If we’ve said it once, Game of Thrones fans, we’ve said it a thousand times: this post contains spoilers for season five of the series. So if you’re not caught up get the heck out of this post.
Alright, Stannis “the Mannis” Baratheon fans: we’ve got some bad news for you (because many of you have refused to believe it, despite confirmation from HBO and a Martin text) — the actor is 100% not returning to the series and is totally, definitely, super-de-duper deader than dead, according to his real-life actor counterpart, Stephen Dillane. In fact, the actor had quite a few thoughts, feelings, and words for everyone’s favorite fantasy series about a pointy throne, and you may not like them. Because the actor didn’t “get” the show’s appeal. At all.
While speaking with French outlet Libération, the actor explained his own confusion about the show’s success and how he felt about the character and series as a whole. As translated by our own resident francophile, Michelle Buchman, our social media consigliere extraordinaire:
He says evasively: ‘I do not regret having done Game of Thrones, but I have nothing to say. I understood neither the series nor its success when I was participating. The experience was very strange, it passed under my nose. For me to enjoy playing a role, I must be interested in it, which was not really the case. I was a bit overwhelmed.’
Dillane goes on to confirm that his character will not return—not as some ghostly Melisandre vagina-smoke-monster iteration or some undead wight. And he also lamented the gargantuan series’ shooting schedule and production at large a “difficult” thing because “it is a big machine,” adding that he did it for “Among other things, for the money.” (Something he reportedly said after a long, exasperated silence, per our Libération translation.)
So what do you think, Thrones fans? Surprised? Annoyed? Relieved that one person is confirmed as definitely, decidedly dead? Let us know in the comments below.
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But there’s always the question of another potential undead return. For more on that, watch the video below:
HT: Libération
Image Credits: HBO
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist. Find her on Twitter (@alicialutes) waiting far-too-impatiently for Thrones’ return.
