Entertainment

One 'GoT' Actor Loves Dropping Spoilers...

by Maitri Suhas

The closer we get to the Game Of Thrones premiere (April 24! almost only one month away!), the more cast members are slipping up about keeping spoilers on the hush hush. The HBO show is notorious for having a policy of "stay quiet or die" (onscreen, of course), but there are like, a million cast members; showrunners David Benioff and David Nutter can't keep an eye on them all. But some of the show's stars are more spoiler-y than others, and one Game of Thrones cast member doesn't care about dropping spoilers and he cares even less if you're mad about it.

Season 6 actor Ian McShane, former star of Deadwood who was only recently cast on Game Of Thrones last year. He's been known to throw out spoilers rather casually, and on Friday, he responded to Game Of Thrones fans who've criticized him for his lax attitude about spoilers in an interview with The Telegraph: "You say the slightest thing and the internet goes ape. I was accused of giving the plot away, but I just think get a f---ing life. It’s only tits and dragons." Oh man, I like his style.

As a lover of spoilers and television, I totally agree with McShane. Especially because of the high demand for spoilers, speculation, and theories across the Internet. Shouldn't we all be happy that someone is spilling? Though I disagree that it's only "tits and dragons"; there are also battles, white walkers, and some of the most resilient women of any fantasy series, period.

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The spoiler McShane was referring to is one that he revealed recently. In an interview with BBC Breakfast on March 3, McShane all but confirmed that he would be playing Septon Meribald, saying: "My character really is like an ex-warrior that's become a peacenik," and a whole lot more after that, under the guise of being sly. He's basically the IRL version of Hagrid saying "I shouldn't have said that."

Bustle's Jefferson Grubbs sums up nicely why it was a 99.9 percent confirmation — McShane's description can only be Septon Meribald: "[Meribald] is described in Martin's fourth novel, A Feast For Crows, as a former soldier who turned to the Faith of the Seven after experiencing the horrors of war and watching his three brothers die." And McShane went on to say in the interview that he brings someone back from the dead. OK bro, you're not even trying to hide it anymore, but I'm not mad. And this all but confirms the popular fan theory that the Gravedigger is the Hound.

Septon Meribald in A Feast For Crows brings the Hound, aka Sandor Clegane, aka Arya's former traveling partner, back to life. In the book series, Meribald brings Brienne and Podrick to the Isle to look for Sansa Stark, and they see a mysteriously cloaked man digging a grave. Meribald came across him after he was wounded and left for dead by Arya, who would not mercy kill him, and inducted into the Faith Of Seven. And yep, you guessed it: that means CleganeBowl is on like Donkey Kong.

Previous speculation about McShane's role included Euron Greyjoy, Theon's terrifying pirate uncle; Randyll Tarly, Sam's father; and Coldhands. The role of Euron eventually went to Danish actor Pilou Asbaek, and James Faulkner will be playing Randyll Tarly. No news yet on Coldhands being a part of Season 6.

So, if everyone's so eager for spoilers anyway, why be mad at McShane for giving us at least a scrap of warning of what's to come? We already know that the actor will only appear in one episode, so he'll probably go out with a bang. But he really drove the point home in the Telegraph interview:

They asked me if I wanted to do Game of Thrones and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll be able to see my old pals Charlie Dance and Stephen Dillane’ and they said, ‘No, we’ve killed them off.’ I wasn’t sure whether I could commit, but then they said it would only be for one episode, so I said, ‘So that means I must die at the end of it. Great, I’m in.’

And hey, he's not the only one spilling and spoiling: Sophie Turner told everyone that Sansa doesn't die this season. Anybody mad at her?