Game of Thrones was known for the extreme nature of its sexually explicit scenes, as well as scenes of violence, blood, and gore. And one of the gnarliest of many, many gnarly death scenes went to everyone’s current favourite ‘Daddy,’ Pedro Pascal. In case you need reminding, the season four episode The Mountain and the Viper sees Oberyn Martell (AKA The Red Viper of Dorne) go head-to-head with Gregor Clegane (AKA The Mountain).
Oberyn and Gregor have a swordfight, with Oberyn managing to use his wily agility to cut the man mountain down. But while Gregor is on the floor, and Oberyn is distracted, Gregor trips Oberyn over. The Mountain uses his enormous strength to knock out Oberyn’s teeth, gouge his eyes, and eventually to smash and crush his entire skull.
All of this is watched by Oberyn’s horrified lover Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma). In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in June 2022, Varma recalled filming the taxing scene; “It was demanding for Pedro because he’d had to train for so long to be up to speed with that incredible fight. And then we were filming in Croatia just outside Dubrovnik in the summer on the side of a mountain by the ocean.”
Varma continues; “It was really hot and the Mountain [Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson] who is a strongman, he was losing weight literally by the hour because he was sweating so much inside his gear. So yeah, it was intense. But the downtime, when we were waiting for the changes, was so fun because we were all there playing Scrabble and just chatting.”
Pascal is currently enjoying a huge moment of fame thanks to two reluctant Daddy roles in hit TV series – one as Joel in The Last of Us, and one as Din Djarin in The Mandalorian. His time on Game of Thrones was fairly short-lived, but at least he got one of the most memorable character deaths of all.
We’re very much looking forward to House of the Dragon season 2 and we’re sure you are too!