10 TV Shows That Cast Major Actors (Just To Die)
2. Ian McShane - Game Of Thrones
There was a lot of excitement when Ian McShane was cast in a "secret role" in Game of Thrones' sixth season, because despite McShane insisting the part was a "complete one-off," if you cast an actor of his stature, you're surely going to make it count, right?
As it turns out, McShane appears in just a single episode, "The Broken Man," for a few short scenes as Brother Ray, a reformed mercenary who helps nurse The Hound (Rory McCann) back to health.
Before episode's end, Ray and his fellow villagers are slaughtered and hanged by the Brotherhood without Banners, refusing to fight despite the Hound's insistence that the Brotherhood would return to kill them.
McShane said that there was one very simple reason that an actor of his repute was cast in such a minor role:
"They wrote a two-page speech – so that's why they invited me. It’s a big soliloquy, like in Deadwood, and they needed to get somebody who could do that. It was really well written."
Though McShane's brief stint was well received, he did catch some flak for spoiling the fact that the Hound made his long-awaited return in the season, to which he hilariously told fans: "get a f**king life."