Peter Dinklage ended up being the absolutely worthy winner of Game of Thrones’ only acting Emmy so far in the series’ run. From the beginning of this season, it looked like his storyline was going to put him in line for yet another Emmy, but it wasn’t until this week’s episode that this hunch came to fruition.
The episode “The Laws of Gods and Men” found Tyrion at his absolute lowest, which for Dinklage is a high point. While on trial for murder Dinklage gets to perform his usual one-liners and quips, but it’s the end of the episode that could bring him gold.
In season one the actor won for the episode “Baelor.” He was able to make up lack of screen time and absence from the first half of the episode with a drunken emotional speech about a whore that his father and brother paid to sleep with him. It is a known fact that Emmy voters love speeches. Last year’s Emmy winners Anna Gun and Jeff Daniels can attribute their wins to emotional speeches in their submissions.
Dinklage was fortunate to receive yet another speech, but this time even bigger in scope. He essentially took a lifetime of hate, for his father, for his sister, for the people of King’s landing, and regurgitated it in an anger filled emotional speech, complete with gasps, yells, and dramatic close-ups. Will it be enough to win him his second Emmy?
It could be. Game of Thrones is at the top of its popularity and acclaim and its success at the Emmys thus far doesn’t hurt. However, Dinklage has one thing in his way: Aaron Paul.
Paul is already one of the few actors to win twice in this category. He has also has a watershed submission that could rival Dinklage’s speech. What Dinklage does have above Paul is time. By the time Emmy voting starts, Breaking Bad will have been off for nearly a year, so Dinklage will of Thrones’ fresh buzz.
As of now I am predicting Aaron Paul, but I think the next few months are going to see a lot switching in this category.
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Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.