Season 6 of Game of Thrones featured some major plot twists that were hard to watch without yelling at the characters. Rickon Stark's demise was one such plot twist as he literally ran for his life away from Ramsay Bolton. The little guy was so panicked at escaping Ser Flays-A-Lot and reaching his big brother Jon that he didn't even seem to consider zig-zagging. I can personally vouch for the fact that shouting "Serpentine, damnit!" at the TV was not enough to divert his course. SNL star Leslie Jones crossed paths with the guy who played Rickon, and she seized her opportunity to yell at him for not zig-zagging. Check it out!
Leslie Jones posted the video of her encounter with Art Parkinson on her Twitter, and it's definitely worth re-watching a few times. How many Game of Thrones fans could really say that our first instinct on seeing the guy who played Rickon wouldn't be to lecture him about zig-zagging when being hunted by an expert archer? Technically, it's a good lesson for anybody to learn. Art Parkinson should take note, even if Leslie Jones did only address him by his character's name.
Of course, Art Parkinson may well be sick of people telling him that Rickon should have zig-zagged. The poor kid is probably going to spend the rest of his career being reminded that his character on Game of Thrones died because he ran across a field in a straight line. The "Battle of the Bastards" episode that saw Rickon's tragic demise received an impressive 10/10 ranking on IMDb, and aired in a season that has drawn fantastic ratings from HBO subscribers, and took place on a show that is one of the most-pirated on television. A lot of people saw Rickon fail to serpentine his way to safety, and a lot of people will probably be re-watching the episode in the future. Parkinson will likely be called "Rickon" and shamed for not zig-zagging for years to come. Given how impassioned Leslie Jones was in their encounter, he may continue to hear it from her if they cross paths again.
Leslie Jones has never been afraid to speak her mind, so it's really no surprise that she'd want to give Rickon Stark/Art Parkinson a piece of her mind. The comedienne yelled at SNL bigwig Lorne Michaels during her audition for the show, and she recently took to Twitter to epically rant about some of the criticism that's been leveled at her new Ghostbusters film. If she felt that Rickon should have serpentined, "Rickon" was going to hear about it.
This is actually the second time that Leslie Jones has called a Game of Thrones actor by their character's name on camera. She co-starred with actor Peter Dinklage in the hilarious Naked and Afraid: Celebrity Edition sketch on SNL, and Dinklage was "Tyrion" from almost beginning to end. It was funny then with Dinklage, and it's funny now with Art Parkinson. Now that we're in the midst of a hiatus between Seasons 6 and 7 of Game of Thrones, we'll need all the laughs we can get to pass the time. Check out our breakdown of what we know so far about Game of Thrones Season 7 for a peek ahead.
