Fans have been waiting to see The Hound square off against The Mountain since the first season of ‘Game of Thrones’ and finally after all of these years the Cleganebowl has happened. Now, the reclusive actor Rory McCann who plays The Hound has opened up a bit about the experience. Fans have been dying to see these two brothers settle their differences in the only way they know how and also see them doing so with the massive changes in both of their lives. From The Mountain becoming even less human and The Hound letting others in, their personalities have changed just as much as anything else.
McCann is notoriously reclusive and feels that he is “very close to being The Hound” so the fact that this interview even happened is fantastic.
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As to the actor thinking about the scripts for the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’:
“Really good. I’m very happy with the way The Hound’s story ends, thank you very much. I love all the endings. I don’t know how they managed to sew it all together. I don’t know how it goes with George R.R. Martin’s ending if it’s the same or no.”
He felt that the table read for the last season “was quite emotional”:
“… you’re seeing deaths, and it’s all happening in front of you, and you’re seeing people get upset, and then you get to your bit. It was quite funny when the so-called Cleganebowl started. I secretly brought a trumpet with me. [Co-executive producer Bryan Cogman] is reading [the stage directions] and I’m like, “Can you pause right before I say one of my last lines?” He did, and I brought out this trumpet and [blew it].”
The actor actually ended up getting “butterflies in my stomach over that fight.”
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Outside of the Cleganebowl, he also spoke up as to working with Maisie Williams again:
“She’s all grown up now and knows everything that’s going on. It’s been great seeing her again. The last parting shot with Arya and The Hound is lovely. She calls him “Sandor” for the first time in the whole 7, 8 years. It’s a lovely moment. And the parting moment with Sansa was lovely too.”
But we want to hear about Cleganebowl and what happens at the end:
“I’m dead. It would have been nice to keep living and go on a road trip and do a spin-off. But I’m absolutely delighted. I’m blessed to be given this storyline. Blessed to be given storylines in the past seasons with all the [Westeros] politics going on — that we were able to have a Hound-Arya road trip. The Hound seems to get some great one liners. You could have a T-shirt factory with just the one-liners I’ve been given.”
This interview was given right before the fight was filmed, so he was able to share some of his concerns about having to fight The Mountain who is played by quite literally the strongest man in the world:
“I hope I have enough gas in the tank to do it right. It’s a massive fight. I think it’s going to take three days to film it. He’s going to be throwing me. I’m absolutely sure I’m going to be limping for months after it, and that’s the reason my last filming days are the fight. It’s a glorious death. He’s laughing at it. The Hound can see that [The Mountain] can’t be killed by sticking a dagger in his eye. He has to be burnt. Of all the things Cleagane has to do, he has to go into the fire. That’s the sacrifice. But his pain is over.”
It wasn’t surprising to see The Hound have to sacrifice himself to win this fight and at least he was able to take out The Mountain at the same time.
Do you feel that Cleganebowl lived up to the hype that ‘Game of Thrones’ fans have had around it for years? Would any other outcome have felt fitting after all the build up? Was an ending that required fire the right way to bring this fight full circle? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
