The actor who played the vile Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones remembers the Sansa-Ramsay wedding night scene as “the worst day of my career.”
Actor Iwan Rheon is out there talking up his new role as the main character in the real-life video game Screamfest 4: The Kraken’s Revenge, and while he’s at it, reminiscing about his time as the detestable Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones.
That includes the infamous scene from the fifth season where Ramsay rapes Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) on their wedding night. The scene stirred up a lot of controversy and got people talking, and the discussion was loud enough that it’s still remembered today.
For Rheon, it’s a painful memory. “That was horrible,” he told Metro. “Nobody wanted to be there. Nobody wants to do that, but if it’s telling a story then you have to tell it truthfully.”
They didn’t sensationalise it or anything. It was very, very hard watching. It’s a horrible thing that happens, unfortunately, and it shouldn’t be. It was the worst day of my career.
Of course, Game of Thrones was known for unflinching depictions of violence, including plenty perpetrated by Ramsay himself. But as Rheon points out, there’s a difference between that kind of violence and sexual violence. “Chopping someone’s finger off you don’t really see it, and when you’re doing like a close up, it’s a piece of plastic. We’re just acting, it’s not real. Then something like that where you’re in the actual reality of the situation is very difficult to deal with. It was a horrible, horrible day. This is something that we shouldn’t even have to worry about, because it’s something that shouldn’t exist in this world but unfortunately it does.”
The Ramsay-Sansa storyline ended with Sansa escaping his clutches, helping Jon Snow raise an army to retake Winterfell, and finally feeding her vile ex-husband to his won hungry dogs. Things went much better for Rheon and Turner, who are actually reuniting to once again play nobles in the the new HBO Max show The Prince, although that series will be much lighter and funnier than even the happiest scene on Game of Thrones. Probably for the best.
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