The Real Reason Iwan Rheon Left Game Of Thrones

Across its near-decade-long run on the small screen, "Game of Thrones" made numerous contributions to popular culture. It reminded us all that it's indeed possible to drink and know things, it provided us with the musical hit "The Bear and the Maiden Fair," and perhaps most importantly, it displayed a vast assortment of heroes and villains that will live on for decades to come. Names like Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) endure as some of the small screen's most talked-about characters, and they're largely looked upon fondly, unlike Iwan Rheon's Ramsay Bolton.

Introduced in the Season 3 episode "Dark Wings, Dark Words," Ramsay Bolton was the illegitimate son of Lord Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton). He stood at his father's side as House Bolton betrayed House Stark and overtook Winterfell, but he had dark motives of his own. Upon killing Roose, his wife Walda (Elizabeth Webster), and their infant son, Ramsay took the throne for himself and ruled with an iron fist. Thankfully, his reign of terror came to an end by Season 6's "Battle of the Bastards," and as a result, Iwan Rheon's "GoT" tenure reached its conclusion as well.

So, what ultimately led to the departure of Rheon from "Game of Thrones"? Here's what we know about his exit from the award-winning series.

By the time Season 6 of "Game of Thrones" began, Ramsay Bolton had become a fixture of the program, and not for the best of reasons. Week in and week out, the former Ramsay Snow found new and disturbing ways to torture those in his life. This ranged from physically, verbally, and emotionally assaulting his wife, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), to stripping Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) of his identity in brutal ways. Therefore, when the time came for his comeuppance, it felt earned, and it came at the right time.

In an interview with GQ (via Express), Iwan Rheon spoke on the gruesome death of Ramsay Bolton, who was ripped to shreds by his own wild, hungry dogs. "I think this is a very fitting death, and a very just death, with some sense of irony...He's been banging on about these dogs for so long — and all of a sudden, he's their meal," Rheon said, and as he told Good Morning Britain (via Metro), leaving the role behind wasn't necessarily heartbreaking. "He wasn't a very nice young man...I'm kind of glad to put him behind me now."

Ramsay Bolton's time at the forefront of "Game of Thrones" was a difficult run to sit through for those with weak stomachs. He committed some horrific atrocities that weren't for the faint of heart and clearly weren't easy for Iwan Rheon himself to act out. Suffice to say, both the character and the actor behind him left the program at the proper time.