Fans may be mourning the death of a beloved “Game of Thrones” character, but the actor who portrays him is happy about it.
Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor, told Entertainment Weekly he was thrilled with how the show treated his exit Sunday night in an episode titled “The Door.”
“I couldn’t be happier how he has gone out,” Nairn said. “The interesting thing is it’s kinda left open. You don’t actually see him [die]. It’s implied. So who knows.”
Viewers learned the back story as to why the gentle giant and Bran Stark’s protector could only utter the word “Hodor” and watched as he was swarmed by White Walkers after being told to “Hold the door” while protecting Bran and Meera.
#HoldTheDoor quickly trended on Twitter as fans expressed their sadness.
Nairn said he was tipped off to the character’s apparent demise. “Some of my friends got the scripts before I did, so I sort of got the hint it was going to happen,” he told the magazine.
“With ‘Game of Thrones’ nothing is ever certain, and that I made it this far is pretty good. Ned Stark only made it to episode 9!”
As for his future, Nairn said to stay tuned.
“It’s been an incredible journey that completely turned my life upside down and gave me a lot of hope for the future,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly. “I can’t wait to see what comes next. I have a lot more words than ‘Hodor.’ “