I was always hanging off the precipice of dying
unknown. What we do know is The Night King has reanimated Daenerys Targaryen’s dragon Viserion and used it to breach the Wall. Now the warring houses have called a truce to fight the icy zombies.
The trailer has already shown Iain’s character is likely to be in the thick of the action. But then his storyline has seen him overcome many obstacles, not least becoming the only survivor of greyscale – a condition which causes skin to turn stone-like.
In series one, he was revealed as a mercenary knight in exile, the disgraced former lord of Bear Island who had been banished by Ned Stark for selling his people as slaves.
He was the only son of Jeor Mormont, lord commander of the Night’s Watch of the kingdom of Westeros, played by James Cosmo. Iain’s character then pledged his allegiance to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in her quest for the throne and is one of a handful of Scottish actors still standing.
The others are Rory McCann, who plays The Hound, and Daniel Portman, who plays Podrick Payne. ut killed-off Scots actors on the show include Rose Leslie’s Ygritte, Richard Madden’s Robb Stark, Cosmo’s Jeor Mormont, Ron Donachie’s Rodrik Cassel, Jamie Sives’ Jory Cassel, Katie Dickie’s Lysa Arryn and Clive Russell’s Blackfish. Emun Elliott’s singer Marillion had his tongue cut out by the order of Joffrey.
Glen, the longest-serving Scot on the show, admitted there were times reading the script he thought his time was up. He said: “They always slightly toyed with me. I was always hanging off the precipice of dying. So yeah, and in every script you have the cast of characters so you immediately flick through and it’s, ‘I’m in’.
“So it was very satisfying to make it to the final series. I made it.”
We’ve waited nearly two years for the six-episode finale which will reveal what happens to characters such as Kit Harington’s Jon Snow and his new partner Daenerys Targaryen.
A dark trailer for the final series has been released offering a dramatic look at the epic Battle of Winterfell as the White Walkers launch their final assault on the Seven Kingdoms.
Iain is very prominent in the trailer but won’t say anything about the plot and is careful with what he does say during the roundtable chat. The ending of the show is shrouded in secrecy.
Show-runners David Benioff and DB Weiss were reportedly even opposed to showing the trailer as they wanted all the footage to be a complete surprise to viewers. But Iain can reveal the start of the process – where the whole cast was gathered for the first time for a readthrough of the script.
He said: “We all gathered in this massive room and all the producers and all the directors were there and it was very bonding. It was amazing.” And any hints about what happens? “Listen, you’re never going to please everyone all the time,” he admitted, “But I think they really managed to satiate people’s hopes for a conclusion.”
After working for a decade together, Iain sees the cast as family and they all keep in touch on a Game of Thrones WhatsApp group. He added: “There are great friendships and we’re all very fond of each other.” As well as friendships, memories and an amazing box set, Iain has also taken home storyboards and some of his character’s jewellery.
And while he’s appeared in shows including Doctor Who and Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones changed his life.
He said: “This is a very superficial thing but I can’t walk around in the way that I used to – and I’ve been acting for 35 years. I can’t do anything without getting people recognise you.
“The whole scale of Game of Thrones was so massive that you felt it was like just being in the biggest, greatest movie constantly all the time.”
Game of Thrones will be shown in early hours of Monday, April 15, on Sky Atlantic and repeated that evening.
IAIN GLEN ON SURVIVING INTACT IN EPIC SERIES