The members of the same group of Game of Thrones fans who created a petition demanding a do-over of season eight have channeled their energy into something really generous. One member of the Reddit group who was particularly upset at the turn Daenerys took in the final season set up a fundraising page to honor Daenerys by donating to Emilia Clarke’s charity benefitting recovery from brain injury and stroke, Same You. So far, they have raised $45,000 in five days.
On March 21st 2019, weeks before the final season of Game of Thrones was set to air, Emilia Clarke penned a personal essay for the New Yorker. [ link here: tiny.cc/emilia ] In it, she opened up about the serious health struggles she experienced in the early stages of filming for the show, and how she fought through pain, fear and exhaustion to give her all to each performance. Her revelation came as a huge shock; to know that in season 2, while Daenerys was leading her khalasar across the bleak Red Waste and fiercely fighting for her life at the gates of Qarth, Emilia was similarly fighting for hers.
She speaks often of the inspiration and source of strength that Dany has been for her over the past ten years, and she is not alone. Emilia’s incredible Emmy-worthy acting and dedication to her character has inspired thousands and, as each season passed, we fell more and more in love with Dany. We rooted for her through trauma and hardship. We watched her triumph over her enemies and struggle with responsibility of rule. We saw her grapple between the urge for revenge, and the need for justice. And even at the very end, when things took a tragic turn for Daenerys Stormborn, Emilia still made us feel pity for the little girl who only ever wanted to return to her home.
This fundraiser began in r/freefolk, the same subreddit the now-infamous petition originated from. Since the tongue-in-cheek nature of that petition has flown over a lot of peoples’ heads, to the point that it’s prompted backlash from some of the cast, we wanted to show that Game of Thrones fans appreciate the hard work of the incredible cast & crew despite their constraints. Any disappointment we felt with the conclusion of the series was not in them, but rather in the potential that was lost due to the rushed pace of storytelling.
And so, as a gesture of love and support from the fandom to the entire cast & crew – but also particularly to the woman who poured her very soul into her character, who delivered passionate speeches in High Valyrian and Dothraki in between questioning her very mortality, and inspired so many of us with her resilience – I am setting up this page as a public support of her charity, SameYou.
Kit Harington is reportedly taking the end of Game of Thrones pretty hard and went to a “wellness retreat” ahead of the finale to be treated for “personal issues.” Page Six is reporting he went for alcohol use and stress. I can only imagine how stressful it would be to be one of the primary faces of a project that had been a global phenomena for 10 years and to have that project end in such a huge way. Whatever he is there for, I strongly hope he receives the help he needs and takes care of himself.
Tony Hale and Sophie Turner swap shows in these wonderful pictures.
Fans of Witcher are already up in arms about some of the costumes in the upcoming Netflix series.
NBC has launched NBC News Now, a streaming-news service. OK.
Olivia Wilde thought The OC was so “woke” back in the day. I thought they were just trying to exploit hot girl-on-girl action, but sure.
Don’t feel bad, Donald Trump makes us all curse. Also yesterday on The View, Lamar Odom claimed he was poisoned by a brothel owner. Uhhh … OK?
In which NBC screwed over the guy who played Roy on The Office. (It’s the same thing that Netflix does to its shows — basically promising everyone huge new deals if the series makes it to season four, which few series ever do.)
Luann De Lesseps keeps getting in trouble, but Bravo’s no dropping her. Yet.
Has Star found a new home? Apparently, they’ve been shopping it around to other networks since it was canceled on Fox, notably to BET and OWN. Lee Daniels is suggesting they’ll find out the show’s fate one way or another sometime soon:
I feel you, Dayton. My Jamie Simpson was named Tim Heller and he hurt me.
Your Bachelorette weighed in:
Alex Trebek reports that he is responding well to chemotherapy. Yay!
Sex Monster News
Netflix is the only studio to publicly say that they would “rethink” their entire investment in Georgia should the heartbeat bill go into effect. It’s not a promise to pull out, but considering how silent all of the other studios have been, it’s something, I suppose.
Ellen Degeneres opened up on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction about being sexually assaulted by her stepfather when she was a teenager.
“When I took the helm in Season 2, it was Lena who informed me of the issues between Jason Mitchell and Tiffany Boone from Season 1, and that Tiffany was thinking of leaving the show because of it,” Floyd said in a statement provided to TheWrap. “As a result of this information, I discussed Tiffany’s claims with the studio’s HR department and set up HR presentations for the writers, cast and crew. Ultimately, everyone was well aware of Jason’s behavior and his multiple HR cases, including Lena, the creator and an executive producer of the show, who is very involved at the studio and network level.”
Waithe released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter reading: “I think Tiffany is a wonderful actress and an extremely brave woman. I wish her nothing but success in the future. I look forward to getting back to work on season three.” Eesh.
Well, this is just a Mad Libs: Lorne Michaels tried to pressure Chris Kattan to have sex with Amy Heckerling to make sure Night at the Roxbury got made (according to Kattan).
In Development
- The Wilds, a young adult drama, has been ordered by Amazon.
Casting News
- Michael Beach has been added to the cast of Swamp Thing on DC Universe.
Mark Your Calendars
- Jessica Jones will return on Netflix on June 14.
- Swamp Thing will debut on DC Universe on May 31.
- Top Gear will return on BBC … sometime.
- Black Coffee, a talk show from BET, will debut digitally on June 3.
R.I.P.
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of New York: Sonja lashes out at The Countess and Ramona. 8 p.m., Bravo
The InBetween: A psychic helps her cop father solve crimes in this new drama. Series premiere. 9 p.m., NBC
American Ninja Warrior: People jump on things. Season premiere. 7 p.m., NBC
Masterchef: People cook things. Season premiere. 7 p.m., Fox
Archer: Season premiere. 9 p.m., FXX
What We Do in the Shadows: I don’t want this wonderful little show to go! Season finale. 9 p.m., FX
Happy!: Season finale. 9 p.m., Syfy
| WEDS. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Goldbergs (repeat) |
Schooled (repeat) |
Modern Family (repeat) |
American Housewife (repeat) |
Modern Family (repeat) |
The Goldbergs (repeat) |
| CBS | The Amazing Race (new) |
NCIS: The Cases We Couldn’t Forget (new) |
NCIS: The Cases We Couldn’t Forget (new) |
| CW | My Last Days (new) |
Jane the Virgin (new) |
Local |
| FOX | Masterchef (new) |
Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | American Ninja Warrior (new) |
The InBetween (new) |