Like most of us, Owen Teale simply doesn’t want to let go of Westeros. After spending four seasons on Game of Thrones as Jon Snow nemesis turned ally turned nemesis Alliser Thorne, Teale is still eager to continue playing in George R.R. Martin’s world. Teale relayed his eagerness to see Thorne return on HBO’s upcoming prequel series to Metro.co.uk, “I’ve not heard anything about that but I’d love to.”
Of course, given that the prequel series, currently working under the title ‘The Long Night’, takes place some five thousand years before the events of Game of Thrones, some tweaking to the character Teale loves might be involved. Still, it’s that love of Thorne that fuels Teale’s enthusiasm.
"He was a fascinating character, for him to become so joyless, so cynical and bleak, yet there was a realist there that saved the castle on that occasion it was being stormed by the wildlings. When all was lost, he was the one who rallied [in a] very Henry V manner. It was cometh the hour, cometh the man. That was very interesting."
Indeed, Thorne’s rallying the Night’s Watch in the face of Tormund and Mance’s assault was his shining moment. Teale’s eagerness to return might also be based on the series as a whole, “It’s very difficult to overstate the effect it’s had on the rest of the TV industry,” Teale added, “How it’s changed the quality of TV, how you can take on big storylines, multiple storylines – that’s the big thing – that people will concentrate and follow that.” We could have done without the Sand Snakes, but we get what Teale is saying.
Teale also touched on the effect the series has had on him personally, “I think, not to overstate it, but I don’t think it will go away. I think it is a classic. I’ll be stopped for the rest of my life as, ‘you’re the guy who killed Jon Snow'”. Still, it can’t be as bad as Brenock O’Connor, who played Olly. $%#@ that guy.
Or maybe not. Teale revealed one particularly troublesome encounter with a fan, who approached Teale at a restaurant in Athens, knife in hand.
"I said, ‘Could you just put the knife down?’ And he said, ‘No, you hold the knife.’ He gave me the knife and I was feeling better now but still it was a strange situation. I’ve got the knife in my hand and he says, ‘Now I want selfie with you and knife in my chest.’ I get a lot of that."
Yikes. Jon Snow’s murder aside, we’d love to see Teale return in some capacity to the Seven Kingdoms. Maybe Thorne has a long dead relative Teale could play? Stranger things have happened.
Teale can currently be seen as witch Peter Knox on the supernatural series, A Discovery Of Witches, Fridays on SKY One.
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