Ian McShane Gives Away Another GAME OF THRONES Spoiler, Disses Obsessive Fans

Considering how much effort HBO has put into keeping the events of the upcoming sixth season of Game of Thrones a secret, I was shocked that they released a (spectacular) full trailer last week. But I wonder if the network is regretting hiring actor Ian McShane in a small role, because he's obviously making no effort to hide spoilers or his feelings about the show and its obsessive fans.

Spoilers ahead.

A week ago, McShane made headlines talking about how his character was going to "bring back a much-loved character who everybody thinks is dead." And while Jon Snow definitely fits that description, it seems much more likely that McShane is playing Septon Meribald, and that character he's talking about "resurrecting" is actually The Hound, who we technically never saw die on screen. You can read much more about that here. Now McShane is running his mouth again, this time in an interview with The Telegraph:

"You say the slightest thing and the internet goes ape. I was accused of giving the plot away, but I just think get a fucking life. It’s only tits and dragons."

It's been a long time since I've heard an actor be so reductive of a project in which they appear. While there are probably a group of people that only watch the show for the "tits and dragons," there really haven't been enough of either to justify sitting through five full seasons just for the occasional glimpse or set piece. I think it's safe to say most fans like the show for many more than simply those reasons. He went on:

"They asked me if I wanted to do Game of Thrones and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll be able to see my old pals Charlie Dance and Stephen Dillane’ and they said, ‘No, we’ve killed them off.’ I wasn’t sure whether I could commit, but then they said it would only be for one episode, so I said, ‘So that means I must die at the end of it. Great, I’m in.’ ”

Those who have been paying super-close attention (which are probably all the people McShane is telling to get a life) already knew that the actor was only going to appear in one episode, but it remains to be seen whether or not his character will really die at the end. In the books, Meribald continues through the Riverlands after his encounter with Brienne, but since the show is clearly forging its own path now that they've largely caught up to many storylines of George R.R. Martin's novels, I expect anything is possible from here on out.