Game of Thrones: A Conversation With Finn Jones

finn jones Finn Jones, currently starring as Ser Loras, love interest to late Renly Baratheon in HBO€™s fantastic series Game of Thrones, appeared in the Doctor Who universe in one episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, playing the grandson of former companion, Jo Grant. I caught up with him at the recent Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles, where we discussed The Sarah Jane Adventures, Game of Thrones, and his fascination for one-horned creatures. ME: So how did you end up getting into Game of Thrones? JONES: I auditioned. I got an audition, and€yeah. I auditioned, and I got the part. ME: Pretty basic. JONES: Yeah, that€™s the thing. People think there€™s this kind of magic thing that happens. It€™s just, you know, actors audition for the parts and they get the roles if they€™re good enough. ME: Well, it€™s Game of Thrones. There€™s very little magic there. JONES: Yeah, yeah, right. ME: Have you been enjoying the role so far? JONES: Yeah, I love it! It€™s a dream role. It€™s the best role I could ask for right now at this stage in my career. I love it. ME: Was it much the same with The Sarah Jane Adventures? JONES: Yeah, Sarah Jane was great! I was really lucky to work on that show with such wonderful people and I had a really great time. ME: Excellent. And I€™m sure working with Katy Manning was all sorts of fun. JONES: Yeah, she€™s awesome.[€]She€™s on my wavelength. She€™s totally crazy and lovely, and, yeah. She€™s like the perfect fictional gran. ME: She€™s one of those people who seems like she€™s exactly like she is on TV. JONES: Yeah, but wilder. ME: Less restrained. JONES: Oh, yeah. She don€™t do restrained, she just don€™t. ME: In Game of Thrones, do you have much coming up in season 3? JONES: Yeah, quite a lot. A lot more than the first, second and€yeah. ME: But no more Renly! How will you carry on? JONES: Aaaah€actually, he kind of€he finds a way. ME: Ah€now I€™ve read ahead in the books, and I€™m sure by now you have, too. So I€™m sure there€™s a lot of stuff you€™re looking forward to doing. JONES: Yeah, yeah, I can€™t wait! There€™s lots of stuff coming up from the books, and also stuff that€™s not in the books, which is nice. ME: Yeah, I€™m looking forward to that. They€™ve done quite a bit of that seems to work pretty well. It can be really hit or miss with things like that, but they€™ve done a good job with that. JONES: It€™s good that the TV series, you know, doesn€™t just follow the books. That it does its own stuff. ME: It needs to be able to stand on its own. JONES: Exactly, yeah! The books get so ridiculously lengthy and complex that it€™d be impossible to€ ME: They start becoming like an even more complicated version of a Russian novel after a bit. JONES: Yeah, yeah, and you wouldn€™t try to make a screenplay out of one of those things. ME: I understand the third book will be spread out over seasons three and four. JONES: Yes, season three is the first half of book three, and season four is the second half. ME: It€™ll be interesting to see how that works out. I think it will give them some more breathing room. JONES: Yeah, I think it€™s also that they are becoming less rigid about €œthis season, this book€. It€™s just becoming a story now. I mean, the books are irrelevant now. It€™s their own story in their own time when they want it. ME: Anything in particular you€™d like to do in the future? JONES: Uh€ride unicorns? Yeah, just ride a massive unicorn, I think. ME: How big of a unicorn? Because if it€™s too big, that could present a problem. JONES: Oh, no, no. The bigger, the better. Massive, massive unicorn. Yeah, yeah. ME: I could make jokes about horns, but I don€™t want to drag it down to that level. JONES: Oh, yeah, that would be terrific. A big horned unicorn, yeah. ME: I€™m sure your fans will take note. JONES: Good, good, yeah, excellent. ME: And the question I don€™t want to ask, but probably have to; if you had the chance to return to the Doctor Who universe, would you? JONES: Yeah, of course, definitely. I€™d love to, but only if Katy could be there. ME: It would be kind of nifty to see her back on the show as well. JONES: Yeah, me and Katy, or no way. ME: Any last thing you want to say before I wind this up? JONES: (softly) Aliens are real. IMAG0305
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Chris Swanson is a freelance writer and blogger based in Phoenix, Arizona, where winter happens to other people. His blog is at wilybadger.wordpress.com