Mark Gatiss (Tycho Nestoris) is not returning for Game of Thrones season 8

Mark Gatiss has a pretty impressive resume; he was a writer and actor on the revival of Doctor Who, played Sherlock Holmes’ brother Mycroft on Sherlock, and is a member of the popular British comedy series The League of Gentlemen. But among Game of Thrones fans, he’s best known as Tycho Nestoris, the character who’s come closest to being the face of the Iron Bank.

Nestoris has appeared in three seasons of the show, first funding Stannis Baratheon’s war effort in season 4 before eventually giving Cersei Lannister a big loan in season 7, after she paid off her family’s deep arrears with gold pilfered from the Tyrell stocks. Cersei used that loan to secure the services of the Golden Company, which will surely make all sorts of trouble in the final season of the show. But Tycho Nestoris will not be a part of it, as Gatiss revealed to Short List. “I’m not in [season 8], so I guess I survive,” he said. “Although they might just mention offhand that I’ve had my head bitten off by a dragon off-screen or something.”

Some months back, Gatiss revealed his idea for an ending to the show. “I pitched to Dan and David, the showrunners, that I should be the last person alive in the show because obviously if anyone survives it is the banks,” he said. “They just laughed at me.”

So that idea is out, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Iron Bank will play no role in the final six episodes. If nothing else, the Golden Company’s involvement in the final conflict is a direct result of the Bank’s financial gamesmanship. But Nestoris, at least, has loaned his last.

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