Best role since: His early departure gave Bean over a decade to wrack up post-GoT credits, but his buzziest film was the Best Picture-nominated The Martian, in which he plays the earth-bound flight director of the NASA mission that leaves Matt Damon stranded on Mars. Other recent projects: Roles in films like Mirror Mirror, Jupiter Ascending, and Wolfwalkers as well as TV roles in Missing, Legends, and Snowpiercer. Best role since: Since the show’s wrap in 2019, NCW hasn’t had much time to perform, but he did play Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen, an early 1900s Danish explorer in this historical biography. Ratings weren’t great, but he does get to spend time with sled dogs, so there’s that. Other recent projects: A 2020 action film called The Silencing and a Danish film called A Taste of Hunger are his only other projects. Best role since: Fairley returned to another castle-set drama in the historical miniseries The White Princess, based on Philippa Gregory’s novel. She plays Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, a villainous turn after playing a heroine in Game of Thrones. Other recent projects: Since her exit in 2013, Fairley has starred in films like Ironclad: Battle for Blood and In the Heart of the Sea and has nabbed reoccurring roles on shows like Resurrection, Crossing Lines, and Gangs of London. Best role since: Post-walk of shame, Headey has been doing mostly voice work including a role in the reboot of The Dark Crystal series for Netflix, where she plays one of Jim Henson’s puppet fantasy creations. Other recent projects: She was in the Dickens-inspired crime drama Twist and the assassin flick Gunpowder Milkshake. Best role since: Her ONLY role since GoT has been the holiday film in which she plays an ornery Christmas store worker who falls in love with a mysterious Henry Golding. Other recent projects: While nothing else has arrived yet, she is in an upcoming Marvel series and several movies that should be hitting theaters in the near future. Best role since: Lloyd got a juicy role in the Brave New World Peacock adaptation based off the Aldous Huxley novel, where he played Bernard Marx. Other recent projects: He had roles in prestigious miniseries like Wolf Hall, and Great Expectations, played Charles Xavier in Legion, and appears as ghost Richard III in this year’s The Lost King. Best role since: Harington seems to be building up to a career as a superhero in the MCU, as he played Gemma Chan’s non-superhero boyfriend Dane Whitman in Eternals last year, only to be the subject of a twist ending. Other recent projects: An episode of Criminal: UK and one of Modern Love are his only other credits so far, but the Season 8 cast has had much less time to put work out (especially with COVID). Best role since: Madden has built up quite a career since Game of Thrones, teaming up with his previous castmates repeatedly on subsequent projects. One particularly interesting turn was as John Reid, the duplicitous, slithery manager of Elton John in this musical biopic. Remember the name John Reid, because you will hear it again on this list. Other recent projects: Madden won a Golden Globe for his work in Bodyguard, popped in for a one-scene, gut-wrenching showstopper in 1917, and played alongside GoT stepbrother? (half brother? uncle? cousin?) in Eternals. Best role since: Turner just stole Do Revenge out from under her costars with only a few scenes in the Netflix high school thriller. “I don’t even do cocaine,” will soon be tattooed on my body. Other recent projects: Aside from marrying Joe Jonas, having two kids, and starring in the “Sucker” music video, Turner also starred in this year’s miniseries The Staircase and the X-Men film Dark Phoenix. Also, we can never forget her Quibi show Survive. Best role since: Williams shined as Kim alongside Fleabag’s Sian Clifford in this miniseries about a mother/daughter pair being reintroduced to society after most of Kim’s life. Of course, she’s also on a mission to kill the man who murdered her father as Maisie Williams’ characters tend to do. Other recent projects: The ill-fated COVID release The New Mutants, the thriller The Owners, and the FX series Pistol are her other recent credits. Best role since: Allen (who I am contractually obligated to remind you appears in one of the best sequences in cinematic history), pops up here as the assistant to Sam Rockwell’s Nazi in the Best Picture nominee Jojo Rabbit. Allen is fun here, and I liked the role even more once I realized there was a queer subtext going on throughout the film. Other recent projects: The vampire thriller Night Teeth and the British true crime drama White House Farm are his other two major roles since Game of Thrones’s end. Agent Cody Banks 3 anyone? Best role since: McCann has’t appeared in much post-GoT, but his role as a caveman in the video game portion of Jumanji 2 was worth a laugh. Other recent projects: He appeared in two episodes of the British mystery show The Irregulars and will be voicing Megatron in the upcoming Transformers: EarthSpark animated TV show. Best role since: The multiple Emmy winner was delightful as the sparring partner for Rosamund Pike in I Care a Lot as the two tried to screw each other over in various schemes involving nursing home fraud. Other recent projects: He also did battle with a feisty Shirley MacLaine in American Dreamer and in a musical rumble against Kelvin Harrison Jr. in Cyrano. Next year, you’ll be able to catch him in the Hunger Games prequel. Best role since: Momoa has had plenty of time to act post GoT, but his best film is certainly last year’s Best Picture nominee Dune, in which he plays the badass warrior with a stupid name Duncan Idaho. Momoa was a bit outacted by his fellow cast members, but his final fight scene was incredible. Other recent projects: He is, of course, Aquaman in a variety of DC films, but also stars in his own Apple TV+ show See, and played the titular role in Braven, possibly the stupidest action film I’ve ever seen (take that for good or for bad). Best role since: The character actor has had plenty of roles in his short tenure following Game of Thrones, but none was more memorable than when he played skeezy music manager John Reid in the Freddie Mercury biopic. Yes, that would be the same skeezy music manager John Reid who Richard Madden played in the Elton John biopic. The man truly got around. Other recent projects: Gillen was in multiple installments of the Maze Runner films, and took roles in Peaky Blinders, Kin, and Mayor of Kingstown. Best role since: Bradley got to star alongside Jennifer Lopez in this year’s musical romp Marry Me, playing an assistant to Lopez’s Kat Valdez. Oh, to be graced with such stardom. Other recent projects: He was also in this year’s Moonfall, but we won’t talk about that. Best role since: The prolific actor has appeared in numerous projects since his character was offed, but lended some gravitas to the recent Kingsman prequel playing Herbert, Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War. Other recent projects: Where do we even begin? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Ghostbusters, Johnny English Strikes Again, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Mank, Against the Ice (with onscreen son NCW), The Little Drummer Girl, and a glitzy role in The Crown. The man is WORKING, and we are here for it. Best role since: Nairn, who started out as a DJ at a gay club in Belfast, made a name for himself as Hodor, before becoming a pirate obsessed with fire in the comedy series which was recently renewed for a second season. Other recent projects: The Our Flag Means Death role is his only major one since Game of Thrones, but he did guest star on an episode of The Rookie. Best role since: His one and only role since Game of Thrones has been in Sex Education where he plays Dex Thompson, a member of the Quiz Heads team who memorably runs around campus naked holding a goat in Season 3. Other recent projects: We’re waiting for more. Best role since: Dillane is one of several GoT actors who have appeared on The Crown. While he’s only in one episode, it’s a memorable turn as Graham Sutherland, an artist who paints a birthday portrait of Winston Churchill that Churchill DESPISES. Other recent projects: Dillane is a series regular on Alex Rider and also appeared in Mary Shelley, Outlaw King, and another Winston Churchill-adjacent project Darkest Hour. Best role since: The Dutch actress hasn’t appeared in much, but she did star in an erotic thriller about a prison psychologist falling in love with an inmate called Instinct that was directed by Bodies Bodies Bodies filmmaker Halina Reijn. Other recent projects: A Starz adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons is in the works atm. Best role since: Dormer, who is exquisite, should be getting more juicy roles, but her best to date has been as Hester Appleyard, the headmistress of a girls school that suffers the disappearance of several students. Other recent projects: She, too, voiced a character in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance with Lena Headey, and starred in the one-season Penny Dreadful spinoff City of Angels. Dormer and her Grade A smirk should be utilized more, though. Why has she not been a guest star on Succession? Tell me that isn’t a match made in heaven! Best role since: She hasn’t had much time, but she is incredibly fun in a small role in The Personal History of David Copperfield as Jane Murdstone. Other recent projects: She was in two episodes of The Sandman and has both Wednesday, the Addams Family spinoff, and Flux Gourmet, a black comedy, coming out soon. Best role since: The German actor most notably appeared in Season 4 of Stranger Things as one of Hopper’s Russian captors who ultimately helps him defeat the forces from the Upside Down. Other recent projects: He’s worked in a variety of international projects including the German adaptation of Das Boot. In the States, he also appeared in several episodes of Prime Video’s Jack Ryan series. Best role since: A noted British character actor, McElhatton has appeared in multiple projects including the lauded HBO miniseries Chernobyl where he plays the trial prosecutor. Other recent projects: The man is busy. The Zookeeper’s Wife, King Arthur: Legend of theSword, The Foreigner, Justice League, The Last Duel, Das Boot, The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, and The Wheel of Time are only some of his recent roles. Best role since: The antithesis of her Game of Thrones character, Whelan plays Mrs. Weston, Emma’s lovely governess who goes off and gets married, thus launching Emma into a new string of meddling antics. Other recent projects: Most notably, Whelan did appear in Season 3 of Killing Eve as Geraldine, the daughter of Fiona Shaw’s Carolyn. Best role since: The Norwegian actor hasn’t had many roles since the show’s end, but he did star in Downhill, the American remake of the incredible Force Majeure, which he also stars in. Other recent projects: He voiced a character in DuckTales and starred in Norwegian crime drama called Twin. Best role since: I for one loved the fizzy first season of The Flight Attendant, and Huisman was fun as Alex Sokolov, and his ghost that followed Kaley Cuoco’s Cassie around and helped her solve his murder. Other recent projects: Huisman, of course, also starred in The Haunting of Hill House and the wonderfully named The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I dare you to remember correctly). Best role since: While Emmanuel took on her role of Ramsey in Furious 7 while still filming Game of Thrones, she appeared in the two followup films and is set to return in both parts of the 10th installment. Other recent projects: She’s in the recent vampire film The Invitation, starred in the remake miniseries of Four Weddings and a Funeral, and (along with other GoT ladies) provided a voice for a puppet in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Best role since: Anderson recently made headlines as Louis de Pointe du Lac in the Interview with the Vampire series where he’s having wild, horny, vampiric gay sex with costar Sam Reid. Other recent projects: Prior to his (blood)lust, he appeared in several episodes of Doctor Who. Best role since: Can’t get much better than an Oscar nomination, can you? Hinds received a Best Supporting Actor nod last year for playing the grandfather (and husband of Judi Dench) in Kenneth Branagh’s Best Picture-nominated drama. Other recent projects: After his five episodes on Game of Thrones, Hinds snagged roles in numerous top tier projects including Martin Scorsese’s Silence, Justice League as the villain Steppenwolf, First Man, Frozen II, and Kin, where he starred opposite fellow GoT alum Aidan Gillen. Best role since: Brodie-Sangster gained more notoriety for his role as Benny Watts, one of the romantic interests in The Queen’s Gambit, where he played opposite Anya Taylor-Joy in the world of chess. He also had a mustache and wore hats. Other recent projects: He appeared alongside other GoT alum in Wolf Hall, was in the western Godless, and starred alongside Dylan O’Brien in the Maze Runner films. Best role since: Chapman was absolutely incredible in 2019’s Oscar darling 1917, for which he probably should have been nominated himself. He played a young soldier in 1917 attempting to get a message across enemy lines to his brother. Other recent projects: The Liam Neeson thriller The Commuter, the Anya Taylor-Joy drama Here Are the Young Men, and the recent Lena Dunham-directed Catherine Called Birdy are among some of his film credits post defenestration. Best role since: I would argue that no one has turned their five seconds of GoT fame into more than Pascal who snatched up the lead role in the Star Wars spin-off (which I’m sure is helping him rake in the dough). Other recent projects: Since 2014, Pascal also landed a lead role in Narcos, appeared in The Book of Boba Fett, and stole the show in installments of the Kingsman, The Equalizer, and Wonder Woman franchises. He was also in the gorgeous If Beale Street Could Talk and this year’s meta Nicolas Cage flick The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. All that from seven episodes of Game of Thrones. Best role since: The veteran actor received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Pope Francis in this drama starring opposite Anthony Hopkins’ Pope Benedict XVI. Other recent projects: Pryce has taken roles in several meaty dramas including The Wife and All the Old Knives. He will also be taking over the role of Prince Philip from Tobias Menzies in Season 5 of The Crown which premieres in November. Best role since: Henwick, however, made good on her brief stint on the show, appearing in the delightful monster flick/romance Love and Monsters, which is a severely underrated favorite of mine. Other recent projects: Henwick also appeared in The Matrix Resurrections last year as the blue-haired Bugs and will be making her way to the big screens again shortly in the Knives Out sequel Glass Onion. Best role since: Waddingham, virtually unrecognizable from her GoT character in the habit, won an Emmy for her role as Rebecca Welton in Ted Lasso. She’s come a long way. Other recent projects: You may also recognize her as one of the lesbian moms from Sex Education and a brief appearance in Hocus Pocus 2 more recently. Best role since: Ramsey stars along Game of Thrones alum Dean-Charles Chapman in the charming medieval comedy Catherine Called Birdy. She is electric on screen, and I can’t imagine her not scooping up a dozen more roles based on the charm she exudes in this performance. Other recent projects: She’s taken a number of tiny roles, the most notable of which is probably a stint on His Dark Materials.
