During a 2020 conversation with Variety, David Benioff touched on Pedro Pascal’s time on “Game of Thrones” as Oberyn Martell. When asked if there was ever a debate over killing the character off so soon, Benioff made it clear that it was the best course of action they could possibly take. “Part of the reason people remember Oberyn is because he died so horribly. And if we hadn’t killed him, poor Pedro never could have done ‘Narcos.’ So, it worked out,” Benoiff said, implying that Martell’s death paved the way for Pascal’s rise to superstardom via the Netflix series “Narcos” and beyond.
As it turns out, Pascal isn’t exactly heartbroken over Martell’s demise at the hands (literally) of Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson). In fact, he’s glad that it ultimately went down the way it did, as he told Esquire in 2022. “Makes me feel like a boss. If I’m actually up there and if I’m in the top three, I mean then, like, everything after is a bit futile,” he said, referencing the fact that Martell’s death is regarded as one of the best — and most difficult to watch — in the entirety of “Game of Thrones.”
Pedro Pascal may not have gotten to play Oberyn Martell for very long, but David Benioff does raise a good point. That character and his swift yet memorable death worked wonders for Pascal’s career.
