Emmerdale star Shaun Thomas has landed himself a role in HBO’s big new Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, eight years on from his last appearance in the ITV soap, and he looks worlds away from his character of Gerry Roberts. The character was introduced in 2017 as Lachlan White’s cellmate in the young offenders institute.
He later turned up in the village, where Lachlan begrudgingly gave him a place to stay. But the villain ended up killing him by hitting him over the head with a rock, and his final scenes aired in May 2018.
Now, he’s starring in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms as Ser Raymun Fossoway, also known as Raymun the Reluctant.
The series stars Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell as Dunk, aka Ser Duncan the Tall, and his loyal squire, ‘Egg’; with the duo embarking on an adventure through the Seven Kingdoms.
Obviously Thomas has traded the modern-day casual clothes that Gerry used to wear for some armour and a different haircut, but the actor is also looking a bit trimmer nowadays.
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For his role as Gerry, Thomas actually won the Best Soap Newcomer prize at the Digital Spy Reader Awards, and he spoke about the evolving response to his character with us in his first-ever interview.
“When I first started playing Gerry, I felt like he was disliked quite a lot,” he said. “I think people struggled to understand him as a person, plus I think he was judged for being a convict and instantly that made people not want to like him.
“But now over time, I think people have grown to love him because deep down he has a heart and couldn’t harm a fly. He just thinks he’s tough!”
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The character’s death was quite controversial, garnering 116 complaints from viewers and being labelled as a “big mistake” by our soap editor Daniel Kilkelly.
Still, Thomas is doing pretty well for himself nowadays.
Meanwhile, there’s good news for viewers of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, as the next episode will release early this week to avoid clashing with Super Bowl Sunday.
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX and YouTube. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres new episodes at 3am on Mondays on Sky Atlantic, before being shown at 9pm the same day. The show can also be streamed on NOW.
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage
For exclusive soap star interviews, gossip, spoilers and theories every week, don’t miss the Soap Scoop podcast from Inside Soap magazine. The latest episode delves into next week’s soap spoilers, from Robert’s feud with Joe in Emmerdale, to Carl’s dangerous new plan in Coronation Street.