Tyrion Lannister is facing a nearly impossible situation on Game of Thrones , one that Emmy winning actor Peter Dinklage hopes the popular character will be able to survive.
Lannister was framed for the murder of his nephew , King Joffrey, who was poisoned at his own wedding feast. Though Tyrion has proclaimed his innocence — and viewers know that he was only in the unfortunate position of holding the poisoned goblet — he went to trial nonetheless.
At his trial, which played out on Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones , Tyrion Lannister faced a series of witnesses who lied and claimed to have seen him poison Joffrey’s cup .
Presiding over the trial is his own father, Tywin Lannister, who has made his hatred of Tyrion clear. Tyrion’s brother works out a deal to end the trial and spare Tyrion’s life, but after Tyrion’s former mistress Shae shows up and makes more allegations, the character snaps and demands trial by combat .
Peter Dinklage himself has said that the situation is quite obviously tilted against Tyrion Lannister, and hopes his character finds a way to survive.
“I don’t think anything’s fair in King’s Landing, is it?” he said. “He’s the fall guy in this situation, isn’t he? They just wanted to make it all easy and make me go away, but I think Tyrion is quite a survivor. Hopefully he will find a way. I hope so, because I like my job. … It’s great fun. Since I’ve joined Game of Thrones , it’s been such a pleasure.”
Whatever happens, Dinklage said he has faith in the show’s writers.
“It’s great storytelling,” Dinklage said. “It goes back to the writers, and television has gone through a transformation that’s really attracting great writers because the writers have creative control with a lot of these TV shows now. We have two of the best writers working today, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, and they make my job so much more fun. It goes back to the scripts.”
Those who want to find out the fate of Tyrion Lannister will have to tune in to the next Game of Thrones episode, which airs Sunday night.
[Tyrion Lannister photo via HBO]