Julian Glover might be one of many solely actors who requested to be killed off of “Recreation of Thrones.” Glover admitted as a lot at Montreal Comedian Con in 2018 (per ScreenHub), explaining that he wished his Grand Maester Pycelle to chew the bullet earlier than his season 6 demise. An important character in George R.R. Martin’s “A Tune of Ice And Hearth” collection, on display screen Pycelle grew to become some of the extraneous background gamers because the HBO adaptation wore on.
“I did not wish to do [season 6] as a result of I spotted I used to be being utterly dismissed as a personality,” Glover instructed IGN forward of the fantasy collection’ ending. Talking of Lena Headey’s character, he recalled: “Cersei ticked me off on a regular basis, and I by no means had any comeback. In order that wasn’t any enjoyable to play.” The actor made an identical assertion on the aforementioned popular culture conference, reportedly explaining that his character within the TV present by no means actually went anyplace and he grew to become bored of taking part in a drained, aged man who spent most of his time fuming at Cersei.
The person behind Maester Pycelle acquired bored along with his character
Glover is correct that Pycelle grew to become a wallflower within the overcrowded collection’ large forged of characters, however the Maester performs a pivotal function in each Martin’s model of the story and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ bold, messy TV present. Pycelle was, in any case, one of many males who whispered within the ear of the Mad King Aerys, resulting in the Sacking of King’s Touchdown. As a grasp of poisons, he was additionally behind a few of the collection’ greatest and most cruel energy shifts. But as a consequence of his age, Pycelle was typically portrayed within the TV collection as an outdated guard reverse youthful schemers like Aidan Gillan’s Littlefinger and Conleth Hill’s Lord Varys. By season 6, it was clear that it was time for Pycelle to go.
The veteran performer instructed IGN that he spoke to the showrunners forward of season 6, saying, “Look, I do not wish to do that anymore, it is not attention-grabbing to go on doing this and go on doing this, and what is going on to occur to him?” In response, they pitched him a “fantastic scene.” Glover, as was typical for the present’s forged, wasn’t aware about the small print of the scene forward of time, however he ended up loving the consequence. The actor has referred to as it a “rattling good scene,” telling the outlet that it “is precisely the form of approach I wished to exit.” Within the present’s season 6 finale, Pycelle will get lured to what Glover calls “this terrible cell-like, prison-like ambiance,” the place he will get stabbed to dying by the creepy child spies working underneath Qyburn’s (Anton Lesser) command.
Glover is pleased with how his dying scene turned out
“The precise dying scene itself was so cunningly contrived,” Glover instructed interviewers, noting the “fantastic irony” that the oldest character on the present was killed off by a bunch of children. In Martin’s “A Dance With Dragons,” it is Varys who kills Pycelle in assist of the Lannisters, and his dying scene is brutal differently. One of many final issues his ally Kevan (Ian Gelder within the TV present) sees earlier than he is additionally killed is Pycelle’s corpse, leaking blood onto a e book he was studying earlier than dying whereas “throughout his candle had been bits of bone and mind, islands in a lake of melted wax.” It is a memorable, gory dying scene in a franchise stuffed with them.
That picture is haunting and gnarly, however the scene Glover shot was extra action-packed. The actor famous that it needed to be shot in a single take as a consequence of all of the faux blood, and he needed to nail a stunt fall after the child attackers overwhelmed Pycelle. “And I did get it in a single after which that was very passable, and I used to be very completely satisfied to say goodbye to individuals on that exact second,” he instructed IGN. Glover was good to ask for an out, even when his character was set to die in some unspecified time in the future anyway. The closing season of “Recreation of Thrones” was poorly acquired, whereas he went on to seem in acclaimed exhibits and movies like “Inside No. 9,” “The Crown,” and Todd Subject’s “Tár.”
