Breaking Bad was television’s “it” show before Game of Thrones: the show everyone who cared about television had to watch, and had to have an opinion on. In one sense, it’s the purest distillation of the anti-hero form

Bryan Cranston will tell you: no Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) no Walter White. Breaking Bad was the “it” show not just for the story BUT ALSO for the acting, and it was Gandolfini’s performance in The Sopranos that allowed Cranston to create Walter White in Breaking Bad. This is also true for The Wire: it’s a sad state of affairs that Andre Royo (Bubbles, in The Wire) isn’t generally considered, with Gandolfini and Cranston, among the greats for his work in The Wire.

With the possible exception of Peter Dinklage, nobody from Game of Thrones stands out for particularly stellar or consistent acting. This has nothing do do with their acting and everything to do with the general tossing and turning of plot on GOT.