'Game Of Thrones' Star Sean Bean Shares In Fans' Shock

Actor talks about his initial reaction to the 'heroic' turn of events in 'Baelor.' Spoiler alert!
By Kara Warner

Sean Bean in "Game of Thrones"
Photo: Helen Sloan/ HBO

So how about Sunday night's episode of "Game of Thrones"? To say that it was a doozy barely scratches the surface of all the shameless double-crossing and bloodshed that occurred.

SPOILER ALERT!: For those who haven't yet watched "Baelor" (or read the novel), do not read any further. MAJOR, major spoilers ahead.

A recap can hardly do justice to the episode's gruesome events, which have been adapted quite faithfully from author George R.R. Martin's brilliant plot twists and turns, but we can provide you with a video interview of "Game of Thrones" star Sean Bean talking about the big "event."

"It's quite heroic, I suppose," Bean told MTV News of the lead into his character's shocking death scene. "I didn't just get knocked off and nobody notices. Plenty of people noticed," he said with a smile. "It was a good one."

Bean said that when he read Martin's book, Ned Stark's death was as much of a shock to him as anyone.

"He's such a predominant character, straight through all of it, and you think, 'Wait a minute, what's happening?' He's obviously been betrayed left and right and center, but you never thought it would come to this," he admitted. "Even the shock on his face before it happens it's like, 'But we made a deal.' It's a pretty awful ending and the kids are watching as well."

Bean said that the short-lived role was amazing to play, and the filming of his final scene was appropriately epic and ambitious.

"We were in Malta in the middle of a big square," he recalled. "A big piazza with hundreds and hundreds of people on a raised platform, I'm making a last speech, I have my hands tied behind back. I kind of say that I have betrayed the realm and I have been a traitor in order to save my children. ... It's real heartbreaking stuff."

But as Martin fans well know, this doesn't mean the end of shocking twists in the series, because, as Cersei Lannister put it, "In the game of thrones, you win, or you die."

What did you think of this shocking turn of events? Head over to the MTV Movies blog to vote in our "Game of Thrones" poll!

Luján Fernández Magdalena Wróbel Maggie Grace Maggie Gyllenhaal