Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Whether you’re watching Deadwood, John Wick, or Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, it’s hard not to like Ian McShane and his trademark surly demeanor. He’s like one of those cool older kids in high school who acted like he didn’t care about anything and would rather grumble a swear word than say hello, but that just made you want to talk to him even more. Apparently, though, his “cool older kid” shtick isn’t really an act and he really doesn’t care about anything—including spoiling Game Of Thrones.


McShane courted some outrage late last year when he committed the mortal sin of revealing minor details about the character he’ll be playing in one episode of Game Of Thrones this season, saying that he’s “responsible for bringing somebody back that you think you’re never going to see again.” The internet responded as reasonably as it always does to things like this (which is to say not at all), but a bunch of geeks on Twitter aren’t going to get under McShane’s skin. It’s far too tough and leathery for that.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph (via Vulture), McShane discussed the incident, noting, “you say the slightest thing and the internet goes ape.” He says he “was accused of giving the plot away” by some people, but McShane has a simple response for anyone who got especially pissed at him for that: “Get a fucking life. It’s only tits and dragons.” Just in case that’s not enough contempt for Game Of Thrones, he also says he only took the gig in the first place so he could see his “old pals Charlie Dance and Stephen Dillane,” both of whom have been killed off, but he ended up taking the part anyway when he found out that it was only for one episode. “That means I must die at the end of it,” he says, most likely with a huge grin on his face because he’s super cool.


Game Of Thrones returns to HBO on April 24.