Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant reveals why he turned down Game Of Thrones role: "I started that sh*t!"

By Paul Brannigan
( Classic Rock )
published

Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant shares his reasoning for rejecting an offer to appear in Game Of Thrones

Robert Plant
(Image credit: HELLE ARENSBAK/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Robert Plant has revealed why he turned down an offer to make a cameo appearance in Game Of Thrones, suggesting - in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner - that, having already famously drawn upon the idea of rampaging sword-bearing warriors in Led Zeppelin classic Immigrant Song, he didn't want to be "typecast" in the hugely successful fantasy series.

"I started that shit!" Plant tells Canadian broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos in a new interview.

The topic arose during a live-before-an-audience interview Stroumboulopoulos conducted with Plant, which the broadcaster has excerpted on his Twitter feed.

Asked if he ever watched George R. R. Martin's fantasy epic, Plant replies "No", then casually adds, "I got offered a part in that."

"And you said, No?" the broadcaster asks.

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to be typecast,” Plant jokes, to much laughter from the audience. "I mean, I started that shit!"

"Go back to Immigrant Song," the singer says, "and Led Zeppelin being part of a cultural exchange in Iceland with the Icelandic government. So they didn’t really know what they’d invited onto their little island."

Talking about his inspiration for penning the lyrics to the Led Zeppelin III classic, Plant continues, "So on the way back on the plane, I started thinking about... because I love Western European history from maybe the Bronze Age up through all the old religion... when we were really in touch with our earth. And so the Viking thing was obviously that whole idea of playing in Iceland and experiencing this amazing landscape and people."

"Yeah, I've got a lot to answer for, really," Plant jokes, "because I've never seen so many bands with double-bladed axes. [If it wasn't for Immigrant Song] they could have all looked like Soft Cell."

Asked what part he was offered in Game Of Thrones, in which Mastodon, Coldplay, Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, Sigur Rós and Ed Sheeran all appeared, Plant turns to his publicist off-camera and asks "What part was it Nick? Do you know?"

"I thought I got to ride a horse and go [adopts dramatic/heroic pose]..."

Watch the exchange below:

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Robert Plant is currently on tour alongside Alison Krauss: they play Denmark's Roskilde festival on June 29. 

Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.