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“Winter is coming,” is a quote burned in many of our brains from one of the most talked-about shows on TV right now. There isn’t much that beats out the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, and the cast that belongs to it is always making headlines as well. The show takes place in a different world and a different time. Though many of the themes and characters can be a bit relatable at times, it still feels like you’re entering a different world when Game of Thrones comes on.

That’s why seeing the cast when they’re not on the TV can be so strange. Some of them are knights, others are queens and kings. Some are simple members of the Night’s Watch, and one is a khaleesi. When they’re not shooting the next season, they’re all just actors and actresses trying to navigate through the same world all the fans of the show are actually living in.

The costumes and makeup, hair design and effort that goes into each and every look on the show are museum-worthy. The cast and crew don’t have that same staff following them around in the real-world, so if they weren’t being followed by a massive swarm of paparazzi and fans, you might never know that they’re the leader of King's Landing or that they're the Mother of Dragons. It can be pretty startling to see what the cast is like when the cameras stop rolling, and we gathered 15 must-see pictures for you today.

Remember When Khaleesi Dated Seth MacFarlane?

Emilia Clarke plays a character that isn’t always easy to win over when it comes to romantic pursuers. That’s why it's always strange to remember that one time she dated Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. He’s known for being someone that’s a little bit ruder and more willing to be comical in the industry, so getting paired up with a Khaleesi was odd. They have since split, and Emilia hasn’t revealed much about their relationship, other than stating dating in the public eye isn’t easy. She said, “Well, a con is you have strangers giving you love-life advice like, 'I'm a big fan of the show, and I'm not sure what you're doing with that guy,' which I didn't react well to. That happened in New York when Seth and I were together. This guy started to give me advice: 'Can I get a selfie? And by the way…' Unh-unh, bro." She has gone on to state that relationships aren’t her priority, saying the people she relies on is “[her] family."

"My drama school friends — some of them aren't acting anymore. The gorgeous thing about having friends who aren't in the entertainment world is they're like, 'You're letting important moments pass you by. Don't be cool about it.'

Like, we're at a Hollywood party, whatever. Stop. Appreciate this.”

The Queen Pumping Her Own Gas

One of the perks of being royalty would have to be all the staff around always willing to help out and aide in normal tasks. Meghan Markle even has someone to collect the many gifts she receives from fans when making appearances! Even though Lena Headey plays Queen Cersei on Game of Thrones, she doesn’t act too royal outside of shooting. She was caught here pumping her own gas! Stars, they’re just like us. Someone doing their own chores isn’t a big deal, but it’s still odd to see someone we know as so grand doing an everyday task we all have to endure. It’s surprising she hasn’t been scared off from the public receiving hate for her character. She has always stood up for Cersei, however, stating,

“I’ve always really fought for her, especially early on, because she had seemed just to be a self-serving manipulator.

As we’ve grown to know her a bit more, we see that she’s a woman surviving in a really s–tty world desperate to be heard, saying something seven times when a man says it once. I get people saying what a great performance, and that’s obviously a very nice thing to hear. But it’s changed a little bit because at the beginning, people were like [in an American accent], 'Oh my God, you’re such a b--!' What’s moving is that people love her now and want to be on her team.

Brienne Of Tarth Is Way Too Cool For Us

Brienne of Tarth is one of the coolest characters on Game of Thrones, and when she’s not in full armor, she’s in a full outfit of style as Gwendoline Christie on the street. Here she’s pictured with her boyfriend, an equally suave partner. Not only is she cool because of her character and style, but Gwendoline is also passionate about sticking up for the inequality in Hollywood.

"Being a film fan since I can remember, I remember thinking, probably around the age of 7 or 8, ‘This is boring. I want to be an actress but these parts are so often boring. Why is the woman just the girlfriend? Why is she just the mother? Why does she have minimal dialogue?

Why is the emphasis on her body? Why does she have to have so few clothes on?’ And, I think it’s no secret, of course, that the world has been formed from a patriarchal society. Whilst that is how it’s existed, I would like to see something else, and I think that it isn’t just about women. This is about men — this is about human beings. We want to see new stories. And it’s only, in my opinion, through seeing the differences that we can see the similarities in each other.”

They Love Trolling The Paparazzi 

Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas are a new couple dating that we would never have expected would end up together. Sophie was very private about their relationship, not confirming much until posting a photograph of their hands with a fresh engagement ring on Instagram, letting her followers known she “said yes.” When it comes to dating in the public’s eye, Sophie has said,

“You do feel like you’re living in a fishbowl. It’s frustrating [that] it’s the most mundane things that make the news — how boring!”

When it comes to fans taking pictures of her without her permission, she states, “I find it really rude, and I will be rude back. It’s such an invasion of privacy. I could be out with my mum on her birthday and I will ask them to delete it. I would much rather them come up and ask for a photo. I will probably be fine with it, unless I look like s—t!”

Jon Snow, What Are You Wearing?

It’s always such a pleasure to see when onscreen romance blossoms into one off-screen as well. Kit and Rose were caught out in public together in matching bright and bold outfits. In the series, we only saw them in winter gear as Jon and Ygritte tried to navigate life past the wall. When it comes to their street style, they like to make some wild choices. The two were clearly made for each other, and Kit explained his proposal to his costar, stating,

“I did have some plans to do it, I was going to string up some lights in some trees and do all the romantic stuff, but we were in the country and we were under this beautiful night sky and had a log fire burning and red wine and I blew my load early.”

On their relationship, Rose Leslie stated, “it was always such a privilege to be working opposite him and such a blessing that we get on in real life because it made our characters more believable. If you’re already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest in the show, it becomes very easy to fall in love.”

Tyrion Doesn't Have Time To Walk

Peter Dinklage is someone who could get anywhere however he wanted. He could afford a public transportation ticket and pay for a cab or uber is probably a breeze. Instead, he decides to ride in style on a scooter. This image became a popular meme, with Dinklage looking too cool for words on his scooter. Hopefully, we’ll see more of him running around the city on random transportation methods once the show ends. On the finale of the series, he stated,

“It’s bittersweet, it’s always time to move on with everything. It’s a sad part of our business, we get pockets of great people for a short amount of time and then you have to move on. It’s always heartbreaking, especially when you’ve spent more than a couple months with people.

But yeah, it’s time. And story-wise, not just for all our lives. It’s the perfect timing to end it.”

What's So Funny About The Dothraki? 

Filming one of the hottest shows on TV doesn’t seem like it would be a very easy process. Kit Harington has a pretty tough role as the important and powerful Jon Snow. Kit has stated that he likes filming, saying, “I love it. You're usually in the back end of nowhere. The whole crew and cast is in one hotel. There's no bar down the road you can go to; there's no restaurant. You stop at four in the afternoon when it gets dark, and you have the whole evening to kill.

That sounds claustrophobic and dull, but it's wondrous because you're with this family. Everyone comes out of their shell because they can't sit in front of their screens. You have to talk. People bring out board games, instruments.”

You can clearly see that they have a great time shooting, and Kit isn’t afraid to let a little loose and joke around. Jon would never be that careless with the Dothraki weapon, but he is having fun with the prop during some downtime on set.

That One Time Arya Chilled With The Stranger Things Cast

It’s fun to see characters from the show hanging out with each other in real life. It’s even better when we see cast members from different shows hanging out with each other! Fans went wild after spotting cast members from Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things hanging out with Maisie Williams and her squad. She was just a little girl when she started the show, so it’s strange, no pun intended, to see her hanging outside a bar and partying with other teen actors! Maisie has stated she’s actually pretty excited for the show to end, even though many cast members and just plain GoT fans, in general, are devastated! She said,

“I’m really excited for Game of Thrones to finish and there's going to be time for me to do whatever I want.

It will be nice to pick roles that I want to do . . . I can show the world what sort of actress I want to be and shape my career a little bit."

Cersei Has To Stay Fit

It’d be pretty strange to see Queen Cersei working out in the show, but Lena Heady is no stranger to being seen walking around while carrying a yoga mat. When it comes to her personal life, she states,

“I’m a tomboy. I’m so very physical — though I’m a lazy bugger too, mind you. But to have the chance to work out and learn how to fight with people who know what they’re doing, that’s a very nice thing.

Fight training is a physical expression. Being still is a challenge for me. Being stoic is a challenge for me. So being physical like that is right up my street, as the Brits say. There’s an element of catharsis to it all, as well, doing things you couldn’t really get away with in real life”

Cersei isn’t seen doing too many physical stunts or tricks in the show, but Lena Headey looks for physically challenging roles when she’s not playing the HBIC of King’s Landing. Seeing people walk around in active gear is common, but it feels strange when it’s one of the GoT members.

Tyrion Has A Happy Family In Real Life

Tyrion has been through a lot on his run on the HBO series, and though he almost seemed to have it all at one-point (spoiler alert) he didn’t. Pictures of him with his family like this definitely give us hope for his character. Peter Dinklage still stands up for his character’s life in interviews, stating,

“I think Tyrion can be the most relatable to the modern sensibility because he’s not a hero and not a villain. He has a sense of humor even in the worst of times.”

That is very true. An indulgent character like Tyrion is someone that we can definitely relate to. There are certain differences, but even though he has his flaws, Tyrion is still one of our favorite heroes on the show. Off-screen or on screen, we just want his happiness, and we’re happy to see that Mr. Dinklage has the real deal.

Jon Needs A Break

Kit is a bit worried that he might have trouble working after the show, but it’s clear that he’s working incredibly hard on the role he currently has. On working after the show, he stated,

"Thrones nicely bookended my twenties, but I'm thirty now. Maybe I can reinvent myself and get away from an image that's so synonymous with Thrones, but maybe this was the role I was always meant to play and that was it."

He’ll clearly have plenty of wealth from his time on the HBO series that work won’t be a requirement the rest of his life. However, it might get hard hearing the constant begging for him to recite some sort of catchphrase from the show. He stated that once it all ends, “I’ll enjoy the madness quieting a bit. I’d like a few years of relative obscurity.” We don’t blame him one bit for wanting some privacy after seeing all the lenses always pointed directly at him.

She Can Relate To Cersei 

Once again, it feels a bit strange to see our Queen Cersei out of costume and just hanging out on the street with her child. Being a mother is something she does behind the camera, but certainly not as well as she does in real life. While she was filming Game of Thrones in the first year, she actually suffered from post-partum depression, stating, “I saw a doctor for the medical check, and I just burst into tears. She said I was postnatally depressed and I went, ‘Am I? Why is that?’ I saw a great guy and he sorted me out, but I did the first year [on ′Game of Thrones’] in that space, figuring out motherhood and going through a weird time personally. It was tricky.” She’s doing better now and proves she’s much more fit for motherhood than the role she plays in Game of Thrones. She says,

“What I want for my children is for them to be kind and conscious and happy and that’s it, really. I don’t want them to think, ‘You have to achieve that in order to have that,’ because that’s not true anymore.

And I want my daughter to have a good voice and to use it, to not feel restricted by being a woman in any way, to make her choices freely.”

Sansa Stark Has A Low Tolerance For The Paps

As we’ve already seen, this couple seems like they really love to troll the paparazzi. Sofie has made it clear that she doesn’t like dating in the public’s eye and often feels like she’s living in a fishbowl. Being in a hot tub with someone you love can be an intimate moment, so it’s not surprising that they weren’t the happiest when they realized fans were taking pictures while they were enjoying a soak. Imagine relaxing in a private jacuzzi, feeling the warm water and bubbles, chatting with your love, only to hear the click of a camera and hear someone you don’t know call your name. We certainly don’t blame the two for showing the cameras the bird. Sophie is at least grateful she’s dating someone who understands what it’s like to live in the limelight, stating,

“I found it easier to date someone who understands the industry or is in that world. You realize that you’re not going to see each other all the time.

And you don’t feel like a jerk when you’re like, ‘My publicist says I can’t do this…'”

All Those Crew Members Are Always There

It’s crazy to think about how many people are around when filming the show. There are so many intimate and personal scenes between the chaotic fight and war scenes on the show. Each and every one of those scenes, however, usually have a massive crew behind the scenes. It’s such an epic show that it’s no surprise there are so many people involved. At the beginning of the show, David Benioff has stated it should feel like a movie. He said,

"From the beginning, we've wanted to tell a 70-hour movie. It will turn out to be a 73-hour movie, but it's stayed relatively the same as having the beginning, middle, and now we're coming to the end. It would have been really tough if we lost any core cast members along the way — I'm very happy we've kept everyone and we get to finish it the way we want to."

It might not be the last of the massive crews, as rumors of spin-offs are always circulating. On that, Benioff stated, "The characters who maybe will survive, there's always going to be this temptation to keep doing it. To do the spinoff show or do the sequel show and everything. I think HBO might well do [another series] and I look forward to watching it and I think it would be great, but I think they should get new blood in."

They're Friends In Real Life!

It’s always fun to see your favorite cast members hanging out when the show isn’t on, and that’s true for Emilia Clarke and Nathalie Emmanuel. She has stated in an interview that Clarke was very supportive in times she was afraid on the show, including her nude scene. “I was quite nervous, so [Emilia] was really supportive and reassured me. I’m comfortable with my own nudity, but we all have body hang-ups and I’m no exception to that. Sometimes I want to cry when I’m in a bikini! But I often try to do things I’m afraid of because it takes away the fear. They’re just boobs — we see them every day.

I felt really empowered and was really proud when I watched it. I was pleased that I did it and thought it was a beautiful scene.

It felt very Adam-and-Eve-like, and it wasn’t about the nudity. There’s a real prudishness when it comes to nudity, but our bodies aren’t something to be ashamed of. There’s nothing indecent or bad about it. But just because I’ve done nudity on GoT doesn’t mean I’ll do it for every job."

Sources: E Online, Wikipedia, People, Time, Huffington Post