The Whoniverse lost one of it’s beloved aliens as Neil Fingleston dies at age 36. We are sad to say goodbye to one of our favorite actors.
It is with heavy hearts that we report Neil Fingleton dies at the very young age of 36. Fingleton recently played the Fisher King alien in the Doctor Who episode, “Before The Flood,” and is also known as Mags the Mighty in the Game of Thrones series. He has also appeared in X-Men: First Class and the Keanu Reeves vehicle, 47 Ronin.
Fingleston, who is also Britain’s tallest man, reportedly died of heart failure earlier in the week.
On the set of Jupiter Ascending with Mila Kunis- pic.twitter.com/D0Ow3OWXTf
— Neil Fingleton (@NeilFingleton) July 23, 2015
Fingleton was born in Britain in 1980 but moved to America after attending a basketball camp. He fell in love with sport, and thanks to his height of over seven feet, he was able to pursue the sport more seriously. The A.V Club reports, “Fingleton quickly took to basketball and stuck with it through college, eventually reaching the semi-professional American Basketball Association and then the NBA Development League. His basketball career ended due to an injury in 2007, though, so he decided to return to England and pursue an acting career.”
Although he was a beloved player in the Doctor Who universe, his most prominent role was probably that of Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg—a.k.a. Mag The Mighty. If you recall, Mag was the leader of the giants and fought for the “free folk” led by Jon Snow. He met a sad an untimely end when he tried to tunnel his way under the wall.
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It’s always sad when we lose one of our favorite character actors, but when they go so young, it makes it particularly painful.
If you’d like to rewatch Fingleston’s Doctor Who episode you can stream it on Amazon, and you can watch it on HBOGo with a subscription.