Peter Dinklage reads his ‘Game of Thrones’ scripts backwards.
The 48-year-old actor admits he goes straight to the season finale when he receives a new block of dialogue in order to check if his alter ego, Tyrion Lannister, has made it through still alive.
He said: "Every season I go to the last page of the last episode and go backward.
"I don’t do that with books, but I can’t crack open page one of episode one not knowing if I’m dead or not."
As well as his desires for wine and sex, Tyrion is also out for love and respect on the show, but Peter thinks his character hides his secret needs well because he is so "smart" – as is proven by the fact he’s survived for so long.
He told the new issue of Time magazine: "He covers it up with alcohol, he covers it up with humour, he does his best to maintain a modicum of sanity and he perseveres.
"He’s still alive. Anyone who’s still alive on our show is pretty smart."
Peter admits he has never been a fan of fantasy fiction, but was drawn to the role of Tyrion because, as a dwarf, the character was so unlike anything else he’d be offered in the genre.
He explained: "That’s the part of the bookstore I don’t really gravitate toward.
"This was the first time in this genre that somebody my size was an actually multidimensional being, flesh and blood without the really long beard, without the pointy shoes, without the asexuality."
While plot details on the show are kept as tightly under wraps as possible, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss admit it isn’t easy.
David said: "Look at how difficult it is to protect information in this age. The CIA can’t do it. The NSA can’t do it. What chance do we have?"
Peter Dinklage checks for death scenes
