Game of Thrones had a lot of iconic confrontations between rival characters, and for eight seasons, we’ve all been waiting to see the Clegane brothers lock horns. It took a long while, but we finally got our wish in the final season after The Hound and The Mountain beat each other at the crumbling steps of the Red Keep.
Known in the fandom world as the Cleganebowl, the duel between the estranged brothers was one of the most rigorous fight scenes in the show. It’s worth noting that no such thing has ever happened in the books, and it seemed like a mere fan service, but who knows? George R.R. Martin could whip something up to make it canon.
Rory McCann’s reaction to his fight scene with Hafthor Bjornsson in Game of Thrones
Rory McCann and Hafthor Bjornsson were extremely prepared for the awaited Cleganebowl scene in Game of Thrones Season 8 in hopes of delivering one of the most unforgettable clashes in the show. The Hound actor was super excited to tackle his on-screen enemy, but he did not expect how dangerous it would be.
The scene took place in the ruins of the Red Keep. While Daenerys Targaryen rode on her dragon above King’s Landing, Sandor and Gregor Clegane fought to death in the staircase beneath. While speaking with HBO for Making Game of Thrones (via Trip Wire Magazine), the actor shared how terrified he was after learning the choreography:
I had the stuntmen saying to the strongest man in the world, “When you pick up Rory, just throw him at half strength onto the wall over there” and I’m going, “Woah, woah, woah, that’s still a lot of brute force, can we go down to 10 percent maybe?” So I was a bit battered and bruised.
Bjornsson was hailed as the World’s Strongest Man in 2018 and has continued securing spots in the competition for nine consecutive times. His other tournaments included World’s Ultimate Strongman, Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe’s Strongest Man, and Strongest Man on Earth. Those titles would have sent shivers down McCann’s spine.
Since Bjornsson also struggled with his prosthetics, he wasn’t able to harness all of his strength during their scene. McCann was relieved by this, and he was quite happy to know that his costar was very gentle on him, but nonetheless, they had an epic time performing the legendary fight.
Hafthor Bjornsson was so chill about the Cleganebowl
Filming the Cleganebowl scene also took more time than we assumed. While speaking over the phone with 9Honey Celebrity, Bjornsson said that he and his costar had a hard week of training, and those few minutes of screen time between The Hound and The Mountain took almost a week to film.
Regardless, he wasn’t too pressured about the whole thing. He was aware of the hype and anticipation, but he put his full trust in the people behind the show to make his fight with The Hound look great on screen.
Game of Thrones is currently available to watch on Max.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
