When Conleth Hill freaked out over having to shave his hair for Game of Thrones

A lot of the actors on Game of Thrones look very different from their characters. Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) doesn’t walk around with platinum blonde hair, for instance, although you’d still probably be able to recognize her if you passed her on the street. Ditto for Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), who wore red wigs or dyed her hair red to cover up her natural blonde locks.

And then there’s Conleth Hill, who played the obsequious schemer Varys. We, of course, know Varys as a completely bald man, but not only does Hill have a full hair of hair, he has a ton of it:

It’s almost like he’s making up for Varys not having any hair by having as much as possible when the cameras aren’t rolling. I don’t think I would recognize him as Varys if I met him in passing.

When the Hound told Varys to shut up and get over the shock of shaving his hair

And getting rid of his hair hurt, as Hill said in an interview transcribed by Express. “Of course, it was a small, vain price to pay for a wonderful role, but when they first shaved my hair off, I went, ‘Oh God!’ because I’d never done it before.”

"I remember Rory McCann [who played the Hound], saying, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I replied, ‘I’ve sold my soul to HBO.’ Rory replied, ‘Shut up and think of your pension!’"

I’m also glad to hear that the real Rory McCann acts incredibly consistently with the Hound. Now him I’d definitely recognize on the street.

Conleth Hill has a busy 2022. You can see him in a trio of TV series: Magpie Murders, Holding and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

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