Ian McShane Confirms His GAME OF THRONES Role and The Return of a "Dead" Character
Warning: spoilers ahead for the upcoming sixth season of Game of Thrones.
Ever since Ian McShane was added to the cast of the new season of Game of Thrones, book readers have speculated about whether or not he'd be playing Septon Meribald, a worshipper of the Seven who has a complicated past and travels the riverlands preaching to the townspeople there. In the books, Meribald guides Brienne and Pod (along with Ser Hyle Hunt) to the Quiet Isle, where they encounter a character called the Gravedigger, a huge man whose face is kept hidden. Book fans theorize that this is actually Sandor Clegane, aka The Hound, and now McShane has basically confirmed that theory.
When speaking with BBC Breakfast (via THR), McShane said:
“My character is an ex-warrior who has become a peacenik. So, I have this group of peaceful — sort of a cult, a peaceful tribe. I bring back a much-loved character who everybody thinks is dead.”
In the episode in which Brienne fights The Hound and Arya leaves him to die, we never actually see the character die on screen, so the idea of bringing him back this season makes a lot of sense — especially when you consider how much The Hound hates his brother, The Mountain, who was also "resurrected" last season by Qyburn as Cersei's hulking knight Ser Robert Strong. Fans are already speculating about an ultimate battle between the two brothers (awesomely dubbed "Cleganebowl"), so this seems to hint that those speculations may end up being accurate. We'll have to wait and see, of course, but I'd say things are looking pretty good for The Hound at this point.
Game of Thrones returns to HBO on April 24.