Pedro Pascal says that filming his brutal 'Game of Thrones' death was so 'relaxing' that he actually

Posted by Jenniffer Sheldon on Monday, March 4, 2024

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  • Pedro Pascal said that filming his "Game of Thrones" death was actually very "cathartic."
  • His character, Oberyn Martell, had his skull crushed in one of the show's brutal deaths.
  • Pascal said that he was so relaxed he fell "dead asleep."

Pedro Pascal said that filming his character Oberyn Martell's death scene on "Game of Thrones" was so "relaxing" that he actually fell asleep on set. 

Appearing on First We Feast's "Hot Ones," an interview series during which celebrities eat spicy chicken wings, the "Mandalorian" and "The Last of Us" star reflected on the graphic sequence. In the scene, which aired in 2014, Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) crushes Martell's skull, splattering blood across the stone floor. 

Despite the gore, Pascal was having a great time.

"There were all of these fleshy bits that they were kind of placing all over my face, and pumping blood so that it would pool, you know, and spread through the amphitheater for this good wide shot of the two of us from above," he told host Sean Evans. "And I was dead asleep."

We'll spare you the gore of Martell's actual "Game of Thrones" death, but here's Pascal pantomiming it at the "Game of Thrones" season eight premiere in 2019. Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Pascal said it was "so hot" the day they filmed his death, but that the blood that was being pumped through tubes along Björnsson's body was comparatively cool. Björnsson himself was "the gentlest guy ever," Pascal said, to the extent that he couldn't even feel the other actor's weight as he straddled him to go in for the kill.

In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Pascal described the process of shooting the fight as "really intense."

And so, as Pascal explained on "Hot Ones," knowing that he had reached the end of the shoot was a relief as well. 

"It was very cathartic, and I went into the deepest sleep I've been in," the actor said. 

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