Game of Thrones star Raleigh Ritchie: ‘I’m going to be getting withdrawals when the show ends’

The actor and musician, who plays Grey Worm in the hit fantasy show, says there is now a 'sense of an ending' 
End of an era: Raleigh Ritchie says it's finally sinking in that Game of Thrones is coming to an end
HBO
Jennifer Ruby3 July 2017
The Weekender

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Game of Thrones star Raleigh Ritchie says it is finally sinking in that the show is coming to an end — as its millions of fans count the days before the penultimate series starts later this month.

The British actor and musician, 27, whose real name is Jacob Anderson, said he was preparing for “withdrawal” from the hit fantasy show when it airs its final series next year.

The cast were “really” starting to sense the end of an era, he said, telling the Standard: “From the last season really it’s felt like there’s more of a sense of an ending. I’m going to miss the show as a fan, I’m going to get withdrawals from it as a person who watches it.”

Ritchie, who plays warrior Grey Worm, said he was excited rather than nervous to watch the seventh series. “With Thrones I feel like as long as I’ve done my best then it’s all right and I’m just excited to see the stuff that I wasn’t a part of,” he said.

Ritchie, who moved to London from Bristol as a teenager, released his debut album, You’re A Man Now, Boy, last year and is back in the studio after collaborating with Stormzy in January.

“It’s been a lot harder, I’m definitely getting that difficult second album thing,” he said. “I thought that was a lie and a cliché but it’s really hard because you want to do something better than the last thing you did, but you don’t want to lose whatever made that thing good.”

Ritchie has slowly developed a more relaxed approach to his dual career. “When I first started putting music out I was obsessed with it, I thought it was going to be a big problem,” he said.

“I thought the show was going to undermine what I was trying to do with music and vice versa, but now I think I’m just happy to get to do things with my life that I enjoy.

"Ultimately it doesn’t matter, if people listen to my music because of the show and they like it then that’s still a nice thing. Recently more people have been more keen to chat to me about my music which is interesting and different.

“If people come for Grey Worm and they stay for Raleigh Ritchie then that’s fine. But I would never want to try and use the show to sell music.”

Ritchie will perform at the Belvedere Sunset Sessions at Sky Garden tomorrow. To book a table visit skygarden.london.

Game Of Thrones series seven begins on Monday, July 17 on Sky Atlantic.

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