“Game of Thrones” made many household names of it’s stars. However, some have fallen off the
map in one way or another despite being touched by the show's massive success. Here’s the cast
members that took a break from acting, and why you haven't seen much of them since.
Before "Game of Thrones," the child
actor Jack Gleeson was best known as a small boy with impossibly large eyes in "Batman Begins."
In the first chapter of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, he shares a brief,
adorable scene with the caped crusader — a role credited as "Little Boy on the Balcony."
In 2011, Gleeson was cast on "Game of Thrones" as Joffrey Baratheon, and quickly became the
character viewers loved to hate the most. We watched him grow from the whiny, spiteful,
and vengeful Prince of the Seven Kingdoms into the whiny, spiteful and vengeful King
of the Seven Kingdoms. His selfish antics cause the death of Arya's friend the butcher’s boy,
Sansa's direwolf Lady, and eventually the most shocking death of the first season,
the execution of former Hand of the King, Ned Stark. This would turn out to be the
act of cruelty that famously made it clear that no one is safe from death on "Game of Thrones,"
not even the lead billed actor in the credits. Jack Gleeson's
face would go on to become the embodiment of evil for many "Game of Thrones" fans.
In yet another twist, King Joffrey dies abruptly in Season 4 at his own wedding. As it turns out,
Jack Gleeson was glad to leave the role — and stardom itself — behind. At the time,
he told Entertainment Weekly,
"I've been acting since age 8. I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to."
He's since stayed active in the theater as a producer,
co-founding the Collapsing Horse Theatre Company, and attended college at Trinity
University in Dublin. After leaving the show, he only returned to television for a brief role
on comedian Sara Pascoe's series "Out of Her Mind." Even so, that was just a sort of meta
commentary on the villainous role that led him to turn away from the spotlight.
Isaac Hempstead Wright landed the role of Bran Stark in "Game of Thrones" at just 12 years old.
His prior onscreen experience was a small part in the horror movie "The Awakening" that had yet
to be released. As Bran, he arguably instigated a large portion of the plot of the entire show,
since his discovery of Jamie and Cersei's Lannister's incestuous affair. This led to
his serious fall, thanks to Jamie, which was the inciting incident of the pilot.
“The things I do for love.”
Bran would go on to weave one of the most unique journeys through Westeros over the course of the
show. Paralyzed from the waist down, he learns to adapt to his new life just in time to escape
to the North when Winterfell is captured by Theon Greyjoy. He then hones his ability to "warg" into
his direwolf, and is eventually trained by a mystical man known as the Three Eyed Raven
in the art of greensight, which essentially means having visions of the past. This enables him to
discern the "Game of Thrones" twist that most of the audience saw coming from a mile away.
That is, Jon Snow's true parentage as an heir to the Iron Throne. In a shocking
turn that even Hempstead Wright thought was a joke at first, Bran ends up on the throne
at the story's end. He also winds up with a mouthful of a title, as Tyrion says in full,
"Bran the Broken, the First of His Name,
King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm."
Isaac Hempstead Wright, meanwhile, was struggling to find normalcy behind the
scenes while his alter ego took such strange turns on a huge hit TV show. He told Esquire UK
that "Game of Thrones" all but ruined his college experience. He shared,
"My address got published [...] I couldn't walk out of my halls without having to take a selfie.
Eventually I got assigned a campus police officer."
He dropped out, but eventually returned to University College London to study neuroscience.
Focusing on his studies, he naturally took a break from
acting until appearing in a minor role in the 2021 film "Voyagers" in April of 2021.
Jacob Anderson gained prominence
with recurring roles on "Broadchurch" and "Episodes" before landing the role of Grey Worm.
As the elected leader of the Unsullied, a group of eunuch warriors raised as slaves,
he displays a fierce devotion to Daenerys Targaryen for freeing him
and all of his brethren. He chooses to fight for her as one of her most trusted lieutenants.
Eventually, he has time amidst all the late-season chaos for a doomed romance with Daenerys' advisor
Missandei, and sails with the remaining Unsullied to Missandei's homeland, at the end of the series.
Anderson didn't do much other acting during his time on "Game of Thrones,"
and hasn't appeared onscreen since the series ended. But don't worry that casting directors are
giving this talented actor the cold shoulder. He's stepped out of the film and television spotlight
because he's focusing on his music career, as a pop/R&B singer known as Raleigh Ritchie.
Few characters during all of "Game of Thrones" were more compelling — and few deaths more
heart-wrenching – than Shireen Baratheon. The only surviving child of Stannis Baratheon,
she's treated coldly by her father as he pursues the Iron Throne after his brother's death.
She doesn't get any more warmth from her mother, who resents her for being
partially disfigured from a disease known as greyscale. She finds comfort, however,
in her friendship with the kind Ser Davos, who is in her father's service.
Shireen even demonstrates ingenuity at multiple points that aid her father in his various battles
and quests across the series. Ultimately, however, he's convinced by the sorceress Melisandre during
a desperate moment that a sacrifice of "King's blood" will help turn the tide in his favor,
and Shireen is his only option. In a scene that many fans found unnecessarily cruel,
poor Shireen is burned alive as her mother cries in anguish and Stannis
looks away in tears. This show really could get pretty dark when it wanted to.
The English actress Kerry Ingram brought Shireen to life, and unlike her onscreen counterpart,
she remains thankfully alive and well. Already the winner of an Olivier Award
for starring in "Matilda: the Musical" before "Game of Thrones," she made a few other TV
appearances. She was actually a series regular on "Free Rein" during the run of "Thrones," but
hasn't had any appearances since it ended in 2019. The pandemic likely played a role,
but we'll surely be hearing from Kerry Ingram in the future.
Luke Barnes is primarily a British playwright and screenwriter, with only a single acting role
as "Drunk Man" in an episode of "Skins" to his name before playing Rast on "Game of Thrones."
Nevertheless, he left an indelible mark as one of several unsavory villains that
Jon Snow encounters during his time at Castle Black with the Night's Watch.
Rast is a foul criminal that "took the black" and pledged service to the Night's
Watch instead of a worse punishment. He torments Jon's friend Sam during training,
and acts clearly envious of Jon's skill and increasingly prominent role as the months pass.
He stabs the honorable Lord Commander Mormont in the back during the mutiny at Craster's Keep,
and later even tortures poor Hodor when the mutineers briefly detain him
along with Bran Stark. His eventual death at the paws of Jon Snow's direwolf Ghost is
one of several very satisfying ones over the course of this extremely death-friendly show.
After wrapping his time on "Game of Thrones," Barnes did have a couple small
parts in short films, but hasn't appeared onscreen since the show ended. Instead,
he's returned to his native Northern Ireland to focus on writing and producing theater once more.
Like many of the other child actors on "Game of Thrones," Ben Hawkey had just a few small roles
before appearing as Hot Pie, friend of Arya Stark.
An orphan who's been sent to the Night's Watch when they meet, he bonds with Arya as well as
Gendry when they're waylaid by Lannister forces and held prisoner at Harrenhal.
Eventually they escape, only to be captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners and escorted to
the Inn at the Crossroads. There, Hot Pie finds a rare happy ending for a minor "Game of Thrones"
character. He becomes a baker's apprentice, taken on by the owner of the inn to bake bread.
He even gives Arya a loaf of bread shaped like a direwolf as a goodbye present.
Ben Hawkey hasn’t been seen acting onscreen since his time on "Game of Thrones," although, he has
apparently turned his role as Hot Pie into a new real-life business. As reported by US Weekly,
he's partnered with a U.K. delivery service to bring the direwolf bread to
the public with a business incredibly named "You Know Nothing, Jon Dough."
British actor Stephen Cole was primarily known for five years on the long-running
Liverpool soap opera "Brookside," playing Leo Johnson from 1996 to 2001.
This was before being cast as Kovarro in Season 2 of "Game of Thrones" in 2012. After the death
of Khal Drogo at the end of Season 1, Kovarro becomes one of Daenerys Targaryen's most trusted
bloodriders as she navigates the desert of the Red Waste and the treacherous city of Qarth.
After playing a semi-prominent part in that storyline in Season 2, however,
Kovarro never appears again for unexplained reasons. Steven Cole would have minor parts
in 2014 and 2018, but has yet to act since "Game of Thrones" ended in 2019.
It's not known if the pandemic or personal reasons have kept him off screens.
Out of a cast of hundreds, it's possible there's at least one that just has bum luck.
Last but not least, we have arguably the biggest villain of the entire
show — the Night King. Commanding an army of white walkers, wights, and eventually
even his own dragon, the Night King slowly and surely marches south to invade Westeros.
“Don’t be afraid.”
This culminates with the epic battle in the Season 8 episode "The Long Night."
Though the Night King was originally played by character actor Richard Brake,
he left the show after Season 6 due to a scheduling conflict. He was replaced by
stuntman Vladimir Furdik for Seasons 7 and 8. It probably helped the transition that
the character's face is a combination of makeup and CGI, and he also never speaks.
Furdik has been a stuntman for decades in Hollywood,
working on movies like "Dragonheart," "Behind Enemy Lines," and "Thor: The Dark World."
In addition to appearing in five episodes as the Night King, he worked as a stunt performer
on 16 episodes of "Game of Thrones" as well. He is also credited as a stunt supervisor on
the episode "Winterfell." He continues his work as a stunt performer on the Netflix
series "The Witcher," but the Night King remains his last credited on-camera role.
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