Throughout HBO's version of Game of Thrones, fans of George R.R. Martin's books bemoaned how the show was treating the characters in Dorne, including the Martells and the Sand Snakes. Those fans say the killing of Myrcella, and the Sand Snakes' penchant for revenge, doesn't make sense, and Doran is treated like a weak leader when in the books, he was scheming the whole time. And then, at the very start of the sixth season, Ellaria murders Doran suddenly, a move that even surprised Alexander Siddig, the actor who played Doran.

this image is not availablepinterest
Bear Grylls//Digital Spy

Siddig opened up to StarTrek.com (he played Dr. Julian Bashir on Deep Space Nine) about his time on Game of Thrones. Though he praised the crew and his on-set experience, he said that he wasn't too thrilled with how Doran Martell suddenly got offed at the beginning of the sixth season.

Apparently, him getting killed so suddenly wasn't part of the plan.

The fate of Siddig's character was unclear at the end of season five, but he was contracted for four more episodes in season six. But then, he was contacted by showrunners who told him they had planned to kill him off in season five, but decided to kill him in season six instead. Despite being contracted for those four episodes in season six, his character was killed off in episode one.

"If they were going to kill me off at the end of the last season, why would they contract me for those four episodes?" he said. "Because it costs them money whether I do them or not, so it's not great business sense to do it just in case. So something happened; I have no idea what."

Even today, he's still not sure what caused Thrones to kill his character so abruptly. "There was an enormous amount of fan excitement when I got named to be on the show, and everyone was like, 'Oh my god, yes, Doran Martell. He's going to be great as Doran Martell.' That might have been the kiss of death. Maybe they didn't want quite that much attention on that character," he said. "Or maybe I just screwed up. Maybe I said the wrong thing to the wrong person."

But in the end, he said it was a good thing he got offed, because Game of Thrones can really screw with an actor's schedule. "You don't earn as much as you would if you were doing another show, because they're Game of Thrones, and they don't have to pay anyone," he said. "So it's kind of a blessing in disguise."

From: Esquire US