Everybody loves Game of Thrones. It’s one of HBO’s biggest hits in years and has consumed the entirely world with its popularity and fire-breathing dragons. And it’s not just fans that adore the fantasy drama either; the actors and actresses that work on it can never stop talking about how they’re a family and how much they enjoy being on set. Not so much for Alexander Siddig, the actor who fans clamored for to be cast as Doran Martell only to regret their wishes after his character was altered a significant amount from his story in the book. Dorne wasn’t going well in the show from the beginning, but after the most recent season fans are most certainly confused at why the region is even being included at all.
In an interview with StarTrek.com Siddig came clean with his thoughts about [SPOILERS] Doran Martell’s sudden and shoehorned-in exit at the beginning of Season 6. Even if the character wasn’t working in the show’s master plan, why would they bring him back for one scene just to immediately murder him? Siddig had the same thoughts. Apparently, the showrunners explained the weird exit as such:
So we were going to kill you off at the end of last season, but we decided that we’re going to have to kill you off at the beginning of next season.” I was like, “Okay, life goes on.” But there was something wrong about that because I had been contracted for four episodes in the following season, so if they were going to kill me off at the end of the last season why would they contract me for those four episodes? Because it costs them money whether I do them or not, so it’s not great business sense to do it just in case.
So something happened; I have no idea what. There was an enormous amount of fan excitement when I got named to be on the show, and everyone was like, “Oh my god, yes, Doran Martell. He’s going to be great as Doran Martell.” That might have been the kiss of death. Maybe they didn’t want quite that much attention on that character. Maybe they thought, “Well, let’s prove that we’re going to stray from the books. We’re going to do something else, and he will be our first example of that.” So maybe that could have been the case. Or maybe I just screwed up. Maybe I said the wrong thing to the wrong person.
Nope, that does not make a lick of sense. Of course, saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could be as simple as accidentally revealing a filming location to a low-level reporter over a pint of beer. HBO is pretty severe like that, so who knows?
Siddig doesn’t just have thoughts about his departure from the show either. He isn’t the first person to have this theory because it’s a pretty plausible on, but he is the first actor on the show (well, off the show now) to vocalize it publicly.
They misinform the crowd and they give them tidbits to send them in wrong directions. So, for example, last season, I believe that the first few episodes were stolen and downloaded online, and everybody got to see them before the show actually aired, and everybody was furious at HBO and whatnot. I don’t know if you remember. I am almost positive that those four episodes were leaked by HBO themselves. So there is an enormous amount of spin going on. I can’t tell you that for sure; that’s just my opinion, but it’s games; everybody’s playing these games.
If it truly was HBO that leaked the batch of episodes to the internet, it would be a savvy PR move. They don’t have to provide access to press for early reviews, but the word still gets out online because a bunch of fans around the world start leaking details. If it sounds crazy, that’s because it is a little nuts for a show’s own network to start leaking things to message boards and torrent sites around the internet. But the buzz was real, and now a former GoT actor is supporting the possibility as well, so it might not be all that insane after all.
Could you leak an entire season this time, HBO bosses?
(Via StarTrek.com)
