Another beloved “Game of Thrones” character has died in real life
Terrible news from the world of Westeros: Neil Fingleton, who played Mag the Mighty on Game of Thrones, died at the age of 36 from heart failure over the weekend.
Fingleton, who was also Britain’s tallest man at 7-feet-7-inches, joined the cast as “Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg” during the series’ fourth season in “The Watchers on the Wall.” A member of Mance Rayder’s army and king of all giants, Mag famously died in the tunnels underneath The Wall, taking out six brothers in black — including Jon Snow’s friend Grenn — along the way.
Both Rayder and Snow later toasted to Mag’s great memory.
In real life, Fingleton played college basketball for the University of North Carolina and the College of the Holy Cross. He took up acting after his hoops-shooting days were through, appearing on Doctor Who and in X-Men: First Class — in addition to doing some stunt work on Avengers: Age of Ultron — during his short but promising career.
Fingleton will be sorely missed, and for Game of Thrones fans, his tragically early death comes right on the heels of the passing of another GoT actor, Peter Vaughan. Vaughan played Maester Aemon on the series, and died at the age of 93 back in December.
