Jacob Anderson: “Grey Worm dies a horrible death by butterflies”

Game of Thrones star Jacob Anderson stepped out at the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Saturday and talked a bit about the divisive series finale, and what might happen to Grey Worm and the Unsullied after he mean-mugged Jon Snow and sailed away to Naath.

Speaking to RTE, Anderson addressed some of the negative backlash to the end of the series. “I feel like not everybody is going to love everything,” he said. “There’s no way to make everybody happy. It’s a shame when people say something is good or bad with complete resolve anyway, it’s subjective. Storytelling is subjective. It’s fine if people don’t like it, some other people did…I think [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] ended it how they wanted to end it.”

Grey Worm went to a pretty dark place in the final two episodes of the season, massacring the people of King’s Landing along with his queen. For his part, Anderson had fun with it. “Grey Worm just turned into a jerk at the last minute, he turned into the villain.”

"It was quite fun to play through [sic] that scene where I had to stare everybody down, that kind of trial, was a nightmare because we’re all bad at keeping straight faces. I’m probably the worst, so having to look into Joe Dempsie’s (Gendry) eyes and not die laughing was really difficult."

On-set shenanigans aside, Anderson is relieved the show is over. “It’s been good, I’m glad that it’s out now and people have seen it. I think everybody involved with the show had a little bit of anxiety about what are people going to think. Even though we all kind of knew it was going [sic] to be polarising. A show that beloved, there’s no right or wrong way to end it.”

And for some, the questions continue. For example, what happened to Grey Worm and the Unsullied after they left King’s Landing? We know they were headed to Missandei’s home island of Naath, but what happens when an army of trained killers gets to the peaceful shores of what sounds like an island paradise? “The Unsullied are just gonna die straight away as soon as they get there,” Anderson told Insider.

If you’ve not read the books and are wondering what in the world he’s talking about, let’s have a quick mythology lesson. The isle of Naath is known for being home to many butterflies. As detailed in The World of Ice and Fire, the people of Naath revere butterflies as the messenger of their god, the Lord of Harmony. These butterflies are said to protect the islanders from outsiders who mean them harm by spreading Butterfly Fever.

Sounds harmless, right? Wrong. Symptoms include painful spasms, blood sweats, and flesh sloughing from the bones. These butterflies mean business.

HBO

Anyway, when told of the theory that Grey Worm and his Unsullied compatriots would be murdered by butterflies, he played along. “Yeah but that’s a book thing. It’s not in [the] show. I mean, actually, do you know what? I want to spread [the word] that David and Dan told me that that’s real,” he joked. “Yeah, quote me. What actually happens is Grey Worm dies a horrible death by butterflies.”

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And there you have it, folks. Like Ramsay Bolton before him, Grey Worm is killed by a bloodthirsty animal, but this time of the sort no one say coming. Be right back, I need to get my flyswatter.

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