Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who plays Gregor “the Mountain” Clegane on Game of Thrones, recently spoke to Fox News about season 8. “I can tell you this, I myself am super-excited to see the season,” he said. “I’ve never been this excited before. I’m a fan myself and this was the hardest season that I have done ever for Game of Thrones. It was the most difficult. Like, physically and mentally for me.”
As a professional strongman, the prospect of season 8 testing Björnsson physically should raise an eyebrow. Might the Mountain be part of an epic battle scene the cast and crew have been breathlessly teasing for months? Or could we finally see the long-awaitied CLEGANEBOWL, the long-prophesied throwdown between the Mountain and his little brother the Hound?
Speaking to Uproxx, Björnsson says fans ask him about the brother vs brother battle all the time. “People seem to be very excited about that fight and they hope that the fight will happen. If it’s gonna happen, or not, I cannot tell you. I can tell you this, I am super excited about next season.” I’m hearing a refrain.
"Like I said, I cannot go into any specific details, but I think I’m allowed to say that some of the days were very long for me. For example, I think one day went up 18 hours, and that was very tiring and it is very hard on the body when you’re that long filming."
For a couple seasons now, Björnsson has pretty much just stood silently by Cersei’s side, intimidating but inactive (with at least one very entertaining exception). It sounds like that’s going to change in the final six episodes.
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As for his acting career after Game of Thrones has finished, Björnsson isn’t ruling out possibly appearing on HBO’s prequel series, assuming he’s asked. “I’d discuss anything,” he said. “I’m a very open guy and I’d do anything as long as it fits into my schedule. Yeah. That’s definitely something I’d do.”
At the moment, his schedule is full of athletic events. Björnsson won the title of World’s Strongest Man in 2018, would like to win it again, and is about to compete in a powerlifting competition in Iceland, something he hasn’t done in a while. “That would be the first time in history that someone would be the best in Strongman and go into powerlifting and be the best in that sport in the same year,” he said. “No one has ever done that, so that would be a huge accomplishment or success for myself in my career.”
"I’ve been in strength competitions for ten years and I’ve done all kinds of different strength movements in my life. When it comes to lifting things, that’s where I feel most comfortable."
Everyone’s got a talent.
Game of Thrones season 8 debuts in April of 2019.
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