Game of Thrones' Yara Greyjoy was nearly fired for breaking confidentiality

Literally before she'd even started filming

Words by Heather Mason

From the editors of HelloGiggles

Apparently, it’s not that difficult to be fired from Game of Thrones before you even appear on the show and have the chance to get killed. Even just mentioning that you’re on the show can get you kicked off — or *almost* fired. Just ask Yara Greyjoy!

While we all love to add a cool, new job to our resume, the Game of Thrones actress learned the hard way that the first rule of Westeros is that you do not disclose you’re moving in to Westeros. Talking to The Times, the actress behind Yara, Gemma Whelan, revealed that she was almost fired from the job before she even filmed her first scene.

All simply because she revealed that she had been cast as the character.

'The first lesson I learnt was when I first got the job. No-one told me to keep quiet about [the role],' she recalled. 'I just thought it was normal to pop it on my Spotlight entry, so I wrote on my CV, 'This summer, Gemma will be playing Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones.’ And the internet went nuts. One of the lovely, lovely producers on Thrones called me into his office and said, ‘This is very serious. We almost can’t employ you because of this.''

That was a close call! Clearly, the crew of Game of Thrones takes spoilers very seriously, so it makes sense that even the knowledge that a character is even showing up is considered a spoiler for them.

Luckily, she still got the gig and has been doing a fantastic job on the show alongside her brother Theon (played by Alfie Allen). Plus, she’ll be back in Season 7 to deal with her terrible uncle — good thing she has a great new ally named Daenerys Targaryen. We return to Westeros when Game of Thrones returns on July 16th on HBO.