When he took on the role of Drago on Game of Thrones, actor Jason Mamoa had some ideas about how he’d like to play the character say producers Dan Weiss and David Benioff. The showrunners say that it was Momoa’s idea to show why the Dothraki leader is so feared.
“Jason had good ideas about Drogo,” Benioff tell EW. “He had a high batting average of ideas he’d come to us that we liked and ended up using. And one thing he said fairly early on was, ‘I’m supposed to be the baddest man on the planet, I got this long braid because I’ve never lost a fight, and everybody is afraid of me. But nobody sees me fight, and isn’t that kind of lame?’”
The producers argued with the actor — at first.
“We told him, ‘No, it’s good, you’re so badass you don’t have to prove himself. You’re the victor of a thousand battles Jason, go back to your trailer,’” Benioff jokes.
But the more the producers thought about it, the more they realized Momoa was right. “There was something kind of strange with not getting to see this guy do what he does best.”
Adds Weiss: “You have this amazing asset in this actor and it’s a shame not to use it.”
So the producers figured out a way to work in a short fight that was also memorably graphic. “We did it in the Dothraki way, with lots of bloodshed, and it ended up being one of our favorite fights in the season,” Benioff says.
Benioff then wondered about the wisdom of admitting an actor convinced them to change the script. “This is going to come back and bite us on the ass.”
“They say that Khal Drago is a bad mutha—”
“Shut yo’ mouth!”
“But I’m just talkin’ bout Drago!”
“Well we can dig it!”
Not to be all spoilery, but there a part of me that, if my man fought an armed mofo barehanded…and did what Drago did to him, I’d be reeealy impressed. And turned on.
Just sayin’.
Mamoa brings it as Drago. Brings it and throws it down.
Yeah. I know. I mis-spelled Drogo.
Sorry.
Yeah, it was nice to see someone follow through on that whole ‘lungs’ threat.