Pilou Abaek’s Euron Greyjoy may only have enjoyed 20 minutes of screen time in Game of Thrones but his ferocity left a lasting impact.
The 38-year-old starred as perhaps the most ruthless villain in a show packed with blood-thirsty predators, but actually received very little air time, which in hindsight, is pretty remarkable.
Almost two years since the fantasy epic came crashing to a divisive end, the Danish-born star has revealed he had some demands for Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB for the manic pirate, calling for Euron to be more of a ‘chameleon’.
He told The Times: ‘I said, “So you guys have written him like this. Would you mind if I made the costumes a little bit more swag, a little bit more like Keith Richards? I don’t mean in expression, I mean in he doesn’t give a shit.”’
Pilou was a huge Game of Thrones fan before his first day on set but as soon as the cameras started rolling and he was in front of them, ‘the magic disappeared’ when he was a first-hand witness to the not-so magical production.
As for the destruction caused by Euron, his mark on Westeros was colossal. He slaughtered one of Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) indestructible dragons and was the final lover of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).
‘On a personal note, do I wish my character was a little bit closer to the books? Do I wish my character had a little bit more screen time? F**k, yes, it’s the biggest show in the world,’ he continued. ‘You want to be the lead.
‘But that’s not the job. The job is to do the character and not what your ego tells you to do.’
Game of Thrones is available to stream on NOW TV.
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