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The script slipped from my fingers as I stared into space. Game of Thrones had to have a different ending than the one before me. In a few weeks the showrunners would send me the real script. We would all laugh at the elaborate prank and then I'd get to studying up on how I'd be approaching Jorah for the final season. Yet even though I didn't want to think about the script being real, I knew that it was.
What a cruel fate to disrespect my character and everyone else's. How could everything be leading up to that? Dany being evil was not even the worse thing about the final season. Maybe the thought of my fiance being insane and evil excited me in a very pleasant way.
One of the only things I liked in the script was that Jon and Dany broke up. Though there was an extremely overly romantic scene between the two. It was a scene that belonged in another show. Relationships on the show tended to have a realistic aspect. Just because someone loved another, it didn't mean that love could endure everything. The infamous Red Wedding was due to a character deciding to forget politics and instead follow his heart.
But where was that nuance in Jon and Dany's relationship? They could ignore everything and still things worked out for them. Season 8 would see them still being in love but their relationship unable to be repaired. So I guess they would suffer repercussions? Though the script seemed to be lacking in intense political debate. It seemed more simplified than in past seasons.
No matter how angry I got over the script, I would maintain a peaceful demeanor for the public. One of the great pains of being an actor was hiding parts of yourself away from the world. You couldn't just say you hated a script, you had to say it in such a way that sounded complimentary to whoever was paying you. Though after some time had passed, it was perfectly acceptable to let your true feelings out.
Even though there was a longer time between Season 7 and 8, Dave and Dan would make the final season the biggest failure. Though I hoped that wasn't the case as fans deserved to be happy. Maybe I was too close to judge what the fans would like. Maybe they would actually like Dany turning evil for no real reason. Maybe I was too close to Emilia to properly judge what should happen to Dany.
Maybe...
I put my head in my hands when the pain got to be too much. Doing interviews for Season 8 would be painful. Of that I was sure. At least I was not one of the most popular actors so I could suffer my pain in peace. How dare Dan and Dave mistreat me for all the hard work I had given them over the years. How could I tell people who admired Jorah about his fate? How could I lie about not minding his fate? Surely Dave and Dan could kill my character off between seasons if I decided to quit now.
No, I had to be strong. Not for myself or the people who had come to admire Jorah. I had to be strong so Emilia could borrow my strength. At least she was going to work with Kit who she was good friends with. That should ease some of the pain of how awful of a script that was now on my table. At least we both had friends that worked on Game of Thrones. At least there would be fun to be had.
I needed the paycheck and the prestige of the show to boost my own career. Though, in all honesty, I doubted the popular show could keep its prestige after Season 8 aired. The show I had worked so hard on would become something for people to laugh at and mock. There was no way anything else could be done with the corpse that was once Game of Thrones.
My hands fell to the table and made a soft sound as they came down gently on the script. I was a talented actor with a vast career behind me. I had mastered acting on the stage and various cameras. Yet my character didn't have much to do but stand around and then die in the third episode. It would be a moving death scene and yet it didn't satisfy me.
Even though fans admired me more than in the past, Dave and Dan had still decided to waste my talents. It wouldn't do to attack them directly as they might hire me again and I still needed to earn money. Though I would look for every opportunity to find projects to avoid them. After the Final Season aired I doubt that would be a hard task to do. Who would want to hire the people who managed to turn an iconic show into ashes in just six episodes?
At least Jorah would die while defending Dany. Not only that but he also stayed alive until he was certain the love of his life would be okay. At least through the disaster of a season there would be that to look forward to.
I went to get cheap wine and poured myself a glass before sitting down again. No matter how horrible of a script that was now on my table, I would give the final Season of Game of Thrones everything I had. The fans deserved that much.
Maybe today I deserved something much stronger than wine. Maybe I needed a liquor that could really make me forget my life. No, there was still Emilia to think about. There was no doubt in my mind she'd also be upset about the script. What kind of fiance would I be to not be there when she needed me?
"**** this ****!" I heard Emilia yell as she walked into the kitchen.
Was it wrong that her anger made me feel happy? I was just glad that all my anger over the script would be echoed in her. So everything I was feeling now would ease in an hour or so after talking to her. Hopefully.
"I take it you didn't like the script either." She said and pointed to my half-empty wine glass.
"I was thinking of getting something stronger to get the taste out of my mouth." I agreed.
"Can you pour me a glass of whatever you're having?"
I refilled my own glass and filled one for her as she sat down at the table. She waited until I was seated to start drinking. There was such rage on her face that it calmed me. Like me, she could not stand the script. At least we would have each other to take comfort in.
"What part bothers you the most?" I asked.
"Where the **** to begin?" Emilia replied as she finished her glass. "How about the part where my character and Kit's have to continue to be in a rushed relationship? How can anyone be a Jonerys shipper? I get that I'm hot and Kit is decent looking. But there is no real story between the two."
"Sometimes having two hot people onscreen is enough."
"But our sex scene was just...it didn't show anything! How can anyone find sex hot if there's no foreplay?"
The long awaited sex scene between Jon and Dany had been extremely lackluster. I had been in movies and shows that had showed much more. But at least Emilia hadn't had to spend a lot of time nearly naked with Kit. That was something for my fiance, but not for the fans. Though the relationship between Jon and Dany still excited many for some odd reason.
"Dave and Dan are trying for this romance and failing." Emilia groaned. "If Dany truly loves Jon, why is she so suspicious of him once he reveals his heritage? Shouldn't it take more than that to break true love? I wish I could just stop this show."
"There is only one shortened season to go." I reassured her. "If you act well enough, your opportunities will flourish no matter what people think of the show. And with that fame under your belt, you can start pursuing bigger and better things."
Emilia nodded though I could tell she was still nervous. Unlike me, she was one of the main actors. That meant, of course, she would have to go be part of many interviews about the final season. Everyone would want to find out her opinion of how the show would end. And throughout it all she'd have to lie. She would have to pretend she was proud of how the show ended. I would also have to lie, but not to the same degree.
"Dany has brought me so much joy." Emilia said as a tear went down her cheek. "She has taught me to be strong. She has been there for when I nearly died. She deserved so much better."
"She was always dancing just out of reach of madness." I replied gently. "She deserved an actual character arc of devolving into a villain. The script just said Dany turned mad but there was no proper setup. There's a difference between clues and an actual turn. I'll do my best to make time for you during those days of filming."
"Thank you, Iain."
Game of Thrones had given me my future wife. Even though the final season would be horrible, I could never hate the thing that had brought love into my life. The feelings I felt for her would never have been possible without the show. My life would be so empty without her in it. Those are the feelings I would have to old onto until filming ended.
"After seeing what the sex scene between Dany and Jon was like, I'm glad Jorah never got with his true love." I said with a smile. "Him not having sex is much better than whatever happened on that boat."
"I would've demanded changes to the script." Emilia replied. "The sex between Jorah and Dany would have to be something to remember. Give viewers a small glimpse of what I experience on a nightly basis."
The love story between Jorah and Dany could have been one for the ages. Jorah who had disgraced himself for a woman that ended up not loving him. Dany the woman destined for greatness. They had gone through difficult times only to find themselves closer than ever before. If the relationship between Jon and Dany had been given time, there was a chance that love story could have worked out.
"Is it bad to say I wanted to play the ultimate hero?" Emilia asked. "A woman who conquered her darker side and became a great ruler?"
"That isn't wrong to say." I reassured her. "But just because Dany failed doesn't mean you will. I can understand why you're so connected to her, but the two of you are different. I would say learn from her mistakes, but Dave and Dan did such a poor job at defining them."
"I wish we could say our true feelings."
"We have each other."
Without allowing myself time for thought, I kissed Emilia passionately. With each passing moment our kisses became hungrier. Somehow we managed to spare a moment to look into each other's eyes. There was pain in her eyes that was slowly fading into pure primal need. Very soon nothing would matter to her except how my hands and lips could pleasure her body. Very soon.
I stood up and held out my hand. We made our way to our bedroom. That peaceful setting was offset by the fierceness of our lovemaking.
Very slowly I came down and my mind came back to me. I was Iain Glen once more and not a creature concerned only with *******. I could now recall the pain of the script for the Final Season of Game of Thrones. Exerting my body so much had done nothing to dim what I had felt before.
"Do you want to try again, Emilia?" I asked. "I think I can be ready in maybe ten or twenty minutes."
"If that didn't make me feel better, doing it again won't." Emilia replied. "I'm going to try taking a very long walk."
"Do you want to be alone?"
"Yeah."
"I'll exercise."
After rinsing off, we went to come to terms with the script in our own ways. I made sure to push my body to its limit in the hopes that the pain would go away. That within the next five minutes my mind would calm down. At least my character would die before the **** truly hit the fan. It took much more than five minutes for me to be okay with the script.
It would be just another paycheck. It would be just another time I would have to lie so I could continue to make money in the future.
"I really needed that walk." Emilia said as we cleaned up after dinner.
"Yeah." I replied. "It's just a **** script. I should be used to those by now. I guess this one just surprised me."
"I know one thing in your life that will never disappoint you."
"You."
Emilia smiled and we kissed lightly. She would always be there for me and I would never leave her side. I would get projects in the future that were horribly written. But the love of my life would always be there for me. If we couldn't be physically together, there were always cell phones. I was actually getting pretty good at using them.
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