In 2012 he appeared in the TV documentary Air Aces. In 2013 Stanley appeared in the film How I Live Now and the short In T’Vic. He appeared on the TV series National Theatre Live in 2014 and starred as Clarkson Stanfield in the movie Mr. Turner. His upcoming projects include the films Our Kind of Traitor and Kajaki and the short Baby. Stanley has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Game of Thrones.