Red Wedding: Game of Thrones Actor Reacts to Shocking Twist

WARNING: If you have not yet watched “Game of Thrones” season 3, episode 9, you will not want to continue reading this post. It contains major spoilers and details about the outcome of tonight’s shocking show.

For those that watched tonight’s episode — Wow.

All “Game of Thrones” fans that read the books knew what was coming in tonight’s episode, but when it went down on television the viewers were stunned, as you can see from the fan reaction here. The Red Wedding was held and the massacre took place that claimed the lives of Robb Stark, Catelyn Tully and many of Stark’s men in the most incredible episode of the season and in the show’s history. 

Surprisingly, Richard Madden, the actor who plays Robb Stark on the series, did not learn about the tragic plot twist until reading the script and book just prior to the filming of season 3. When he saw what was going to go down, he was just as stunned as the rest of us.

Madden spoke with Entertainment Weekly to share his thoughts on the unthinkable ending to tonight’s episode, and he provided some interesting insight from the mind of an actor.

Here are his comments about the heart-breaking twist, via Entertainment Weekly:

On when he first learned of the death:

"A thousand people spoiled it for me before I had a chance to pick up the third book. I read by season-by-season. I don’t want to pre-empt where Robb is going and that’s what I’ve done since the show started. I also made the fatal flaw of Googling. So that kind of reinforced what people people were hinting — saying that something terrible was going to happen and giggling."

On his reaction to the scene:

"It just really broke my heart. Arya being so close to getting to me. That really cut me up even more. With every episode Robb’s been further and further from the people he loves. For Arya to be so close to getting to me, I think that’s what really hurt because that’s what we all wanted — to get the family back together — even if it was only one of us coming back. And that’s what made me really emotional about it."

On filming the scene:

"It was an amazing experience all because of David Nutter directing it. He made it an operatic epic sequence that just blows you away. The shocks you get in the book and subtleties from the book I remember reading. Those little details that suddenly all piece together in one big slamming action. If we’ve done it, all the subtleties come together and hopefully it hits you like a sledgehammer."

What were your thoughts on the shocking ending of episode 9? Sound off in the comments section and share your thoughts.