Twelve times Game of Thrones stars should’ve won Emmys but didn’t

Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO /
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Image: Game of Thrones/HBO

Rory McCann: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — “The Children”

Rory McCann was one of the show’s more unsung actors. He was never less than excellent as Sandor Clegane, the hard-bitten warrior who, but he didn’t have as much screentime of some of his costars, so he sometimes got forgotten when talking about the show’s best performers.

But he shouldn’t have. Gruff and dismissive, the Hound has put up walls a thousand feet high, preferring to communicate in grunts and punches rather than full sentences. When pushed to his limits, as when Brienne of Tarth defeats him in combat and leaves him broken and bleeding on the side of a hill, we finally see the hidden well of vulnerability under the scar tissue skin, and it’s hard for our hearts not to break.

As the Hound, McCann made things look easy, and indeed, this seems like a perfect melding of character with actor. McCann gives a low-key, naturalistic performance that’s impossible to look away from.