Curtain Call: David Bradley 

The man responsible for the heinous Red Wedding and potential winner of Westeros’ Most Creepy Character Award for several years running finally learned that revenge is a dish best served in the form of a pie. Frey Pie.

characters that everyone loved to hate, thanks to a stunningly creepy performance from veteran actor David Bradley.  While his onscreen death was certainly satisfying, it’s a shame to have to say goodbye to one of the show’s most enduring guest stars.

From his first appearance in season one he initially seemed more of a grumpy inconvenience than a Big Bad, forcing a series of marriage alliances on the Stark family as recompense for the loyalty of House Frey. It was of course one of these alliances that would come back and bite Robb on the bum however, when he chose to marry Talisa instead of one of Walder Frey’s offspring.

Walder is (rightfully) a little peeved by this, but instead of just accepting Edmure Tully into the family instead, he breaks one of Westeros’ most standing customs, that of Guest Right.

It was Walder Frey that instigated what might be

‘ most famous scene, the gory and brutal Red Wedding.  David Bradley is superb at playing the nasty card, and as Catelyn, Robb, Talisa and Unborn-Baby-Ned are slaughtered he sits there laughing. Truly heinous. Not only is Walder Frey prepared to risk the wrath of the Gods by slaughtering those he’s invited into his home, he doesn’t care who gets caught in the cross-fire, even if they’re members of his own family. One of my favourite moments from this episode is this dialogue between him and Catelyn, which definitely shows him at his most heartless:

You already swore me one oath, right here in my castle. You swore by all the gods that your son would marry my daughter!

Catelyn Stark: Take me for your hostage! But let Robb go! Robb get up, get up and walk out! Please! PLEASE!

Catelyn Stark: On my honor as a Tully, On my honor as a Stark! Let him go, or I will cut your wife’s throat!

(Full disclosure though, I was hoping for Jinglebell Frey.  But a Geoffery can’t have everything)

Walder only makes a single Season Three appearance after this, gloating over his victory with Roose Bolton.  In fact, before I checked back I was convinced that Walder Frey had appeared in more than three episodes before Season Six, but nope.  Such is the strength of David Bradley’s hideous portrayal.  It would be another couple of seasons before the old Lord was to be seen again, and one of the re-appearances I was most excited about because frankly we were overdue a bit of Red Wedding closure.  Maybe even a little satisfying revenge.

In the season finale I had two of my show wishes come true: Red Wedding comeuppance and a slice of delicious Frey Pie. It’s always awesome to have something that’s still a theory in the books confirmed as canon onscreen.  So much so at the moment I saw the pie I made a kind of weird screaming noise and made my boyfriend pause the show for a second so I could do a victory dance round the room.  Fact. (Actually my victory dance was more for the House Manderly reference than anything else, but Frey Pie is still Frey Pie, regardless of who serves it).  Arya crossed another name off her list and I rejoiced as the Late Lord Tully finally lived up to his name.

That said, I will miss David Bradley onscreen, he’s a marvelous actor who really seemed to relish such a grotesque role.  As well as extensive theatre work, he is well known for his turn as the almost equally grotty Argus Filch in the

film series, and a tear-jerking turn as William Hartnell in Mark Gatiss’ 

An Adventure in Space and Time.  Also one of his earliest roles was as a goalie in an ITV Play of the Day.  Now don’t tell me you don’t want to see a young Walder Frey (with 70’s mutton-chops) playing football.

as Abraham Setrakian and this year will appear in the films

Walder Frey’s death might have been a satisfying one, but David Bradley’s vilifying presence on the show will certainly be missed!

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Truly one of my favorite Thrones supporting performances. He made villainy so much fun. And I’ll never get over his resemblance to Willie Nelson.

You will be missed David, great actor on a great show, you will be missed but you had it coming

David Bradley did such a fantastic job in what could have been a pantomime role. Only 5 appearances, but he made them count.

I’m so glad that David has had a few magnificent roles recently (and currently), because he is a marvellous actor, and deserves all the success he is now getting.

Truly one of the elite in his craft Will be missing him on GoT, but at the same time such a satisfying end of an arc.

Some excellent actors in dreadful people’s shoes this year getting it good. It’s good to see High Sparrow, Walder Frey, and Roose and Ramsay Bolton all gone, but their actors and performances will be missed. Though I’d have liked for them to have had Doran and Areo kill Allaria Sand, rather than the other way around. I’d have liked a better arc for Siddig.

He’s one of the actors who most totally embodied a role from the novels.

I do hope to see Walder Frey again some day, in the Dunk and Egg prequel, but it won’t be the same great actor.

It is funny when you look back at how few times he was actually on the show because he is so incredibly memorable and dominant as a villain. An amazing actor, perfectly cast, just delightfully disgusting and nasty. David Bradley is the best.

Such a distinguished actor for this critical role – another case of excellent casting. Adios Walder (& David) – will miss your evilness.

David Bradley…..wow. From recent roles in The Strain to the heartbreaking character in Season 1 of Broadchurch, to that ol rotter Walder, I love the guy. Chaos without getting his own hands dirty.

I really loved Walder’s exchange with the clearly uncomfortable Jaime in episode 10 (how many battles have YOU been in?). And Arya’s promise kept. Killed as Catelyn was killed.

Thanks David Bradley! Your Lord-Always-Eating was perfect.

Such a great actor for a horrible character though … I was so pleased with his death. I never expected we would have Frey pies and it was perfect.

Perfect casting, one of the best performances along with Charles Dance and Diana Rigg. He was truly excellent. Wish him all the best.

Nobody could have possibly been a better Walder Frey. Phenomenal villain, and for a character who was only in 5 episodes in the whole series, he definitely made his mark on the show. I personally didn’t like the way he went out (Arya sneaking into the Twins and somehow baking his sons into the pie was utter nonsense to me), but aside from that, everything was perfect.

You guys have enough of these to keep you busy until next season. 😉

I thought his death was a bit too fanservice-y, but Bradley was a perfect Walder Frey every time he showed up on screen, all the way back to griping at Catelyn in season 1. And of course he gave the Red Wedding its most memorable villain:

“You already swore me one oath, right here in this castle. You swore by all the gods that your son would marry my DAUGHTER!!”

And I will miss David Bradley just as much as I miss Charles Dance and Jack Gleeson. Such an awesome job by all three.

All the veteran actors seem to really kick ass on this show.

Fantastic character and perfectly played by David Bradley. I will never forget that lecherous smile he has on his face at the Red Wedding or the “sword for a tighter sheath” dialogue about Talissa….So awesome. Glad to see the character die but bummed to see such a fantastic actor leave the show. Another one I wouldn’t mind Lady Mellisandre can resurrect next season (since she is heading that way)…A man can certainly hope…

Same here. Charles Dance and David Bradley were what casting looks like when it is done perfectly. Hats off to showrunners and Nina Gold, the true genius

David Bradley…..wow. From recent roles in The Strain to the heartbreaking character in Season 1 of Broadchurch, to that ol rotter Walder, I love the guy. Chaos without getting his own hands dirty.

Yeah, his work in Broadchurch was really beautiful. And was both playing to and against type.

It simply amazes me that I could have enjoyed such a despicable character. He was horrible. He was ruthless. He wasn’t nice to anyone. But, I loved Walder Frey. That is all thanks to David Bradley. Well played, sir. One of my all-time favorite show moments was the see-what-you’re-missing look he gave Robb as his beautiful daughter, Roslin, walked in to marry Edmure. Death-by-Arya was a perfect ending for his role, but I will miss the late Walder Frey.

He’s one of the actors who most totally embodied a role from the novels

So agree with this! He fit my image of him, this crusty dirty old man who hands out insults the way others hand out candy. Hated the character of course, but Bradley played it to a T. Also felt like he was having lots of fun doing it too! Thanks David for being so very entertaining and dispicable at the same time.

He was awarded a Laurence Olivier Award in 1991 for his supporting role as the Fool in King Lear at the Royal National Theatre.

Oh another role I would have given my eye teeth to have seen : He played Cohen the Barbarian in a Sky One adaptation of The Colour of Magic in 2008.

Watching Broadchurch with Harry Potter friends, they were like, “Why do you keep calling Filch ‘Lord Frey’?” While David has always been the perfect Jack and Argus, he’ll always be Walder to me. Thank you, David, for becoming one of the world’s best villains.

So long to the Late Lord Walder Frey. An excellent performance by Mr. Bradley!

Yep, Walder Frey (aka David Bradley) was great. He played the part so well.

(Geoffrey’s boyfriend pausing the episode, so she can do the victory dance)

The best Walder we could have asked for! Hats off to you, David (and thank you to Nina Gold).

Speaking of The Strain, it finally comes back in August!

He will definitely be missed by me, as evil as Wilder was. David Bradley was fantastic! He even made me laugh a few times. I’m also glad we finally got to hear House Frey’s words: “We Stand Together”. George always said they had words, and we just hadn’t heard/read them yet. That was a fun surprise too, on top of Frey Pies and some awesome throat slitting 🙂

Dragon Tender: Yeah, his work in Broadchurch was really beautiful.And was both playing to and against type.

Yayyyyy!!!!! I really love Guillermo del Toro, he makes some of my favourite movies (and even Nicolaj was in one of them – ‘Mama’), and The Strain is a great show.

Love David Bradley’s work. You’ll be missed, but if you don’t watch The Strain, I’d check it out just for him.

Now, this was absolutely PERFECT casting. I could not imagine a better Walder Frey than David Bradley. His voice and facial mannerisms really brought out Frey’s sadistic, lecherous, and just generally despicable personality.

Of course, the Red Wedding itself was a memorable and heartbreaking event on its own, and was the event that really solidified Walder in our minds as a horrible villain, but without David’s brilliant performance, I doubt we would have loved to hate him quite as much as we all did.

Before this, I knew David only as Argus Filch from Harry Potter. It’s a testament to his performance, and the strength of the character, that, with just a few scenes, I have now come to identify him more as Walder Frey than as Filch.

David Bradley is a brilliant actor (and from what I’ve seen of his interviews, a very warm and genuine human being), and I thank him greatly for this performance.

I hated Walder Frey. The most loathsome, slimy, repulsive, evil man and David Bradley’s portrayal was faultless! One of the characters whose scenes I enjoyed the most which is testament to how talented David is. Perfect casting! Bravo 👏👏👏

Walder Frey is one of the few characters GRRM has created who is quite simply a villain with no redeeming features whatsoever, and his power derives purely in the strategic position of the Twins (plus his virility in producing heirs and bastards!). That said in his own eyes his actions are completely justified and David Bradley captured not only the outright unlikable nature of the character but his overweening self -confidence that he is untouchable and in the right.

David Bradley does have a great knack of playing creepy old guys and has a long, distinguished career in acting. Another excellent casting and although Walder Frey will not be missed, David will!

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