“Game of Thrones” cast: See what the actors have been up to since leaving Westeros

With "House of the Dragon" season 2 in full swing, Entertainment Weekly takes a look back at the series that started it all.

In its glory days, HBO's epic swords-and-secrets drama Game of Thrones was the most talked-about series on television — and brought attention to a remarkable ensemble cast. Premiering in 2011, the intricate story of love, greed, sacrifice, and betrayal captivated viewers for eight seasons, raising the bar on the level of action, special effects, and narrative complexity we could expect on the small screen.

Some cast members were just starting their careers, including Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams, while others like Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean, and Lena Headey were veteran actors gaining new fans and heightened fame.

The original show had a famously disappointing final season, but that hasn't diminished fans' ongoing interest in the saga of Westeros. Season 1 of the prequel series House of the Dragon was a hit, and the second season rolled out this summer. Read on to find out how the Game of Thrones cast survived and thrived since the series finale in 2019.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.

Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister)

Peter Dinklage played Tyrion Lannister, the resourceful and witty youngest son of House Lannister, who overcomes ridicule to serve as the Hand for three different rulers. One of the most popular cast members in the ensemble, Dinklage won four Emmys and was nominated for all eight seasons.

Dinklage's film debut was opposite Steve Buscemi in Living in Oblivion (1995), playing an actor with dwarfism who's unhappy with the limited roles he gets cast to play. He went on to star in the acclaimed indie dramedy The Station Agent (2003) and had a memorable cameo in the Christmas comedy Elf (2003) as an egomaniacal children’s book author. He had a featured role in Frank Oz's black comedy Death at a Funeral (2007) — reprising his role for the American remake three years later — and played the cynical Trumpkin in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008).

Game of Thrones made Dinklage a bonafide star, which put him in high demand for major franchises. He played the villainous Dr. Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), the King of the Dwarves in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and the creator of the Games in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023). In addition to his key supporting role in the Oscar-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), he’s maintained a genuine leading man career. He headlined the HBO biopic My Dinner with Hervé (2018), starred opposite Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei in the romantic comedy She Came to Me (2023), and played the title character in the remake of cult classic The Toxic Avenger (2023). He also took on a classic role in the big-budget musical Cyrano (2021), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.

His career shows no signs of slowing down. Next, he’ll appear as Josh Brolin’s twin in the crime caper Brothers (2024) and execute a key voice role in Wicked (2024).

Dinklage has been married to theater director Erica Schmidt since 2005. They have two children, a daughter and a son.

Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister)

Lena Headey played Cersei Lannister, a ruthless manipulator who only cares about her brother/lover Jaime, her children, and her unquenchable quest for power. As an iconic example of a character you love to hate, Headey earned five Emmy nominations for the role.

Early in her career, Headey booked a small part in The Remains of the Day (1993) and played Mowgli's love interest, Kitty, in a live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book (1994). She also appeared in Mrs. Dalloway (1997), as the legendary Guinevere in the miniseries Merlin (1998), and opposite John Malkovich in Ripley's Game (2002). Finding a niche in genre work, she starred alongside Matt Damon and Heath Ledger in the fantasy The Brothers Grimm (2005), played the Queen of Sparta in Zack Snyder's 300 (2008), and assumed the title role in Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009).

After the launch of Game of Thrones, Headey played the scarred, ruthless drug lord Ma-Ma in the 2012 Dredd reboot, helped launch a long-running franchise with The Purge (2013), and combined blood and guts with Regency Era decorum in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016). In recent years, she appeared with Florence Pugh in Fighting With My Family (2019) and in HBO’s miniseries White House Plumbers (2023). She has also developed a voice acting career, with roles in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018–2020), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), and Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2024–present). Currently, she carries the lead role in the sci-fi series Beacon 23.

Headey married musician Peter Loughran in 2007. The pair have a son, Wylie, and divorced in 2013. Headey also has a daughter, Teddy, with director Dan Cadan. She married actor Marc Menchaca in 2022.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister)

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau played Jaime Lannister, the ruthless knight and would-be child murderer, who gets humbled, defeated, and be-handed but never wavers from his most sacred duty: protecting his beloved twin sister, Cersei, at all costs. Coster-Waldau nabbed two Emmy nominations during his time on the show.

Coster-Waldau made his film debut in his native Denmark with a lead role in the serial killer thriller Nightwatch (1994); his U.S. career started with a minor role in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down in 2001 and continued with Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and the Paul Bettany/Kirsten Dunst tennis rom-com Wimbledon (2004). Back in Europe, his crime thriller Headhunters (2011) became the highest-grossing Norwegian film at that time.

Once Jaime Lannister raised his profile, Coster-Waldau took advantage with major roles in the supernatural horror film Mama (2013) opposite Jessica Chastain, the sci-fi thriller Oblivion (2013) with Tom Cruise, and the mythological epic Gods of Egypt (2016). He’s since booked starring roles in multiple crime dramas, including Shot Caller (2017), Brian De Palma’s Domino (2019), and God Is a Bullet (2023). Most recently, his career came full circle when he starred in the legacy sequel to his film debut, Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (2023).

Coster-Waldau married Nukaka, an actress and singer from Greenland, in 1988. The couple has two daughters, Filippa and Safina.

Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen)

Emilia Clarke played Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons. Over the course of the series, Dany matures from an innocent young girl into a powerful leader but takes a dark, fiery turn in the final season. Clarke earned four Emmy nominations for her performance.

Clarke was just starting her career when she was propelled to global stardom as the last of the House Targaryen. With her star on the rise, she landed her first major movie role opposite Jude Law in Dom Hemingway (2013). She then followed in costar Lena Headey's footsteps, playing Sarah Connor in the franchise sequel Terminator Genisys. In addition to headlining romances like Me Before You (2016) and Last Christmas (2019), Clarke has sharpened her franchise skills as the enigmatic love interest in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and as the Skrull operative G'iah in the MCU series Secret Invasion (2023).

Kit Harington (Jon Snow)

Kit Harington played Jon Snow, the “bastard” son of Ned Stark and reluctant member of the Night's Watch, who makes a tragic choice in the series finale that’s still being debated by fans.

Game of Thrones was Harington's first screen role, bringing widespread exposure to the 24-year-old actor. Leading parts in movies soon followed, including the video game adaptation Silent Hill: Revelation (2012), the Roman Empire disaster film Pompeii (2014), and the World War I drama Testament of Youth (2014). He got to flex his comedy muscles opposite Andy Samberg in the HBO tennis mockumentary 7 Days in Hell (2015) and starred alongside Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, and Thrones’ Red Woman herself, Carice van Houten, in the savagely violent revisionist Western Brimstone (2016).

Harington developed and produced the BBC historical drama series Gunpowder (2017) about the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, starring as his own ancestor, Robert Catesby. He later joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Eternals (2021) as Dane Whitman, known in the comics as the Black Knight. Recently, he's appeared in the Apple TV+ climate-change miniseries Extrapolations (2023) and the neo-noir Blood for Dust (2023).

In 2018, Harington married Game of Thrones costar Rose Leslie, who played Jon Snow’s wildling lover, Ygritte. The couple shares a son and daughter.

Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark)

Sophie Turner played Sansa Stark, a young woman repeatedly used as a pawn by the Lannisters before growing into a powerful leader and ultimately being crowned Queen in the North.

Playing the tragedy-prone Sansa was Turner's acting debut. On the big screen soon afterward, she played dual roles in the psychological thriller Another Me (2013) and portrayed a teen assassin under the tutelage of Samuel L. Jackson in Barely Lethal (2015).

Turner's most high-profile role outside of Game of Thrones was the Marvel mutant Jean Grey/Phoenix in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019). Most recently, she had a minor part in the zoomer satire Do Revenge (2022) and played a significant role in HBO’s star-studded The Staircase (2022), based on the famed true-crime documentary.

Turner married singer Joe Jonas in 2019, and they have two daughters, Willa and Delphine. They have been in the midst of a divorce since 2023.

Maisie Williams (Arya Stark)

Maisie Williams played the fan favorite Arya Stark, a headstrong assassin who ultimately ends the Great War by killing the Night King.

The series was Williams' first acting role — In fact, it was only her second audition! — but she quickly became a well-recognized actress. Her first film was the coming-of-age mystery The Falling (2014) alongside Florence Pugh. Williams then played the recurring role of Ashildr, a brave warrior not unlike her Game of Thrones character, in Doctor Who (2015). She went on to feature in Netflix's sci-fi thriller iBoy (2017), the Elle Fanning biographical drama Mary Shelley (2017), and in a voice role in the stop-motion prehistoric sports comedy Early Man (2018). Soon after, she got her superhero shot as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane in The New Mutants (2020) opposite Anya Taylor-Joy.

Lately, Williams has appeared in two biographical series — first as punk icon Jordan in the Sex Pistols miniseries Pistol (2022), and currently as French Resistance fighter Catherine Dior in The New Look, with Ben Mendelsohn as her brother, Christian Dior.

Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark)

Isaac Hempstead Wright played Bran Stark, the would-be assassination victim turned Warg turned Three-Eyed Raven — a journey that ultimately leads him to great power in Westeros.

Hempstead Wright grew up on Game of Thrones, having joined the show at age 11. Not long after, he booked supporting roles in two Rebecca Hall movies: The Awakening (2011) and the terrorism thriller Closed Circuit (2013). He also voiced the lead character, Eggs, in the stop-motion film The Boxtrolls (2014).

When the show ended, he went back to university to study neuroscience. His only recent acting role was in the Colin Farrell-led space thriller Voyagers (2021).

Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth)

Gwendoline Christie played the upright Brienne, whose dedication and loyalty help her overcome prejudices against female knights. Christie received an Emmy nomination for the role in the show's final season.

She joined Game of Thrones in season 2, around the same time she began work on the British science fantasy series Wizards vs. Aliens (2012–2013).

Christie’s knightly status in Westeros landed her roles in a few major franchises: first in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 and later taking command as First Order stormtrooper Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017). She gained a foothold on the arthouse circuit, too, playing a major supporting role in Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017), the Dev Patel-led The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019), and the surreal dark comedies In Fabric (2019) and Flux Gourmet (2022).

Following her Game of Thrones success, Christie has since jumped into two popular Netflix shows, playing Lucifer in The Sandman (2022) and Principal Weems in Tim Burton’s Addams Family series Wednesday (2022–present). Coming up, she's got a role in the second season of the hit conceptual thriller Severance (2024). 

Christie is in a long-term relationship with British fashion designer Giles Deacon; the pair started seeing each other in 2013.

Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy)

Alfie Allen played Theon Greyjoy, who was raised by the Stark family but betrays them in a power grab. Captured and forced into servitude, Theon redeems himself late in the series.

Allen and his sister (singer Lily Allen) grew up in a show-business family; their father was an actor and their mother a film producer. Allen appeared in small roles on British TV and film from age 12. By his mid-20s, he arrived at Game of Thrones and sparked international attention.

On the big screen, Allen’s Iosef Tarasov set the revenge plot in motion in John Wick (2014) after stealing the wrong car and the wrong dog. He also appeared in The Predator (2018), Taika Waititi's wartime satire Jojo Rabbit (2019), and the coming-of-age comedy How to Build a Girl (2019). Once Game of Thrones ended, Allen took to the Broadway stage, receiving a Tony nomination in 2022 for his role in Martin McDonagh's Hangmen. His latest role is as American domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh in the drama McVeigh (2024).

Allen shares a daughter with disc jockey Allie Teilz, whom he dated for a couple of years.

Richard Madden (Robb Stark)

Scottish actor Richard Madden played Robb Stark, Ned's eldest son, who falls victim to Westeros scheming at the infamous Red Wedding.

After his brutal exit from the show in the third season, Madden jumped into the Gold Rush miniseries Klondike (2014) and then played Prince Charming himself in Disney's live-action Cinderella (2015).

A few years later, he garnered a new wave of attention — and a whole lot of 007 speculation — for his role as a psychologically troubled spy in the BBC thriller series Bodyguard (2018). He followed that with big-screen roles as Elton John's lover in the biopic Rocketman (2019) and as a British soldier in the World War I film 1917 (2019). After joining the MCU as Ikaris in  Eternals (2021), he returned to the small screen for another action-oriented spy series, Citadel (2023–present).

Sean Bean (Ned Stark)

Sean Bean played Lord Ned Stark, who makes a shocking exit at the end of the first season — although his influence can be felt in all major events to follow.

While much of the Game of Thrones cast was new or unknown, Bean was an established actor who anchored the show in season 1. He first became well-known in Britain as the lead character in the historical series Sharpe (1993–1997), and in 1995, he received global attention as Alec Trevelyan, James Bond's antagonist in GoldenEye (1995). He also played supporting roles in John Frankenheimer’s Ronin (1998) and the psychological thriller Don't Say a Word (2001).

But it wasn’t until his tragic role as Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) that Bean became a favorite among audiences. He was Odysseus in the mythological epic Troy (2004), the villainous treasure hunter Ian Howe in National Treasure (2004), and Zeus in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) before signing on to play Ned Stark.

After his Game of Thrones stint prematurely ended, Bean reunited with costar Kit Harington in the video game adaptation Silent Hill: Revelation (2012). He also had the leading role in the TNT spy series Legends (2014–2015). He racked up more science-fiction credits with supporting turns in the Wachowskis’ space opera Jupiter Ascending (2015) and the Matt Damon-led movie The Martian (2015). He’s been a ubiquitous presence on British TV in the years since, including the small-screen version of Snowpiercer (2020–present) in a vital role first played by Ed Harris in the original film.

Bean has been married five times and has three children: Molly, Lorna, and Evie. He is currently married to Ashley Moore, whom he wed in 2017.

Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell)

Natalie Dormer played Margaery Tyrell, who schemes her way into several complicated marriages as she tries to become Queen.

Before her run on Game of Thrones, Dormer's biggest role was Anne Boleyn in the first two seasons of the Showtime historical drama The Tudors (2017–2010). She also booked a small MCU role in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

As her prominence on Thrones rose, Dormer had a recurring role as Irene Adler on CBS’ Elementary (2013–2015), appeared in the Chris Hemsworth-led racing drama Rush (2013), and Ridley Scott’s star-studded film The Counselor (2013). The Hunger Games franchise came calling for the final two installments, after which Dormer headlined the miniseries remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) and the revival series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020).

Dormer has been linked to actor David Oakes since 2018. The couple had a daughter in 2021 and entered a civil partnership in 2023.

Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger)

Aiden Gillen played Littlefinger, a skilled manipulator who changes sides easily in his efforts to remain close to power — until his crimes finally catch up to him.

Many know Gillen from his portrayal of cocky heartbreaker Stuart Jones in the original British version of Queer as Folk (1999–2000). Crossing the pond to Broadway, he earned a Tony nomination in 2004 for his role in Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker — where producers spotted and cast him as ambitious politician Tommy Carcetti in The Wire (2004–2008).

His first role in a Hollywood film was a bit part in the opening plane-heist sequence of The Dark Knight Rises (2012). He joined the Maze Runner franchise for both The Scorch Trials (2015) and The Death Cure (2018). His other big-screen roles over the years include the coming-of-age musical Sing Street (2016), Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), and the Angelina Jolie smokejumper thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021).

Gillen played hitman Aberama Gold in the BBC crime drama series Peaky Blinders (2017–2019) and Queen's manager John Reid in the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). He headlined the History Channel series Project Blue Book (2019–2020) as the head of the Air Force's UFO investigation team. Recently, he played author James Joyce in Dance First (2023), a biographical film about Irish playwright Samuel Beckett.

Gillen was married to Olivia O'Flanagan from 2001 to 2005. They have two children, Berry and Joe.

John Bradley (Samwell Tarly)

John Bradley played Jon Snow’s loyal friend Sam, who accidentally discovers dragonglass, rescues Gilly from her incestuous father, and winds up as King Bran’s Grand Maester in the series finale.

Bradley was fresh out of drama school when he booked Game of Thrones, and he remained with the show for all eight seasons. Once the series ended, he appeared in the Roland Emmerich disaster film Moonfall (2022) and the Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson rom-com Marry Me (2022).

Most recently, Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss recruited Bradley for another big-budget literary adaptation, 3 Body Problem (2024–present), which will keep the actor busy for at least two more seasons.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.