Sean Bean is a god among the nerd community. His filmography features major pillars of nerdom such as Lord Of The Rings, Game Of Thrones, and Goldeneye. Other than his impressive acting chops, nerd-friendly collection of iconic roles, and popular memes, he is known for another thing. He dies in every movie, ever.
What was an ongoing joke among film buffs for years eventually made it’s way to the man himself. Our beloved Sean Bean sat down for a panel with an auditorium full of adoring fans at Wizard World Philadelphia. One thing was very clear from the beginning, Mr. Bean is very aware of his status as both the subject of some of the most popular memes on the interest and his reputation for great characters that always die.
Not only is he aware of his high on-screen death count, but he claims to have his eye on perhaps passing Christopher Lee’s number. After a lovely introduction and some time with Bean sharing his Philadelphia experience, the floor opened for questions by the audience.
When asked which of his character’s demises he would want to live through, if he had to choose one, he gave a heartfelt answer. “I would choose Boromir’s death. It was a very human and significant final moment where a troubled man was finally at peace with himself after some questionable choices.”
One fan inquired about which character he would have liked to stick around for a little longer. “Probably all of them,” he spits out before the room erupts with laughter.
“I would’ve maybe liked to stick around either Lord Of The Rings or Game Of Thrones a bit longer given how long they both have lasted and how important they are to everyone.”
Well-constructed questions give way to well-thought answers off-the-cuff as Bean charms us all through stories of he and his character’s ways of thinking and approaching obstacles. He mentions being blown away by Ian McKellen in Macbeth, how he’s a major hero of his, and how surreal working alongside him was.
The scenes he was most proud of from GOT were those with Ned Stark’s children. “Ned was trapped between his obligations to his family and being king. He eventually made the wrong decision, that dichotomy was very powerful to me.”
The best possible answer came when asked what his most memorable scene from LOTR was. He simply responded with “honestly, my death.”
