game of thrones dvd

Curtain Call: Sean Bean

“You think my life is such a precious thing to me, that I would trade my honor for a few more years… of what? You grew up with actors. You learned their craft, and you learned it well. But I grew up with soldiers. I learned how to die a long time ago.” game of thrones dvd

Most of us knew this was coming, but for many that knowledge didn’t make Ned’s death any easier. For fans of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, this was the seminal moment. The death of Eddard Stark was a wakeup call to every person holding that book in their hands—no matter what you were used to, no matter what came before, no matter how certain you were in the tropes and the traditions of fantasy writing—this was when you sat up, eyes wide. This was when those safe little Belgariad stories suddenly looked harmless and trite. This put fear into you. If this guy could die…

They did it again. They did it on your TV set. You’ve read and heard the various reactions. Shock. Disbelief. Anger. Sadness. And more than a few calls to boycott the series because of it.

What greater compliment can be paid to the man that played Ned Stark?

The impact Sean Bean had on this show is almost too large to be expressed. For us here at Winter Is Coming he is especially significant, because Phil broke the story of his casting days before anyone else had it. You could say Sean Bean helped put us on the map. We were excited because, prior to that, we had almost assumed the soon-to-be sprawling cast would be filled with no-names, new actors, and character actors, plus or minus Peter Dinklage. Sean Bean taking the role was monumental.

He brought with him his own loyal and passionate fanbase, of course, and he brought some peripheral nerd cred, having carved himself a nice period / fantasy niche playing roles like Richard Sharpe, and Boromir of Gondor. And he brought real acting chops too; he was the sort of actor who didn’t mind getting his hands filthy, outspokenly preferring gritty, physical, sweaty horse-and-sword epics. Sean famously hiked miles up the side of a mountain during filming of The Fellowship of the Ring in full costume, armor and all, rather than take a helicopter to the elevated shoot (dude apparently hates helicopters).