The Game of Thrones star, who plays King Joffrey Baratheon, will quit acting following the ending of the series.
“It was always a recreation beforehand, but when I started doing Game of Thrones, perhaps the reality was made too real for me,” Gleeson said as reported by The Wrap.
The 21-year-old star of Game of Thrones recently returned from trip to Haiti with the international humanitarian agency, GOAL. According to The Huffington Post, working with GOAL and studying philosophy at Trinity College made him look differently at his life: “Since going to Trinity and garnering an interest in philosophy and with GOAL and my theater company I’ve kind of just re-evaluated what I want to do.”
Gleeson auditioned for the role in GoT at 17 and it does not seem like he has enjoyed the attention he received since then: “It was always a recreation beforehand, but when I started doing Game of Thrones perhaps the reality was made too real for me,.” In addition, the actor also said that, “The lifestyle that comes with being an actor in a successful TV show isn’t something I gravitate towards.”
The Game of Thrones star went with GOAL to Haiti where an earthquake killed 230,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless three years back. “It was inspiring to see the improvements being made in Haiti, to see the motivation of the people to improve the quality of life,” added Gleeson, whose uncle worked with the charity in the 1980s.
According to Zap2It, the young actor dislikes acting because many people hate his character, King Joffrey. Even though he is involved in charity work, people still have a hard time differentiating the real life Gleeson from his character. In addition, he said that he does not watch himself in Game of Thrones, but when he does catch clips, he doesn’t like what he sees. “You tend to abstract yourself from the creepiness of it when you’re playing it, but when you see it on television it sends shivers down my spine,” says Gleeson. “I would like to try and defend him, but I would have a pretty hard job doing it. I suppose he’s the product of his context and his family. In terms of redeemable qualities, there wouldn’t be many.”
Still, the GoT star admits that his opinion might change after retiring his acting career. “I have wanted to become an actor and it’s just the last few years I’ve started to change my mind about it, so I’m liable to change it again.”
The Trinity College student mentioned, “I’d been looking to use the celebrity I’ve got from the show to bring awareness for causes Goal supports.”
Game of Thrones will return on HBO in the spring of 2014 with its fourth season. The show recently cast actor Struan Rodger for the role of the human form of the Three-Eyed Raven (Bloodraven) and Yuri Kolokolnikov for the character of Styr.