Aidan Gillen, the actor who plays Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish on HBO's popular show Game of Thrones, spoke with the New York Times about his sly and calculating character. A warning: stop reading now if you aren't caught up with the latest episode and don't want to stumble on spoilers.
Throughout the interview, Gillen answered some fascinating questions about Littlefinger's motives, his ploy to divide the Stark sisters, people's distaste for his character on social media, and Littlefinger's end game. Baelish, though frequently underestimated, has been involved in some high level scheming, including the poisoning of Joffrey and the death of Ned Stark. Littlefinger's obsession with the Stark family goes all the way back to Catelyn Stark and her rejection of his romantic advances.
When asked why his character was so evil, Gillen responded, "It’s pathological. I’m not trying to play him as a complete villain, really, although he had his hand in many of the more treacherous acts or events we’ve seen over seven seasons. Most of them, in fact." Gillen had to say this about his character's newly-revealed plan to stir up bad blood between the Stark sisters, and what his ulterior motives for doing so are:
"There’s always something more to it when it involves the Starks, given his history with Catelyn Stark and that rejection, and that that’s what’s driving him. But I wouldn’t say the undermining of the Stark family has been a goal. It’s opportunistic. He couldn’t have foretold that Arya was going to show up again, and that Bran was going to show up again. He has played his part in the rise of the Starks, showing up last season with the Knights of the Vale, but he will also undermine it and exploit it. That’s what he’s doing—he’s trying to drive wedges between all of them."
The seventh season of Game of Thrones premiered on July 16. The season's sixth episode, "Death Is the Enemy," will be out on Sunday, August 20, while the season finale, which will be a whopping 82 minutes long, will air on August 27.