Entertainment

Tormund Gets Super Weird On The 'Game of Thrones' Set & Gwendoline Christie Can't Handle It

by S. Atkinson
Helen Sloan/HBO

While appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Gwendoline Christie talked about a certain co-worker's unsettling habit of staying entirely in character on set, whether or not the cameras were running. Which means that Tormund Giantsbane flirts with Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones basically 24/7 — and it's as weird as you might imagine. The result? Him eating a sandwich in an unsettlingly erotic way and refusing to break eye contact with the blonde mid-chew (which beyond being an arresting image, also sounds like a failsafe recipe for indigestion).

The obvious rebuttal to this is that the actor is just intensely committed to his job. After all, method acting is one of the tricks of the trade employed by everyone from actor Daniel Day-Lewis to Kate Winslet. But when you listen to Christie's take on things, it sounds... well, a trifle more caliente than the usual losing half your body weight activity often associated with method acting.

For one thing, the setting the actor cites sounds more than a little romantic. She talks about him oozing eroticism all over his sandwich when they're in a "dark tent with a gas heater burning away" when he starts "masticating wildly" at her. If that sounds filthy to you, you're not alone.

And when the TV presenter asked whether she ever finds herself laughing in response, the 38-year-old reminds him that she's a "classically trained actress" but concedes "this is possibly the one time I dissolve, without fail." Sure, this isn't exactly world-shattering evidence that the blonde reciprocates any feels from Tormund on camera. But, on the other hand, who doesn't get giggly around their crush? Even strapping warriors, apparently.

And while Christie argues that this is simply because the script was skimpy in details about the crush and simply outlines the Wildling giving her a look that she didn't see it coming, the more optimistic of those 'shipping Tormund and Brienne might read between the lines. This dedication to their roles could mean big things for the couple on-screen. After all, at least in theory, if the team behind the show see that the actors are having fun with the fictional flirtation, they’d be more inspired to flesh it out (if they needed any further motivation to take it further, since Twitter has definitely been getting overheated at the possibility of a Tormund/Brienne hook up).

It also gives viewers all the more reason to root for the fictional characters. It’s exciting to hear that the easy, natural chemistry we’ve witnessed onscreen is fueled by fun and jokes off screen. If you needed more prompting to cross your fingers for them reaching the baby making stage and realizing Tormund’s dream of them getting together and producing “great big monsters [who would] conquer the world,” this could be it.