In a new interview, actor Aidan Gillen discusses his role as Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) in Game of Thrones. He talks about bringing the world of the books to screen and previews what his character gets up to in season 2, so beware of mild spoilers.

Speaking to The University Observer, Gillen says that he’s read all five novels in the George R.R. Martin series on which HBO’s Game of Thrones is based. On the TV show, he says:

I like the wide scope of the show, that there are so many strands in play – I like that it’s tough, sad and funny. And that it’s all rooted in real human experience with something like magic now starting to filter in. It’s been earned and so can be believed.

He also discusses playing Littlefinger, who in the first season betrayed Ned Stark and arguably inadvertently caused his death. But Gillen doesn’t believe that Littlefinger is necessarily all bad:

I’m actually trying to get out of playing villains now – maybe signing up for six seasons as Littlefinger goes against that, but I don’t see him as a villain, more a brilliant strategist and survivor in a cut-throat world.

Talking about season 2, he offers a few teasers about what we can expect:

There’s some strong new characters (there always are with George R.R. Martin, and they’ll just keep coming) – Robert’s [Baratheon, former King of Westeros] brother Stannis being a very obvious one to note. We see Littlefinger branch out and go on some travels too, and it’s nice to get out of the house.

Read the full interview with Aidan Gillen at The University Observer.