Maybe The Hound wasn’t ‘done for,’ after all.
[dropcap size=small]W[/dropcap]e last left The Hound in a very bad state after an epic sword fight against Brienne of Tarth in season 4.
Ignoring his pleas for a quick final blow to end the pain, Ayra Stark left him there to die in agony. It left us with a somewhat open end to the Hound’s fate, and we still don’t truly know if he’s dead or alive.
Well, you better get some chickens ready, because it seems it may not have been the last we’ll see of Ayra’s former tag-along.
Actor Ian McShane is joining the Game of Thrones cast for the new upcoming season this April, and while he is on the casting list, no character name has yet been revealed.
During a chat with BBC Radio 5, McShane shed quite a bit of light on his role:
The character is like a former warrior who has renounced violence and now leads this peace cult around wherever they are.
McShane has essentially let slip that he is most probably going to be playing the Elder Brother, who’s a community leader on the Quiet Isle with healing powers. Brienne of Tarth encounters him in the novel, A Feast of Crows, alongside a mysterious grave digger who’s taller than Brienne in stature.
While this a new development in and of itself, what McShane went on to say is even more news worthy:
I have nursed a loved character, a much loved character, back to life, and it reintroduces, I won’t say him or her…But it’s a character that’s much loved who everybody thinks has died, and he’s not dead.
The BBC Radio 5 host surmised that it could only be Jon Snow or The Hound, to which McShane teased:
I’ll leave you with that one. I think you might’ve guessed which one it is. If it’s not the latter, it might be the former.
Many have put forward the theory that the aforementioned grave digger the Elder Brother is seen with in the novel, is in fact The Hound, and it is also believed that the Elder Brother uses his healing powers to restore The Hound back to health.
With this in mind, it can only mean The Hound is the one McShane refers to, and with rumours that Hound actor Rory McCann has been sighted on set, its just got to be.
Since he was such a fantastic character in the series, we sincerely hope we see his lovely scarred face again, along with some more chicken-related fights. You can never have too many, after all.
We’ll find out if The Hound will be back in Game of Thrones season 6, due to air 24 April, 2016.
