The ‘Game of Thrones’ Hound’s Actor Also Came Back From The Dead

If you quit Game of Thrones after season 4 (as we suggested as one option earlier in the week), you’d last see the character known as The Hound die on a rock. He lost a fight that was a big misunderstanding, making this the most miserable and pointless death of the series, and therefore the best.

The character returns, however, having survived his wounds through questionable means. When we next see him, he’s cutting trees for a living. The character’s actor, Rory McCann, also cut trees for a living, during those years where acting didn’t really seem to be working out. His first attempts to act involved auditioning for the part of a tough drunk, and while this seemed an easy gig, he lost the part because he kept laughing.

Also like his character the Hound, Rory McCann battled the mountain.

This was 1990, when he was 21. He was climbing in Yorkshire and found himself hanging on to a bit of rock and unable to maintain his grip. When he let go, he fell 70 feet. He cracked his head, as well as breaking his arm, wrist, and ankles. He did not die, however. A friend had been climbing with him, and rather than abandoning him and taking to sea, they fetched help.

A few months later, luck turned around for him when it came to acting. He got offered a part in a comedy called The Book Group. He’d play Kenny McLeod, a climber who’d fallen while climbing and lost the use of his legs. He didn’t get the part because of his recent accident; this was a total coincidence. He took the role and played it for two years.

For all of you who really wanted to watch The Hound sing (because you’d already seen Bronn sing and wanted more), here you go: