'Game of Thrones': DeObia Oparei on Playing the Most Dangerous Man in Dorne

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It’s not easy to make an impression when you’ve only got a handful of lines of dialogue, but DeObia Oparei, as Prince Doran’s bodyguard Areo Hotah, does just that. As the captain of the guard, he is an imposing presence whenever Game of Thrones travels to Dorne. We asked Oparei about how an actor can do so much with so little, getting into the psychology of the stoic figure, as well as the physical demands of the role… and whose head he may have almost taken off while training.

Part of what draws your eye to Hotah is the sense that there’s a lot going on just beneath his stone-faced exterior. That’s due in great part to the books on which the show is based. Not everyone in the cast reads the books, but for Oparei, they were essential. He is a point-of-view character in the last two books, and he says, “George R.R. Martin gives a brilliant backstory for Areo.” We learn about his feelings for his mother, who was forced to give him up at a young age; his years in the monastery; and “the fact that his closest relationship is with his weapon, his axe.”

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“As an actor, that’s just gold to be able to read that stuff,” Oparei tells Yahoo TV, even if that story never makes it into the script. So what is going on behind those eyes? “Areo, he functions as the CIA, the FBI of Dorne,“ Oparei says. "His mind is just a database of everybody’s feelings, emotions, weaknesses, what their Achilles’s heel is.”

As we saw last week, when the Sand Snakes tried to abduct Myrcella, Areo was ready for them. “I think he knows each of Oberyn’s daughters intimately well, just through observation,” Oparei says. “He’s an observer; that’s the exciting thing about Areo.”

Oparei hints that we may be surprised by how protective Areo gets as the season progresses, both towards his prince, Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig) and, “Toby Sebastian’s character, the prince’s son [Trystane Martell] — just how far he’s prepared to go to keep everything in order, despite what has happened.”

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Areo’s mission — almost from childhood — has been to protect the prince, and his fondness for all of the family may make him the most dangerous man in Dorne, Oparei says. “That’s his life: A life of honor is more important for him than a life of fame.”

Oparei calls working on Game of Thrones a joy ride. “We’re in great locations: very warm, very beautiful, very sunny. It’s just really a well-oiled machine.” The fans in Spain were intense, he says: “They were stationed in front of the hotel,” and though he’s experienced fandom before (he’s been part of the Alien franchise, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and Moulin Rouge, as well as runs at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre), “I’d never seen that level of fanaticism before.”

Related: ‘Game of Thrones’: Even George R.R. Martin Doesn’t Want to Talk About Sansa’s Wedding Night

Oparei even enjoyed the physically grueling weapons training — though he does say it wasn’t easy. “It’s a huge axe! It’s the weight of a ten-year-old child, a male child. Wielding it above one’s head is a challenge,” he says, with a tone that suggests a good deal of understatement. The stunt trainers were top-notch, though he did admit that there was “maybe just a close call with Jaime Lannister” when we asked if he ever accidentally smacked anyone with his axe.

Last week, Areo and his royal guard broke up a fierce battle between the Sand Snakes and Jaime and Bronn. That could mean a bigger face-off between Areo and Jaime is on the way, though Oparei doesn’t think Jaime would stand much of a chance. What about if Jaime still had both hands, with the Kingslayer at the peak of his powers? Oparei laughs: “I’d say it has to be Areo… but let’s see what [showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] say!”

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.