No one should have expected Euron Grayjoy to go quietly. The leather-loving and lecherous pirate — the living, swaggering equivalent of some gross dude flitting his tongue — was too big a character to go out via a bunch of falling rocks. And actor Pilou Asbaek was the one who had the idea to take the character in that disgusting and entertaining direction, so the Danish actor was definitely down to talk about the way that Euron dipped out of the series.
Asbaek went on an interview blitz, discussing his character's death, who he's rooting for, and the fact that he hasn't watched the show in years.
Asbaek told multiple publications that he's not down with the hordes tearing this season down, mostly because he hasn't watched an episode since Season 5. Asbaek said that he was an obsessive, but that he couldn't maintain it once he became a part of the show.
"I'm going to watch it. I have to watch it. It's the biggest show ever made!" he told The Hollywood Reporter. "But it went from being a passion to becoming professional. It's a very logical way to feel. You're so in love with it, and then you become a part of it. It needed to become my job."
While certain corners have complained about the convenievence of Euron's decision, making him out to be a flashy bit of plot duct tape, Asbaek said that his unpredictability tracks with the character.
"Don't go into a long, logical discussion of what he is and why he is," Asbaek said. "Just accept the premise that he wants to see the world burn, and he wants to be in the first row."
In that same vein, Asbaek isn't stressing over the sudden drop in Westerosi ability to aim the scorpions at Dany's dragons. His explanation of why Euron could no-scope one dragon out of the sky while all of King's Landing missed the mark was brutally honest.
"Because they needed it for the storyline? I don’t know. I think we had to take out one dragon so we level the fight just a little bit, and they caught her off guard. It was a sneak attack," he told Vulture. "But now she’s prepared and now she’s pissed, and if there’s one thing you don’t want, it’s the dragon mom pissed."
Even though Asbaek isn't watching, he does have on Game of Thronesteam he's rooting for as the series comes to an end.
"I'm rooting for [showrunners] Dan and David," Asbæk told Insider. "For them to be happy with what they have created...because right now people are very angry."
