Some of the Irish stars of hit HBO series Game of Thrones stopped by Dublin recently for the highly anticipated season four premiere of the show. Liam Cunningham, Kristian Nairn, Michael McElhatton and Ian Mcelhinney all joined fans at Lighthouse cinema in Dublin for the viewing, and proved to be a charming bunch of gentleman. While there, we were lucky enough to get to chat to the lads about how they are finding life as part of one of the biggest TV shows in the world right now, and where they would like the story to go for their characters.
As every fan of Game of Thrones knows, death is pretty much the main character in the series, where anyone can be unpredictably and unapologetically killed off at any given moment. It's excruciatingly heartbreaking and awesome all at the same time, hence why fans go so damn nuts for the show, and indeed the books. With so many key players killed off at the drop of a hat though, how would our Irish boys like to go?
Kristian Nairn, who plays the lovable Hodor on the show (Hodor!), told us; "Probably a swan dive on top of Joffrey". Well, who wouldn't want that? The actor, who thankfully has a lot more to say then his character, also told us that he hoped one day the spell would be broken and Hodor would get more lines than, eh, 'Hodor'; "I would really like maybe in the last episode, or the last season to suddenly have the spell of Hodor lifted, and perhaps even do a Shakespeare sonnet or something like that." he joked.
We also met Michael McElhatton, who plays the evil Roose Bolton, he told us what it was like to be part of that infamous Red Wedding scene; "It was amazing", he said, "it took five days to shoot, and it was like doing a play really. We talked about it for the first morning, and then we blocked it out. [...] It was very emotional on the last day, the actors Richard (Robb Stark) and Michelle (Catelyn Stark) just gave it their all. They knew it was their last day, the crew had been with them for three years, so it was very, very palpable that feeling that they were gone, and that really added to the drama I think".
So now that Bolton has revealed himself to be on the Lannister's side of the war, how will he meet his maker? At the hands of a vengeful Arya Stark? Michael however, said that he would like to go in his sleep, but think the writers may have a tad more in store for him than that. "Maybe it might be nice to get eaten by a dragon," Michael added, "that would be pretty good." Hmmm maybe, will still be rooting for Arya.
Meanwhile, Liam Cunningham who plays Ser Davos Seaworth said he too would prefer to die of old age or the like, but he went on to say; "It would have to be a glorious death, wouldn't it? But as long as Melisandre doesn't kill him I'll be happy!" The Red Priestess (Carice van Houten) certainly does have a penchant for blood, but she did save Davos from death at the end of the past series, so looks like he's off her radar for now.
While one of Daenerys right hand men, Barristan Selmy, who's played by Ian Mcelhinney told us; "Well, I'm hopeful he will see it through to the very end, but George being George (the author), and given that the whole series of books is not fully written yet, anything is possible." He went on to say that he would like his character to kick the bucket in one of three ways; "I'm either going to die in my bed of old age, or I'm going to die gloriously defending my Queen, or I'm going to get through the battle and end up being commander of her Queen's Guard and living happily ever after."
"What I don't want to happen", he said, is that I die in battle for no good reason, but it's in other people's hands."
So there you have it, old age seems to be the popular choice for the men, but unfortunately this is not The Waltons, and they have as much chance of dying of old age, as Joffrey has of adopting a bunch of homeless puppies.
Season four begins on Sky Atlantic this coming Monday 7th April and will be simulcast here and the U.S at 2am. You can also catch it at 9pm that Monday night though if you can't keep the lids open.
