George R.R. Martin and Jack Gleeson talk Game of Thrones shocking Season 4 death

Sunday's episode of Game of Thrones, just the second installment in Season 4, provided us with another shocking moment when Joffrey, the evil child-king fans love to hate, literally dropped dead at his wedding, seemingly because of poison.

Both George R.R. Martin, the creator of the world of Westeros, and actor Jack Gleeson, who brought Joffrey to life on screen, spoke to EW.com and talked about the pivotal scene. Firstly, Martin said he tried to give the scene more depth than just the typical death of a bad guy:

"I also tried to provide a certain moment of pathos with the death. I mean, Joffrey, as monstrous as he is - and certainly he's just as monstrous in the books as he is in the TV show, and Jack has brought some incredible acting chops to the role that somehow makes him even more loathsome than he is on the page - but Joffrey in the books is still a 13-year-old kid. And there's kind of a moment there where he knows that he's dying and he can't get a breath and he's kind of looking at Tyrion and at his mother and at the other people in the hall with just terror and appeal in his eyes-you know, 'Help me mommy, I'm dying.' And in that moment, I think even Tyrion sees a 13-year-old boy dying before him. So I didn't want it to be entirely, 'Hey-ho, the witch is dead.' I wanted the impact of the death to still strike home on to perhaps more complex feelings on the part of the audience, not necessarily just cheering."

Gleeson, meanwhile, said he has known about Joffrey's fate from day one and also revealed that he is retiring from acting at age 21. He has one year of college left and described his future as wide open. As for how fans will react to Joffrey's death, he said:

"I think it will be 50-50. There will be a delight that the person tormenting their favorite characters is gone, but I would like to think there's a certain sadness at the loss of the delight people take in hating a character like Joffrey."

How did you react to Joffrey's death? Let us know in the comments below.