Sean Bean may have lasted just one season in Game of Thrones as Ned Stark, but steering into season eight we’re still pining for the original hero of the fantasy epic.
There’s just six episodes to go, with less than a month until we return to Westeros and in the mean time we’ve got four weeks to tear our hair out over what lies ahead.
It’s hard to believe, but Game of Thrones, undisputedly the greatest juggernaut on television today – arguably ever – was almost turned down because of a shoddy pilot episode, which Lena Headey recently recalled as a mess.
Ahead of the bloodbath that will inevitably be season eight, Sean opened up about his brief stint on the fantasy epic, revealing what was cut from the original pilot and the one which eventually made it to air.
‘I remember a scene with Bran in the old tree and [his parents are] talking to him about life,’ the 59-year-old told Entertainment Weekly. ‘He was very young at the time, when Isaac was playing the part.
‘There are some nice scenes with [Williams as Arya]. I quite enjoyed those scenes because there was a lot of horrible backstabbing going on, and I think those scenes stood out because they were very natural and people could identity with them: a father and his children.
‘I also remember the banquet, which was quite interesting. We shot it in Scotland, and it was a banquet with King Robert. All the families were coming together, there was a real feeling of this horrible tension, which represents what we did afterwards.’
And then, you know what happened next. After being pitched as the hero of the entire series, a sword came crashing down on Ned’s neck before his head was carefully placed on a spike outside the Lannister castle.
‘I remember filming that day,’ Sean added. ‘The death, that was wonderful because it was so unexpected. I thought it was amazing how they shot it. But I died, and then I had to do some scenes from earlier in the episode, so it wasn’t the end for me.
‘We were in Malta; it was very hot. It was very colourful. Everyone was there, and with things like that there’s a sort of gallows humour to it. It’s awful what’s happening, and you start giggling and laughing.
‘When the head fell off, there were mistakes. It didn’t quite work out sometimes. It was quite comic. So it breaks the ice a bit.’
As for the remaining Stark children, just Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington), Arya (Maisie Williams), Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) are still standing, but it’s unlikely we’ll be saying the same by the end of May.
A new theory has now emerged tipping Sansa to be the target of The Night King after actor Vladimir Furdik finally confirmed the beast is out to kill a specific hero, and we’re kind of here for it…
Game of Thrones returns to HBO and will be simulcast with Sky Atlantic on April 14.
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