Game of Thrones Night King Interview 2019
The Actor Behind the Night King Breaks His Silence, and This White Walker Is Out for Revenge
Amid the bloody battles and heartbreaking tragedies in the Game of Thrones universe, the Night King and his army of White Walkers remain a spine-chilling threat to the Seven Kingdoms. And now, despite his typically private nature, the Night King has broken his silence. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor and stuntman Vladimír Furdík — who has played the Night King since season six — revealed what he knows now that he has looked through the Night King's icy blue eyes.
"I did a lot of horse falls, fire drops, high falls, sword fights," Furdík said in explaining what his job was like before becoming the first of the White Walkers. "When we did season five, I was the White Walker who fought Jon Snow [in 'Hardhome'] — the first time Jon Snow killed a White Walker, that was me." So, even though he wasn't technically the Night King at the time, Furdík did play Jon's first White Walker kill in a pretty cool coincidence!
While Furdík doesn't know who the Night King was before he became the leader of the White Walkers, he does know that "there's some human in [the Night King]." Depending on which director is in charge of the episode, the actor is instructed to be more cold or more human-like in his actions and expressions, but he's almost never allowed to blink — making the character's face even more chilling.
For those who need a little refresher, the Night King was created when the Children of the Forest tied a human man to a tree and pierced his heart with a dragonglass dagger to defend themselves against the First men, who were killing the Children of the Forest and cutting down their home. The Night King has since taken Daenerys's dragon Viserion as one of his own and torn down the wall set up to protect the North. Now, with a war at hand and Game of Thrones nearing its end, Furdík says the Night King is out for good old-fashioned revenge.
"He never wanted to be the Night King," Furdík told EW. "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." Coming from the mouth of the leader of the White Walkers himself, that sounds like a pretty good indication that the Night King will not stop until he gets what he wants.
As far as who should fear the head White Walker the most (Daenerys? Jon?), Furdík said, "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." As for Furdík's favourite Night King scene in the series, he said, "That's still coming." Looks like revealing his battle strategy isn't part of the Night King's master plan, but you can bet we'll be waiting like watchers on the Wall to see just how this battle of fire and ice finally plays out.
