Rory McCann is Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane in Game Of Thrones. Photo: HBO/Jonathan Ford
Only FOUR days before Game Of Thrones S7 premieres, folks.
One of the exclusive interviews we had with the show’s actors in London in May was with Rory McCann, who plays Sandor “The Hound” Clegane.
When we first met The Hound in S1, he was pretty much a savage with a history of doing really bad things. He and his older brother, Ser Gregor Clegnane (known as The Mountain), served House Lannister. He would later abandon his post, having had enough of his king’s petty demands.
While both the brothers are big men, The Hound has distinguishable burnt marks on the right side of his face. This is courtesy of Gregor, who burned off half his brother’s face after finding the latter playing with his toy, which he had discarded earlier.
Since then, The Hound has been afraid of fire.
Over six seasons, The Hound transformed into more than just a killing machine. Although his intention was not pure, he did somewhat save Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) from danger when he kidnapped her.
Last season, The Hound finally had a chance to completely turn his life around when he joined a band of peaceful villagers led by Septon Ray (Ian McShane). Instead of cutting off people’s heads, The Hound cut down trees to make firewood instead.
Unfortunately, that peaceful lifestyle did not last long when a group of bad people killed all his new friends; this prompted The Hound to seek revenge in the only way he knew how.
Actor McCann, whose face is very different from his character, told Star2.com about being the nice guy for a change. “He found a little peace… but it only lasted an episode or two, then you can see The Hound is back, with an axe in his hand and chopping people’s head off.”
The Hound has had an interesting story arc, from an outright villain to a more grey character. Photo: HBO
Chop chop
Erm, speaking of chopping, The Hound chops a lot of wood. When he was travelling with Arya, he chopped so much wood and so very aggressively too that he got so tired he didn’t even use them to make fire (which is also understandable, considering his aversion towards fire).
As it happens, McCann is very familiar with chopping wood.
“Have I chopped wood? I left school and worked as a forester for two years and then I had a business cutting down trees for 10 years. I cut down a tree last weekend. So the answer is yes. I have three axes and four chainsaws. No acting required.”
Although the 48-year-old Scotsman hates the process of sitting on the makeup chair for four hours to put on his character’s facial scar, he enjoys playing The Hound, as it takes him outdoors, where it’s cold.
“I like the cold,” he said.
The 1.98m actor also talked about his fight scenes with Gwendoline Christie (who plays the unflinching knight, Brienne of Tarth) at the end of S5. “I love Gwendoline. We trained a lot (for that scene) and we went outside to do it. So, all the ingredients I absolutely enjoy.”
Game Of Thrones S7 premieres July 17 at 9am on HBO (Astro Ch 411/431).
