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Game of Thrones actor says he got death threats because of his character

Published 13:21 30 May 2018 BST

Keeley Ryan

Game of Thrones actor says he got death threats because of his character

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He was 15 years old at the time.

A former Game of Thrones actor has told how he received sickening death threats following his character's actions on the show. Brenock O'Connor played Olly, the young member Night's Watch who Jon Snow tried to take under his wing throughout season 5. However, things turned sour (to put it mildly) between them when Jon became the Lord Commander and made an alliance with the Wildlings, who had slaughtered Olly's family. The rest of this story contains spoilers for season 5 of Game of Thrones.

In the season 5 finale, the teen told Jon that his uncle Benjen had returned and got him to go into Castle Black's courtyard. Which was, of course, a total lie. And also the spot that other members of the Night's Watch attacked and stabbed Jon to death. Jon was ultimately resurrected soon after season 6 began, and Olly - as well as the rest of the men who stabbed Jon - were hung for their crimes. However, in the wake of the season 5 finale, some fans began to send the then-15-year-old actor some shocking threats.

Brenock, who is now 18, told The Sun that he reckons there was a positive side to the experience. He explained:

“I woke up and I had a tweet from a random guy in America, and it hadn't even come out in England because it was aired the night before in America, and it was, 'I'm going to murder you and your family and rape their corpses and feed it to my dogs'. “I was 15 at the time and was like 'OK, so that's out there'. But you've just got to take it because you've done a believable job. Pat yourself on the back. “You've just got to let skim over you — it's not real.”

The actor also said that he had no idea about Jon Snow's death until just three weeks before they actually filmed it. And he reckoned he would become slightly unpopular among fans once it aired, having killed Jon's lover Ygritye the year before. He added:

“I had no idea it was coming until three weeks before I shot it. "They just send you the script two episodes at a time and I got it and went, 'Wow this is huge but people are going to hate me' because obviously I killed Ygritte the year before "I was like I'm taking them all out. I knew when I was coming back. No one told me but I knew that if I was coming back for season six I was not going to survive. "There's no way you can kill two main characters and get away with it."

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He was 15 years old at the time.

Brenock, who is now 18, told The Sun that he reckons there was a positive side to the experience. He explained:

“I woke up and I had a tweet from a random guy in America, and it hadn't even come out in England because it was aired the night before in America, and it was, 'I'm going to murder you and your family and rape their corpses and feed it to my dogs'. “I was 15 at the time and was like 'OK, so that's out there'. But you've just got to take it because you've done a believable job. Pat yourself on the back. “You've just got to let skim over you — it's not real.”

“I had no idea it was coming until three weeks before I shot it. "They just send you the script two episodes at a time and I got it and went, 'Wow this is huge but people are going to hate me' because obviously I killed Ygritte the year before "I was like I'm taking them all out. I knew when I was coming back. No one told me but I knew that if I was coming back for season six I was not going to survive. "There's no way you can kill two main characters and get away with it."