Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) talks Greyscale

It was a twist you probably saw coming even if you were only sort of paying attention to Game of Thrones this past Sunday. After a tender moment spent bonding over poetry, Jorah Mormont and Tyrion Lannister were attacked by the hideous and terrifying stone men. Jorah’s first reaction was to warn Tyrion not to let the stone men touch him, inferring that greyscale could be spread through skin on skin contact. Tyrion fell into the river, but thankfully Jorah saved him from drowning. However, before the credits rolled, Jorah pulled back his sleeve to reveal what is most certainly his death sentence…greyscale.

The actor who so excellently portrays Jorah Mormont, Iain Glen, sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss this plot twist. EW notes that Glen found out that Jorah would be contracting greyscale when he first read the script for “Kill the Boy.”

“I thought, ‘Uh-oh, here comes trouble. Then you start reaching out for what this means, and [showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff] are playing their cards very close to their vest on this one.”

On a show where the producers have shown a willingness to kill off any character at any time, it’s reasonable to expect the actors to always be on their toes. All one has to do is look at how Ian McElhinney reacted to Barristan the Bold’s untimely departure to gauge how the actors respond when things aren’t looking good for their characters.

Glen goes on to talk about how greyscale isn’t necessarily a death sentence, as the show has gone to great lengths to show how Shireen Baratheon is living with the disease.

“But in this story, people have died from it and they have been saved from it. So who knows? It’s a slow burn, greyscale, and there are ways to intervene.”

Hey, at least Iain Glen has some hope. I mean, there’s no way in seven hells that the showrunners would kill off a character that’s been with Dany since Season 1, right? At this point, with all the talk this season regarding greyscale, I have a bad feeling about Ser Friendzone’s future.

But Glen seems happy to be getting the opportunity to play a few different kinds of scenes, as for example scenes that don’t involve Daenerys. Up until this year, Jorah has always been at the right hand of the Dragon Queen, but Season 5 has let him interact with Peter Dinklage, a series heavyweight. “He’s the type of actor I really like,” Glen said of Dinklage. “He can be serious when he needs to be, but then he’s not when he doesn’t need to be.”

Finally, Glen teased a major action sequence Jorah will be involved in later this season. “I’ve had bits and pieces of fighting through the course of the seasons,” he said. “…but this season will be the most substantial fighting I’ve had.” Well Daenerys just opened up the fighting pits in “Kill the Boy.” Perhaps Jorah will try to win her heart back by proving his devotion in the pit.

You can read EW’s interview with Iain Glen in its entirety at here.

• Published on 05/13/2015 at 3:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:04 PM CDT