Last week, English actor Tamar Hassan (Batman Begins, EastEnders) revealed that he was going to appear on Game of Thrones Season 6. “I can’t say too much about it,” he said at the time, “but I’m part of that.”
It seems that Hassan has trouble not saying too much about it, as he spoke almost immediately afterward about how “earning that Dothraki language was a feat in itself,” which gave the world a big fat clue as to what kind of character he’d be playing. He continued to let things slip in an interview with British online magazine Loaded.
"I play a Dothraki warrior, a leader. What I do affects the main characters. Really. It’s massive."
Well, that settles that. Not only will Hassan be playing a Dothraki leader, but his impact will be “massive.” He also spoke about how he’s been trying to get on the show for a while.
"I actually was a little bit angry because I’ve met for Game Of Thrones for every season but it never worked out. When you look at the show, how do I not fit in? It’s just one of those ones that I could never seem to get, until now. It’s not a regular role or a major role but the impact of what I do is epic."
I wonder if the people at HBO are upset with Hassan discussing his role so freely. I mean, it’s not like he took a picture of a page from the script and posted it to Instagram, but he’s still being pretty open.
Anyway, Hassan’s comments seem to confirm what we guessed last week: that his Dothraki character may be the main point of contact for Daenerys as she travels with the khalasar she met at the end of Season 5. It’s hard to guess exactly what Hassan means when he characterizes his impact as “epic” and “massive,” but it’s a good bet that at least one of the “main characters” his character has an effect on is Daenerys.
Hassan traveled to Northern Ireland to film some of his material, which confirms that at least some Dothraki scenes were shot outside Spain last year. He also discussed the experience of being on the Season 6 set.
"How they work and what they do on that show is just like nothing I have ever seen before. They work incredibly, incredibly hard. You get your page of lines and that is all you see. You have no idea of the script and no idea what’s going on and that is what is really magical about it."
Finally, Hassan answered a question every Game of Thrones cast member should always be thinking about: was the door left open for his character to return? I feel like a lot of actors would sidestep this question, but Hassan was very upfront. Beware minor spoiler:
"Well, a lot of people around me die. I didn’t die."
We’ll see more of Hassan’s character, who will apparently be with us through to the end of the year, when Game of Thrones Season 6 debuts on April 24.