Between getting his head lopped off on Game of Thrones, being an archery practice dummy in Lord of the Rings and being crushed by a giant antenna in Goldeneye, it’s a bit of an understatement to say that Sean Bean has had his fair share of epic onscreen deaths.
Well folks, it’s time to retire the “Sean Bean dies in this movie/show” joke because he is tired of meeting the grim reaper for your entertainment.
Chatting to The Sun, the actor says he’s had enough of playing characters who get shuffled off this mortal coil. In fact, he’s gone one step further by turning down roles that see him bite the dust.
“I’ve turned down stuff. I’ve said, ‘They know my character’s going to die because I’m in it!’ I just had to cut that out and start surviving, otherwise it was all a bit predictable.
And you know what, fair play to him. There’s only so many times you can die (onscreen) before it gets boring and when you’ve been doing it for 35 or so years like Sean Bean, it’s bound to get a little boring.
While the glorious deaths spanning from the 80s to Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones are no longer going to happen, Sean is open to grievous bodily harm (onscreen) – just as long as he survives.
“I did do one job and they said, ‘We’re going to kill you’, and I was like, ‘Oh no!’ and then they said, ‘Well, can we injure you badly?’ and I was like, ‘OK, so long as I stay alive this time’.”
“Sean Bean gets seriously injured” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as “Sean Bean dies” but hey, we’ll take what we can get at this point.
It’s been a good run folks and we’ll forever have those memories of the actor’s many onscreen deaths – and that hilarious “Don’t kill Sean Bean” social media campaign – but the joke is officially over and it’s time to find a new one.
We hereby nominate Samuel L. Jackson as Sean Bean’s replacement. Not only does he actually have more onscreen deaths than the man who was once Ned Stark but he seems to have no qualms about carking it as long as it’s a cool-looking death.