Game Of Thrones: 20 Greatest Performances
17. John Bradley - Samwell Tarly
Samwell Tarly was already a lovable and heart-warming character on the page and John Bradley (not to be confused with the aforementioned David Bradley), who was perfectly cast as him, fully realised the character's potential.
Warm, funny, humanised and endlessly likeable, Bradley made Sam one of the show's most endearing underdogs and a wonderful source of light amidst all the darker, more morally ambiguous characters who make up most of the show's cast.
He's been an overlooked performer over the years, but John Bradley really did a superb job at making Sam a fully rounded, emotionally-engaging figure rather than just a straightforward, two-dimensional nice guy. If he had been killed off during the final season, it's hard to know how we would've coped.