Game of Thrones showrunners break bad news to a cast member on Jimmy Kimmel (sort of)

With the final episodes of Game of Thrones upon us, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss stopped by Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night to discuss several things to the late night talk show host, including pitching their idea for a show to A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, their original not-so-great pilot for the series, and to (not) answer Jimmy’s questions about what fans can expect in the show’s last few episodes.

And in addition to all of this, Benioff and Weiss also explain how they break the bad news to cast members when their characters are about to be killed off. 

“Traditionally, we made these ‘death calls,’” Benioff explained. “Before the actors get the script, we want to tell them personally.” 

Naturally, Kimmel wanted to know if they could make one of these sensitive and sometime uncomfortable “death calls” right then and there on the show? So, of course Benioff and Weiss immediately acquiesced. Weiss immediately pulled out his phone and dialed, then delivered some bad news to a Game of Thrones cast member. 

Rather than explain how it went, we’ll let you see for yourself:

Well, okay. So, in this case, the call wasn’t so difficult. In fact, it was pretty freakin' funny. 

You can check out their entire segment on the show here.  

Game of Thrones airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.