Game of Thrones' John Bradley (aka Samwell Tarly) Developed a 'Stammer' After Playing the Role

John Bradley is well known for his work on all eight seasons of Game of Thrones in the role of Samwell Tarley. However, he’s now opening up about the effects of playing the role on his every day life.

“I got into this trap with Sam, I set myself traps, because he had a traumatic childhood and suffered a lot – and it manifested through a stammer and a twitch sometimes,” John said on The Blank Podcast. “There are takes of me where it felt like it would be five minutes where I am just standing with other the actors and I couldn’t speak and I just can’t get the words out and certain sounds would trip me up.”

He continued, “In one scene I came in first with Kit Harrington and in the nicest way he said to me ‘can you come in a bit quicker?’ so I can react a bit quicker and I was like “I can’t, I just can’t.”

“As lovely as the crew were, they assumed it was because I had forgotten my lines. It took me a while to get out of it and it went away over time,” John added. “Towards the end of that journey, that stammer would turn up in non-Sam acting and I’d do auditions when I’d stammer because it just seemed like the default place that I went to when I acted.”

John concluded, “I think people thought it was part of me but it wasn’t, but it was performance anxiety.”

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