Jack Gleeson, the 21-year-old, Game of Thrones
actor recently spoke with EW about last Sunday's seismic shift in Westeros politics. The King is dead and Tyrion actor Peter Dinklage (X-Men: Days of Future Past) is the chief suspect thanks to Cersei actress Lena Hedley (Dredd, 300:Rise of an Empire). But those things are for the next king to worry about. Reflecting on his time on the show and that epic death scene, Gleeson stated:
"I knew from Day 1 [that Joffrey was going to die]. When I got the part, I read the first book. And before that, I Googled the character summaries. I didn’t really think about it. I knew it was coming. I would have been surprised if it didn’t come in season 4. [In terms of whether fans will miss his character] I think it will be 50-50. There will be a delight that the person tormenting their favorite characters is gone, but I would like to think there’s a certain sadness at the loss of the delight people take in hating a character like Joffrey."
Gleeson goes on to confirm to EW that after 13 years of acting and at the ripe old age of 21, he's retiring from the profession. He plans to finish up his last year of collegiate studies and possibly enter graduate school.