Of all the minor characters on Game of Thrones, perhaps none stands taller than Jon Arryn. The former Warden of the East got all of zero lines in the series, but his death set the whole thing into motion. If Arryn hadn’t died, King Robert never would have asked Ned Stark to replace him as Hand of the King, Ned never would have come to King’s Landing, never would have had his head chopped off, and Westeros might be a far more peaceful place.
In a video from Maycon Productions, actor John Standing reveals some interesting things about shooting the Game of Thrones pilot, in which he had the somewhat-thankless task of playing Jon Arryn’s corpse. In particular, he reveals that the producers actually filmed Jon Arryn’s death scene, and that it involved Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister).
That sounds like a badass scene—Cersei walking into the room during Jon Arryn’s final moments and keeping him from writing the truth about her incestuous children—and I’m sure Headey crushed it. A shame it was deleted.
I’m guessing this was a scene originally intended for the unaired Game of Thrones pilot, the one that was heavily reshot before it went to air and which included different actors in the roles of Daenerys Targaryen and Catelyn Stark, among others. Other bits from this unaired pilot have turned up on the internet before, like this shot of a flashback to the death of Brandon Stark in King Aerys’ throne room.
That’d be Sean Bean filling in for Brandon. Maybe one day the producers will release all the unaired footage from this pilot, and fans will delight in it.