At the premiere of his new Amazon Prime spy thriller Citadel, actor Richard Madden was asked by Variety to recall his breakout role as Robb Stark on Game of Thrones, and the infamous Red Wedding scene where his character died.
“I remember a lot of crying because at the end of if, I was going to be apart from my family that I had lived with for five years – my on screen mother and my wife and this crew that had spend a lot of time together, so it was traumatic not only to shoot but traumatic because I was losing my family,” Madden said.
The Red Wedding went down in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season 3, titled “The Rains of Castamere.” That episode aired on June 2, 2013, so we’re approaching the 10-year anniversary. Even a decade later, it remains one of the most shocking scenes ever shown on television.
Richard Madden hasn’t seen HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon
At this point in the story, the War of the Five Kings was well underway and Robb Stark was looking to repair his alliance with the unpleasant but powerful Lord Walder Frey. Everything seemed to be going well, as Robb’s uncle Edmure was marrying one of Walder Frey’s granddaughters. But then things went completely sideways at the wedding banquet; Frey soldiers stabbed Robb’s pregnant wife Talisa Maegor while Robb and his mother Catelyn are shot with crossbow bolts.
The Freys begin slaughtering Robb’s northern army in a shocking turn of events. Catelyn tries to negotiate Robb’s release by putting a knife to the throat of Walder Frey’s way-too-young wife, but Walder doesn’t care and says he will simply find another. Roose Bolton, one of Robb’s northern lords, stabs Robb in the heart while Catelyn watches in horror before she herself is killed by a Frey. It was unbelievable that the show would kill this many main characters in one scene, but it did, and it still hurts.
Since Madden’s departure from Game of Thrones, he has enjoyed a flourishing career with roles in movies like Rocketman, 1917 and Marvel’s Eternals. Online rumors also suggest that Madden is a candidate to be the next actor to play James Bond.
Variety also asked if Madden has seen the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, which takes place about 200 years prior to the events of Thrones. “I’ve been very busy doing other things, but I’ll get around to it,” Madden said.
Season 2 of House of the Dragon is currently filming and will hopefully premiere sometime in 2024.
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