or taken away from because the ending wasn't to your liking."
While "Game of Thrones" had its ups and downs over the years and is coming back soon in the form of prequel spin-off series "House of the Dragon," most people do seem to remember it for the disappointing final season most. That's a shame, because, as Bradley says, there are many great moments to cherish throughout the low fantasy tale. It may have taken Bradley a while to find his footing after the failures of the "Thrones" finale, but at least he's back on the right track. Fans can check him out in "Moonfall" and "Marry Me," both in theaters now.