Game of Thrones: Jack Gleeson on the shocking Purple Wedding episode

The 21-year-old, who hails from Ireland, is saying a farewell to fans of Game of Thrones after filming his on-screen death in a scene he's called "reliving", "tough" and "stressful".

"It was tough. I suppose it’s one of those things that you have no prior experience in. I’ve never seen anyone die. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like... It was fun in the end, but kind of stressful to be so focused, but acting like you’re completely unfocused," Gleeson told Entertainment Weekly, adding: "You want to do the scene and character justice. It’s a complicated scene; I’ve never had a death on screen before. You want it to look believable."

We don't think Gleeson has anything to be worried about there. We can all agree that Joffrey's demise was both convincing and suitably shocking...

Though, it wasn't all together a shock for everyone - Gleeson's been in on the secret since the beginning.

"I knew from day one. When I got the part, I read the first book. And before that, I Googled the character summaries," he said.

But he's okay with saying goodbye to the hit HBO fantasy drama, because, for the minute at least, he's happy to say goodbye to acting. "I’ve been acting since age 8. I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to... It’s not like I hate it, it’s just not what I want to do."

Though he's not quite sure what he'll do post-Joffrey - "No idea. I have one year left in college. After that, I might do a post-graduate of some kind, but I don’t know in what" - so you never know, fingers crossed the actor who so convincingly played detestable young king will be back.

"When I’m destitute in 10 years time, I’ll accept any script!" he joked.

Game of Thrones continues on Mondays at 9:00pm on Sky Atlantic

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