Game Of Thrones: 20 Greatest Performances

6. Conleth Hell - Varys

Cersei game of thrones
HBO

Conleth Hill was one of the best performers Game of Thrones ever had and made Varys absolutely magnetic to watch every moment he was on-screen.

In another wonderfully subtle performance, Conleth Hill filled every line and facial expression with nuance, subtext and shrewd intelligence. It was always hard to know what his motivations were and there was always the sense he had tens of little schemes brewing - in other words, Conleth Hill perfectly encapsulated the secretive spy-master.

Like many of the characters, Varys was screwed over in the final season (Conleth Hill openly admitted he wasn't a fan of the last two seasons, which is understandable), but Hill kept delivering all the way through despite this and he managed to elevate his character's terrible death scene a tiny bit with his ever-brilliant performance.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.