The actors behind Roose and Ramsay Bolton discuss what happened at Winterfell in “Home”

The latest episode of Season 6 didn’t lack for shocking moments. The news about Jon Snow may have taken all the press, but Roose Bolton’s death at the hands of his son Ramsay was also a huge development, one that could have drastic consequences on the rest of the season. TV Line caught up with actor Michael McElhatton, who played Roose Bolton, to discuss the scene and McElhatton’s time on the show.

McElhatton went over Roose’s state of mind leading up to the scene—he was happy with what Ramsay did to help defeat Stannis, but was hugely disappointed that his son’s cruelty had cost the family both Sansa and Theon. The most interesting part of the interview was when McElhatton said that Ramsay hadn’t planned to kill his father before he did it.

"Well we kind of came to a decision when we were filming it that it really was a spur-of-the-moment thing. And the information that is given is that it’s a boy that had been born. Now if it had been a girl, I may still have been alive, because his position would not be threatened. But in the moment that we find out that Walda has given birth to a boy, for me, Ramsay is no longer needed. And for him, he knows that, and he strikes quicker than I do.…I don’t think he’s come in with the plan. It’s much more interesting to view it in that way… it’s just his psychotic nature that takes over. It’s not patricide, joy or thrill that “I’m head of House Bolton.” It’s a very conflicting relationship, and it’s shock that he has done it, because there is a love of his father despite their very messed-up relationship."

I think the show did a decent job of deepening the relationship between Ramsay and Roose—I did get the idea that Ramsay craved his father’s approval—but I had assumed that Ramsay was planning this. That’s what showrunner David Benioff implied in the Inside the Episode feature about “Home.” In any case, Iwan Rheon (Ramsay) agreed that the move was spur-of-the-moment when he talked to Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not calculated, it’s reactionary,” he said. “And it has an effect on him, which he didn’t expect.”

It may be more that, while Ramsay hadn’t planned on killing his father at that specific moment, he always knew that it might happen, and was ready to strike when the moment came. That’s what Dave Hill, who wrote the episode, thinks. “He’s never ruled it out,” Hill said. “What he cares most about is power. As long as he was the sole son, the only possible heir, it was fine.”

Hill also agrees that Ramsay is at least a little conflicted about having to do his father in. “Ramsay’s sad, he’s not a complete psychotic madman,” Hill said. “He regrets having to kill his father. He’s actually trying to live up to this father’s standards and become the man his father wanted him to be — in his own sociopathic killer way.” Considering that Roose rose to the top by killing the people who had the spot before him, maybe it was inevitable that his son would follow in his footsteps.

Also interesting: if Ramsay hadn’t have gotten there first, McElhatton thinks Roose would’ve offed Ramsay.

"In that moment that he knows that Walda has given birth to a boy, he now has a legitimate heir, and I would say he would have gotten rid of Ramsay a moment later, actually. Like Tywin Lannister, like any of the heads of any house, the primary goal of any head of house is the longevity of the house and the survival of the house and that has to be done through legitimate heirs."

A shame Ramsay beat him to the punch. As McElhatton notes, Ramsay’s “unpredictable, psychopathic tendencies” are more trouble than they’re worth. Roose might have been a cold, unfeeling man, but at least he would have kept the North well-organized. There’s no telling what Ramsay will do to it.

As for Walda, she was just caught in a very ugly crossfire. “[Ramsay] doesn’t bear his mother any ill will,” Hill said. “She’s a very sweet woman in the wrong place, wrong time.”