Aidan Gillen talks Littlefinger's return to "Game of Thrones"
Aidan Gillen knows that Littlefinger has a lot of explaining to do.
If the previews for Sunday's new episode of "Game of Thrones" are any indication, fans will finally get to catch up with Gillen's character, Littlefinger -- or Petyr Baelish -- who has been out of sight since last season when he returned to King's Landing after leaving Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) in the clutches of the psychotic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon).
And if fans are troubled by that last move, don't worry. So is Gillen.
"For me, this time out there's a level of atonement in relation to Sansa and my misjudgment of Ramsay Bolton," he told Entertainment Weekly. "A lot of what I'm up to is atonement and really trying to align myself [with] the right people -- though, I guess, I'm always doing that. I left Sansa married to a psychopath. It's probably the one time we've seen Littlefinger slip up. He really didn't know about him. He should have."
Gillen hopes the new trajectory will help viewers see a softer side of the Machiavellian character that he's always embraced -- though he's clearly been in the minority on that count.
"In a way, this shows a new side of him -- a faltering -- and I do want to make amends," he explained. "I like Sansa, you know? So I'm trying to find something humane and gentle and maybe even warm in the midst of my treachery and calculation -- which is pathological. That stuff is so much part of Littlefinger I barely notice it. I'm always talking to people about his 'paternal warmth' and they're like, 'What are you talking about?' But you can only do what's on the page."