The actor who plays Daenerys’ right-hand man Jorah Mormont reflects on the battle’s outcome, and watching an 11-week night shoot come together in the midst of his own personal trials.

HBO: What was your initial reaction to seeing how the final season unfolds?

Iain Glen: On the whole, I thought [creators] Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] had really excelled in shaping the final endgame. It was always a concern with Game of Thrones how many different storylines and worlds can be sustained through the course of a season, and that became less of a problem with these later seasons because we were all beginning to overlap. But then it became an issue of giving everyone a proper sendoff and journey that meets audiences’ hopes and expectations. When I first read it I went through a real range of emotions.

One thing I think all actors do, when you first get the scripts, you flick to the first page of each one where they list who is in the episode. I saw Episode 1, Episode 2, absolutely, Episode 3, yep there I am it’s all good… and then oh no, chances are I’ve copped it, I’m a goner. So that filled me with a great sense of loss. But I tried to remain patient, and over the course of reading the episodes, it felt right. I felt at peace with it. Because in some ways Jorah has been offering himself, his life, to Daenerys for six or seven seasons. So there was a completeness to it. And also, it was an ending, instead of having that sense of, “Oh I wonder what happens to these people going forward.” Having a beginning, middle and end, it satiates. And the way it was described on the page was very moving and affecting.

HBO: Jorah has always been one of Dany’s most trusted advisors, and he gives her two suggestions early in this season: to forgive Tyrion and make friends with Sansa. Why do these feel important?

Iain Glen: Whatever you say about Jorah, one of his good qualities was that Dany’s best interests were always paramount; in many ways he put that ahead of any self-fulfillment. Jorah realizes that people do need to compromise and come together. He’s very persuaded that Tyrion has Dany’s best interest at heart. He trusts him. With Sansa, he’s trying to encourage a unified front and stop any instinct Dany might have to separate herself. He feels quite strongly that’s not the way to win the war.

HBO: We finally got to see Jorah have a scene with another Mormont in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” What was it like working with Bella Ramsey?

Iain Glen: It was a lovely scene to do, she’s such a fine wee actress. One of the delicious things about Thrones, is that these characters who may be connected by lineage or family have been kept lands apart — and it takes eight seasons for people to come together. In the show I never interacted my father [Jeor Mormont] so it was lovely to interact with someone from the same house. She’s a very fiery character. It was funny, and there’s an edge of humor to it; you realize she’s not going to be moved or affected by whatever Jorah says to her, she’s going to be pursuing her path, which is a quality Jorah has too, but he can’t recognize in himself.