Curtain Call: Pedro Pascal

Rarely do we, as book readers, have a role we are so conflicted about loving.

Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne, was near and dear to the hearts of many ASoIaF fans. We eagerly awaited his casting yet dreaded his all-too-soon departure. We knew the Unsullied show-watchers would probably fall in love with him too, and would cry their anguish to the heavens as we once did with that fat, cruel book in our hands.

That is if they cast him correctly. They had to, right? In Nina Gold We Trust.

This shooting star was an important character to us. So we waited on pins and needles, waited to see… could they get this right?

Well #$%& yeah they did.

Sure, there were some skeptics who cried out “But his skin is too light!” (Racists, I call them, but you might have a different word.)

Others screamed, “I’ve seen him in American television shows! He won’t be able to do a Dornish accent!” As though one of the requirements for the role should be having to have lived in Dorne at some point.

But the moment Pedro swaggered onto our television screens, all fire and quiet fury, even the skeptics shut their traps, some with a collective “Well damn,” used to punctuate their fall to silence.

Pedro was everything we wanted for the Red Viper and more; he made most book-readers sadder for being so good, and even gave rise to an unrequited What If The Producers Switch It Up And Keep Him Alive? rumor.

No, they did not keep him alive, for to do that would have been to rob the story of one of its crowning moments of sheer brutality, and George would be quite miffed by that. Oberyn was made to be that star that shone too brightly–fated to die and to leave his mark forever.

Pedro knew his role going in, and he drank deep of the cup that was offered, and god, we loved him for it.

But though Oberyn is done, Pedro is not. I am very interested in this man’s career now; like Jamie Sives and Amrita Acharia and Michelle Fairley, I will now actively seek out anything this man is in, knowing that it will probably be pretty damned good.

(And if it sucks… well, it probably ain’t his fault!)

Pedro’s dance card seems pretty full. Not only is he currently (I believe, else it just ended) doing Shakespeare in the Park in NYC, but he has a slew of projects in post-production, such as Exposed and Bloodsucking Bastards! (The latter, with Dollhouse stalwart Fran Kranz, sounds distinctly vampiric. No?)

To us, however, he will always be Oberyn. Through this princely man of Dorne, Pedro showed his skill, his grace, and his charm. I like to think we saw a little part of his soul in this too. I felt like he laid it all bare for us.

Speak, friends, Gatewatch advocates! Give him your love, and raise a glass to this man who became so very dear to us all.

Fire And Blood: We’ll miss you, Pedro! Gone but never, ever forgotten–welcome to epic television immortality.

• Published on 06/05/2014 at 5:08 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:41 PM CDT