The Night King is coming and this time it’s personal.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

Entertainment Weekly had an interview with Game of Thrones‘ Vladimir Furdik, the actor who plays the Night King, and he made two very revealing comments that I’ve been turning over in my head since I read them:

What does the Night King want, anyway?
Somebody made him the Night King. Nobody knows who he was before — a soldier or part of [nobility]. He never wanted to be the Night King. I think he wants revenge. Everybody in this story has two sides — a bad side and a good side. The Night King only has one side, a bad side.

What can we expect from him in the final season?
People will see he has a target he wants to kill, and you will find out who that is. There’s also that moment [in “Hardhome”] when Jon Snow was on the boat and the Night King looked at him and raised his arms — there’s a similar and even stronger moment between Jon and the Night King this time.

OK OK OK OK OK OK OK so, based on their previous interactions, Jon seems like he might be the object of the Night’s King’s fixation. These two have history and it sounds like they are going to create more.

But, if the Night King is really out for “revenge” for being turned into the Night King, and he has a particular target in mind, the only character that makes any sense for him to be targeting is Bran, our new Three-Eyed Raven. Bran — and the Three-Eyed Ravens before him — is a “greenseer,” a human who has the ability to see through time and who is considered a wise man by the Children of the Forest. Now, of course, Bran didn’t create the Night King, the Children of the Forest did. And here’s where it becomes … elusive. In the series, the Children of the Forest tell the story of creating the Night King and seem to take full responsibility for doing so. But is it possible it wasn’t their idea at all, that they were acting on instructions by the Three-Eyed Raven? Even more intriguingly, as Furdik notes in his interview, we don’t know who the man who becomes the Night King was before his transformation. Is it possible he was chosen in particular because he had some sort of relationship to the man who was Three-Eyed Raven? Is it possible that this is all very personal?

MY HEAD IS SPINNING, Y’ALL.

EW also has a wonderful piece about the creation and filming of The Red Wedding. According to the story, Oona Chaplin, who played Talisa, herself was crying during the scene (when her character DEFINITELY shouldn’t have been crying) and Michelle Fairley wouldn’t speak to the showrunners for a week afterwards, she was so heartbroken. I DO NOT BLAME HER.

I’m too old for SXSW. I’ve been too old for SXSW my entire life. That said, I wish I were going to SXSW just to go to this immersive Game of Thrones experience — it looks pretty cool.

Disney+ will eventually feature all of the classic Disney movies.

Interesting: Bob Iger, the head of ABC, said that they have addressed Joy Behar and Jimmy Kimmel’s blackface moments “privately.” I suspect this means they threatened them to NEVER BRING IT UP AGAIN.

Whoopi Goldberg is on the mend after a scary bout of pneumonia.

Bill Shine has resigned as deputy chief of staff and communications director for the White House, but it’s not to abandon Trump, rather, he’s joining the campaign side.

Time’s Up

R. Kelly Update:

The two women living with R. Kelly were interviewed by Gayle King where they said that they were not being held against their will and denounced their parents’ allegations, claiming they are blackmailing Kelly and are only speaking out against him for money. They also claim their parents told them to lie to Kelly about their ages and to stage sexual photos and videos that they could use against him. So I guess that settles that (but not the allegations of having sex with underage girls)! Except … according to King, Kelly agreed to not be present during the interview but: “that he entered the room behind them after it began. Ms. King said Mr. Kelly would ‘cough very loudly,’ and that the women were ‘certainly aware that he was there.'” Coooooool.

Meanwhile, in the second half of King’s interview with R. Kelly, he lost his shit again.

Two Michael Jackson updates in the wake of Leaving Neverland: The Simpsons has pulled the episode that Michael Jackson voiced in 1991; and Corey Feldman is walking back his full-throated defense of Michael Jackson.

The U.S. Women’s Soccer team is suing U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination. GET ‘EM, LADIES.

Taraji P. Henson claims that Harvey Weinstein gave a role that was written for her to Naomi Watts because he couldn’t imagine a black woman in the role. But she knows she has the last laugh: “’Well, you know, I just sit here and I sip my tea,’ Henson said, literally sipping a cup of tea, per the interviewer. ‘I never wished anything bad on the man. I was just, like, “O.K., he’ll see. That’s another person who’ll have to eat crow. How would you like yours? Fried? Toasted?”‘”

Renewals

Cancellations

  • Crashing has been cancelled at HBO. BOOOOO.

Ratings

  • Whiskey Cavalier is something of an early toss-up for ABC.
  • Last Man Standing will definitely be back on FOX. The Cool Kids will be, too. Probably.
  • Hawaii Five-0 looks safe for renewal. (Which begs the question, where will CBS put any new shows? There are only two obvious cancellations, and one show that is ending …)
  • The Enemy Within premiered higher on NBC than Manifest had been performing in its final batshit insane episodes.

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendar

  • Killing Eve returns on BBC America on April 7. IT CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH.
  • Cobra Kai returns on YouTube on April 24.
  • On My Block will return on Netflix on March 29.
  • Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas returns on April 5 and will be exploring education this season.
  • She’s Gotta Have It will return on Netflix on May 24.
  • The Spanish Princess will debut on Starz on May 5.
  • Wife Swap will return to TV on Paramount Network on April 4.

R.I.P.

Jean-Micheal Jan-Michael Vincent, Actor, star of Air Wolf

Marshall Brodien, Emmy-winning actor who played Wizzo the Wizard on The Bozo Show

Lois Carl, On-set tutor to many child actors

Sid Sheinberg, Former president and COO of MCA and Universal Studios, and the man who “discovered” Steven Spielberg

WATCH THIS

FRIDAY

After Life: Ricky Gervais is a grumpy widower who grumps at people in this new series. Series premiere. Netflix

Juanita: How Alfre Woodard Got Her Groove Back. Netflix

Walk. Ride. Rodeo.: A young woman who loses the use of her legs fights to get back into competitive barrell racing in this film that I’m including since it’s rodeo time here in Houston, Netflix

SATURDAY

Saturday Night Live: Idris Elba & Khalid. 10:30 p.m., NBC

Ghost Hunters: True story: About 15 hours after this season premiere airs, I will be going to Zac Bagan’s stupid haunted museum because I’ve allowed my kid to watch this stupid show. 8 p.m., Travel

Winchester: Another true story: I’ve toured the house this horror movie is based thanks to the kid mentioned above. It wasn’t that spooky, tbh. 8 p.m., Showtime

SUNDAY

American Gods: I had so many plans to catch up with last season before this debuted but then I had to deal with the world’s worst CGI wolf and here we are. Season premiere. 7 p.m., Starz

The Case Against Adnan Syed: Were you as obsessed with this season of Serial as I was? Because I was OBSESSED with that season of Serial. Season premiere. 8 p.m., HBO

Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul:  Yolanda Adams, Shirley Caesar, Alessia Cara, Kelly Clarkson, Common, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Patti LaBelle, and BeBe Winans celebrate the queen. 8 p.m., CBS

Now Apocalypse: I don’t even know what this is about, but it looks trippy. Series premiere. 8 p.m., Starz

Shameless: BYE, FIONA! Season finale. 8 p.m., Showtime

Crashing: In case you didn’t get enough Mulaney last week, here’s some more. Season finale. 9:10 p.m., HBO

The Walking Dead: Uh-oh, now you done pissed off The Whisperers, Daryl. 8 p.m., AMC

Late Night:

  • Watch What Happens Live (Sunday): Cynthia Bailey, Marlo Hampton

FRI. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Fresh Off the Boat
(new)		 Speechless
(new)		 20/20
(repeat)
CBS MacGyver
(new)		 Hawaii Five-0
(new)		 Blue Bloods
(new)
CW Whose Line is it Anyway?(repeat) Whose Line is it Anyway?(repeat) Penn & Teller: Fool Us
(repeat)		 Local
FOX Last Man Standing
(new)		 The Cool Kids
(new)		 Proven Innocent
(new)		 Local
NBC Blindspot
(new)		 The Blacklist
(new)		 Dateline
(new)

—

SAT. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30
ABC NBA Basketball
(live)		 News/Local
CBS Ransom
(new)		 48 Hours
(new)		 48 Hours
(new)		 News/Local
FOX Fight Night
(live)		 News/Local
NBC Dateline Dateline Saturday Night Live
(repeat)		 News/Local Saturday Night Live
(Idris Elba & Khalid)

—

SUN. 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC America’s Funniest Home Videos
(new)		 American Idol
(new)		 Shark Tank
(repeat)
CBS 60 Minutes
(new)		 God Friended Me
(new)		 Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul
(new)
The CW Local Supergirl
(new)		 Charmed
(new)		 Local
FOX The Simpsons
(repeat)		 Bob’s Burgers
(repeat)		 The Simpsons
(new)		 Bob’s Burgers
(new)		 Family Guy
(new)		 Family Guy
(repeat)		 Local/News
NBC Ellen’s Game of Games
(repeat)		 World of Dance
(new)		 Good Girls
(new)

2 thoughts on “The Night King is coming and this time it’s personal.”

    1. Yep. Imagine that: I’m a human who sometimes, in a rush, makes a spelling mistake. Or two.

      -T

      Reply

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