Jack Gleeson Talks King Joffrey's Death, Actor Exits 'Game of Thrones'
Jack Gleeson, who portrays King Joffrey on "Game of Thrones," shared his own reaction to the shocking plot twist on HBO's hit series recently.
Spoiler alert: Gleeson's character, the deplorable Joffrey, dies during his wedding after drinking poisoned wine. The 21-year-old actor usually avoids media interviews, but has opened up about his exit from "GOT" this week.
"It's relieving, in a way," the actor recounted of filming the final scene to Entertainment Weekly. "You want to do the scene and character justice. It's a complicated scene, I've never had a death on screen before. You want it to look believable- the choking and the coughing. It's calming to know I'm in the great hands of [director] Alex Graves."
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Gleeson also revealed his guess for the audience who hated his "GOT" character for so long.
"I think it will be 50-50," he said. "There will be a delight that the person tormenting their favorite characters is gone, but I would like to think there's a certain sadness at the loss of the delight people take in hating a character like Joffrey."
Consequent to Joffrey's death, Gleeson is not only leaving "GOT," but acting altogether.
"I've been acting since age 8," he explained to EW. "I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to. And how there's the prospect of doing it for a living, whereas up until now it was something I did for recreation with my friends, or in the summer for some fun. I enjoyed it. When you make a living from something, it changes your relationship with it. It's not like I hate it, it's just not what I want to do."
Gleeson's maniacal character was one of the most-hated characters on HBO's it series. However, the actor's co-star Natalie Dormer, who played Joffrey's bride, assured fans that the real Gleeson is nothing but kind.
"It was also sad because we were all saying goodbye to Jack," she told New York Daily News of the wedding scene. "'NAR' as we say, no acting required, when it got to that tragic point. Because Jack will be sorely missed. He is such a giving, sensitive and beautiful human being, so fun and cheeky."
