The goriest — and most satisfying — death of Game of Thrones might have to be when Ramsay Bolton, formerly known as Ramsay Snow and played by Iwan Rheon, was shredded to death by dogs. As visceral as it looked, though, the reality of the death wasn't as traumatic.
"Realistically, I wasn't near any dogs," Rheon said on Jimmy Kimmel Live of the scene. According to the Welsh actor, the dogs used on set were guard canines — not the type of pup you want to cuddle. Rheon was instructed not to look them in the eye. Because the dogs were trained to attack, they weren't allowed near Rheon during shooting.
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"They're not, like, pets," Rheon said. "They're trained to be vicious and if you have eye contact with them, they take that as a direct threat."
He continued, "I wasn't allowed to be anywhere near these dogs when we were filming it, so it was all CGI."
Happy to hear that Rheon was never in danger, but it's always a little disappointing to find out that the most epic scenes in movies were made on a computer. Before he's devoured by dogs, though, Ramsay Bolton has one last confrontation with Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) — and that was all real.
"I thought it was a really well-written scene," Rheon told Refinery29 about the confrontation. (The dialogue spawned a theory among viewers that Sansa is pregnant. The theory has now been debunked.) Ramsay in the scene is coated with grime from the Battle of the Bastards. "It was quite uncomfortable, because I was covered in blood and mud and bits and prosthetics with being tied to the chair," Rheon described. "But yeah, it was actually the last scene that I shot as well, so it was quite exciting."
From the looks of it, acting with humans is a tad more exciting than acting with dogs (and green screens).
Watch the full interview segment, below.
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