“Ser Pounce had to die”

During Game of Thrones’ eight-season run, few deaths have rocked the fanbase harder than the off-screen death of that feline phenom Ser Pounce. Though he only shared the screen with Dean-Charles Chapman (Tommen Baratheon) but once, it was he who felt the cat’s death the hardest.

“Cersei hated the name ‘Ser Pounce’ so much she could not allow him to survive,” showrunner David Benioff told Entertainment Weekly when asked what happened to the royal cat. “So she came up with her most diabolical [execution]. Ser Pounce’s death was so horrible we couldn’t even put it on the air.”

For his part, Chapman wanted better for his little furry friend. “I like to think he’d also move on with his life and get a girlfriend maybe,” he told Huffpost at this weekend’s New York Comic Con.

And how did he feel when he learned of Ser Pounce’s death? “Yeah, it took me. It got me. I cried There’s so many different versions of what could happen in it, and the way it went, that’s just the way it went. So Ser Pounce had to die. Just the way it was.”

Chapman did have some lovely thoughts about Tommen and Ser Pounce. “He had a good life, and Tommen looked after him very well. He was well-fed, well-watered and Tommen took care of him. He’s now with Tommen, so it’s not so bad. It’s not such a bad ending.”

We’re all crying with you, Dean-Charles Chapman. We’ll never stop.

Chapman was at NYCC to promote his new World War I movie 1917, from director Sam Mendes. When he got the call to appear in the film he was…pretty happy. “I just screamed, and when I got off the phone, I still screamed.”

1917 hits theaters on December 25.

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