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Our Flag Means Death's Kristian Nairn partially credits drag persona Revvlon for his career - "She provided the safety and the confidence"

While promoting his memoir, Beyond the Throne, Kristian Nairn said his drag persona Revvlon was the key to getting "myself into my final form"

Features by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Fri Sep 27 2024

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Kristian Nairn is the face behind two of the most beloved characters in two of the most beloved TV shows in recent history. In Game of Thrones, Nairn played the mysterious, gentle giant Hodor. In Our Flag Means Death, Nairn was the stylistically-gifted pirate Wee John Feeney. But if it wasn't for a role Nairn played long before either of those characters, he may have never gotten either of those parts. That role, as he revealed to Popverse, is his drag persona, Revvlon.

Some context: Popverse recently sat down with Nairn to talk about his new memoir, Beyond the Throne (you can read the full interview here). During the discussion, said the drag queen was an essential part of his life as a performer. "There's no way I could write a story without Revvlon being featured," he said.

"She was a fixture in my life that needed to happen," Narin explained, "And it's not an imagination construct. Like, I made it real. That was basically like getting the kick out the door, you know? I'd reached an apex in life - was I going to retreat into my shell forever or I was going to, for want of a better word, come bursting out with a bit of an attitude? Because I think that after after my teenage years, I think I deserve to have a bit of an attitude as a character."

Nairn continued, "I almost see [Revvlon] as, like, one of those like Renaissance dressing screens? You get dressed behind that, but you can still see behind it. [...] I went in behind that and got myself into my final form. She provided the safety and the confidence to do that, then I realized then the screen was no longer necessary; I was able to do it for myself."

Well, fans of Our Flag Means Death and Game of Thrones are certainly thankful for that dressing screen, and if they're anything like me, appreciative of an absolutely spot-on metaphor. But here's the question that all this brings to mind: since Revvlon helped Nairn into his "final form" that we love so well, is there any chance he'll return the favor and bring her back to life one day?

"I'm not saying that I'll never do it again," Nairn clarified, "That's not true. I think it probably will at some stage, but it's not in the cards at the moment."

Well, here's hoping the deck gets reshuffled.

For more Revvlon, Our Flag Means Death, and so much else, read Kristian Nairn's Beyond the Throne, available now wherever books are sold.

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. As Popverse's Staff Writer, he criss-crosses the pop culture landscape bringing you the news and opinions about the big things (and the next big things). In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.