Anyone who’s been keeping up with Game of Thrones knows the fierce pride, loyalty and strength of will that actress Gwendoline Christie has brought to her role as Brienne of Tarth. Now she’s branching out to, hopefully, bring some of those same qualities to another role in Top of the Lake.
A report from Variety says that Gwendoline Christie will be appearing on the upcoming second season of the BBC Two and Sundance TV drama Top of the Lake. The intense mystery show stars Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss as Detective Robin Griffin, a Sydney police officer who heads back to her hometown in a remote part of New Zealand to investigate the pregnancy and disappearance of a 12-year-old girl. The first season received mostly positive reviews, and the show was praised as being “masterfully made,” “riveting,” and “a masterpiece.”
Gwendoline Christie got her start as a model in 2002 when she caught the attention of a photographer and posed for a series of photographs from 2002 through 2008. During that time, she trained at the Drama Centre London, graduating in 2005. Her first notable roles were on the stage. Among other performances, she appeared in “Mirandolina,” “Cymbeline,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” and “Dr. Faustus.”
A short film called The Time Surgeon saw Gwendoline Christie make her film debut in 2007. She went on to nab roles in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Zero Theorem, Wizards vs. Aliens, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens as Captain Phasma, the series’ first female Stormtrooper. Christie is currently filming Swallows and Amazons and Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Gwendoline Christie is, of course, best known for her work on Game of Thrones, where she helps bring Brienne of Tarth to life for the show’s millions of fans. Brienne is a tough woman; taunted all of her life for being tall, strong and plain, she’s turned what would have been a life of woe-is-me tales for some other women, into a life filled with honorable duty and adventure. To prepare for the role, which Christie began playing in Season 2, she studied stage fighting, sword fighting and horsemanship. Christie’s performance as Brienne, which has been called an “eloquent and economical physical performance,” has seen her nominated for a 2014 Saturn Award and, along with her Game of Thrones cast mates, three consecutive SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama.
There’s no word yet on who Gwendoline Christie will play in Season 2 of Top of the Lake, and there has also been no word yet on what the main plot of the season will involve. All the information that’s been released so far is that this season will deal with the investigation of a new murder case and take place four years after the first season.
Well, there’s no doubt that any role in Top of the Lake that’s being played by Gwendoline Christie will be a joy to watch. You can catch her performance when the show returns to Sundance TV in late 2017.
