Super fans might well remember that before his head was lopped off by Ilyn Payne (played by Wilko Johnson) in the first series of Game of Thrones, Ned could be seen mumbling something.
While up until now the words have remained a mystery, Sean, 58, has divulged what the character was really saying.
It has transpired that the Stark patriarch was praying in his final moments.
The actor revealed to Huffington Post: “It appears that way, doesn’t it? I couldn’t be too specific because I don’t know if religion [like that] was around in those days, whatever they were.
“I just thought, ‘What would you do if this were really gonna happen?’ You probably would pray. You probably would murmur some words and you’d keep it quiet. You’d keep it to yourself. It’s quite subtle in that many people wouldn’t pick it up.
“It was an interesting thing to do for me at that point. There’s not much you can do really, you’ve got your head on a block.
“That’s about the only thing you can do is murmur.”
The actor also commented on the rumours of him returning to the show, and if HBO bosses had invited him back.
“No, they’ve never said that. And yeah, I’ve heard rumours, but not from very good sources that I might be back. But I think I’ve done my time there, and I created a good character. It’d be rather strange to see him resurrected.”
Ned’s shocking death at the close of the first instalment of the fantasy epic set the tone for the rest of the series where beloved characters are suddenly disposed of without warning.
However, it was also recently reported that all of the characters could die after a HBO boss delivered a shock statement.
At a panel titled The Best of HBO, the network’s senior vice president Francesca Orsi commented on the final table read, saying: “It was a really powerful moment in our lives and our careers.”
However, the HBO boss then dropped an enormous hint on the fate of the cast.
She continued: “None of the cast had received the scripts prior, and one by one they started falling down to their deaths.”
Does this mean it’s curtains for everyone in Westeros?
Game of Thrones returns to Sky Atlantic in 2019.
