Game of Thrones pretty much has a reputation as a show where 'everyone dies'. There is almost a high profile character death every season.
So actors on the show can't really be that annoyed when it happens to them can they? Well one actor isn't impressed with either his time on the show or the manner of his exit.
Alexander Siddig who played Doran Martell in the HBO series is speaking out for the first time about his time on the show in an interview with StarTrek.com
In the interview Siddig touched on his sudden and shoehorned-in death scene in the first episode of season six. The Dorne storyline is easily the least favourite arc for most fans of the show and it was clear during it's season five run that it wasn't really working out. The showrunners clearly felt the same since there were only two scenes set there in season six. One of them being Doran's death scene.
Which seems a little odd. If the writer's knew they were going to write the character out during season five then why bother bringing him back just to film one scene? Why not write him our and other way? Or film the scene then. Siddig explained how the showrunners put the reasoning to him.
"So we were going to kill you off at the end of last season, but we decided that we’re going to have to kill you off at the beginning of next season.” I was like, “Okay, life goes on.” But there was something wrong about that because I had been contracted for four episodes in the following season, so if they were going to kill me off at the end of the last season why would they contract me for those four episodes? Because it costs them money whether I do them or not, so it’s not great business sense to do it just in case.
So something happened; I have no idea what. There was an enormous amount of fan excitement when I got named to be on the show, and everyone was like, “Oh my god, yes, Doran Martell. He’s going to be great as Doran Martell.” That might have been the kiss of death. Maybe they didn’t want quite that much attention on that character. Maybe they thought, “Well, let’s prove that we’re going to stray from the books. We’re going to do something else, and he will be our first example of that.” So maybe that could have been the case. Or maybe I just screwed up. Maybe I said the wrong thing to the wrong person."
Siddig also has a theory that HBO deliberately leaked episodes of the show online. If you'll remember back to season five of the show, the first four episodes were leaked online to torrent sites all at once. Siddig is not the first person to have that theory but he is the first person involved with the show to suggest it to the press.
"They misinform the crowd and they give them tidbits to send them in wrong directions. So, for example, last season, I believe that the first few episodes were stolen and downloaded online, and everybody got to see them before the show actually aired, and everybody was furious at HBO and whatnot. I don’t know if you remember. I am almost positive that those four episodes were leaked by HBO themselves. So there is an enormous amount of spin going on. I can’t tell you that for sure; that’s just my opinion, but it’s games; everybody’s playing these games."
It's sad to hear that Siddig wan't happy with his time on the show. He is undoubtedly a talented actor and arguably underused in the show. Then again the Dorne storyline really was a drag so it's hard to argue against any decision that was made to limit its screen time.
Via Uproxx