Pedro Pascal Fell Asleep Filming His Most Iconic Scene
Pedro Pascal took a snooze during the filming of his brutal last scene in Game of Thrones when he faced off against the towering Mountain.
What do dads love more than naps, cold beer, and making sure the thermostat never changes? Now that Pedro Pascal has moved to the next level and been dubbed the internet’s daddy (we know this isn’t the right definition but just go with it) his latest reveal of sleeping during a pivotal Game of Thrones moment will come as a surprise to no one. In between bites of spicy chicken wings on a recent installment of the YouTube series Hot Ones, in a clip that you can see below, The Last of Us actor revealed that he couldn’t help but drift off into dreamland during his character’s gore and drama-filled death scene.
When Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn Martell aka the Prince of Dorne rode into King’s Landing on his high horse, he was there to seek one thing — revenge. Audiences cheered for the snarky and clever Oberyn as he outsmarted the Lannisters and gave them a taste of their own medicine. But, when he finally got his chance to destroy the man who had raped and killed his beloved sister, Oberyn came up short and instead met his own bloody death. It was during his character’s final moments that Pascal recalls falling into “the deepest sleep I’ve been in.”
Speaking to the brutally hot conditions that the cast was filming in on the day of what would become the eighth episode of the hit show’s fourth season, aptly titled “The Mountain and the Viper,” Pedro Pascal said that the “best part” of his day was having his “head crushed in.” Apparently, the blood that we saw explode from Prince Oberyn’s eyes when the Mountain (Hafbór Júlíus Björnsson) jammed his thumbs into his sockets, was a sort of “cool blood” that came out from “tubing.” After his character breathed his last breath and the actor was off the hook for the rest of the day, he says that he couldn’t help but fall asleep.
Knowing he had to stay “really, really still” so the cast and crew could get the rest of the shots they needed, Pedro Pascal says that he was able to fully relax his body after what was an exhausting “four-day fight” scene. “It was very cathartic,” the actor says, before revealing that he was able to sleep like a baby following a scene that was beyond traumatic and heartbreaking — even for those of us who knew it was coming. Adding to his memories of his short but sweet time on HBO’s mega-hit, Pascal describes his on-screen nemesis, Björnsson’s the Mountain, as “the gentlest guy ever,” which only further aided in his lull to sleep.
While he previously appeared in one-off roles in projects including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it would be his role as the doomed prince on Game of Thrones that would launch Pedro Pascal to the celebrity status that he holds today. Shortly after his brief stint on Thrones, the actor was cast in Netflix’s hit series Narcos and has since dazzled audiences in his beloved roles on Disney+’s The Mandalorian and HBO’s latest number-crushing series The Last of Us.
He’s also been dominating the silver screen, having recently appeared in comedies The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and The Bubble. Next, theatergoers can expect to see Pedro Pascal featured in Freaky Tales, The Uninvited, and Tropico. And of course, he’ll be seen in the already highly-anticipated second-season return of The Last of Us.
