Hi everyone and thank you for tuning in to the more ways than one in the eyes of many. He's a Scotsman who burst onto the scene as Rob Stark on the first three seasons of Game of Thrones spanning 2011 through 2013 and who earlier this year won the best actor in a drama series Golden Globe Award for his portrayal

of Sergeant David Bud, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who grapples with PTSD as he protects

the British Home Secretary who was largely responsible for that war happening in the first place

on the BBC 1 smash-hit-turned- Netflix-stream show bodyguard

Richard Madden

over the course of our conversation at the offices of the Hollywood reporter, the 32-year-old and I discussed

how an insecure and overweight kid wound up acting in the first place, how he came to spend

five years of his life working on Game of Thrones and

how his departure via the Red Wedding emotionally jolted him, why bodyguard was so arduous

an experience that it almost caused him to quit acting altogether.

Before that is, he saw the fruits of his labor.

What's next for him in terms of both confirmed projects like the fourth coming out in John Biopick Rocketman,

and rumored jobs, such as a return to the part of Sergeant Bud

on a second season of bodyguard

and perhaps a shot at the role of James Bond

in the 26th installment of the 007 franchise, plus much more.

So without further ado, let's go to that conversation.

Richard, thank you so much for joining us, really appreciate it.

We always begin with just a few basics. Where were you born and raised and what did your folks do for a living?

Thank you very much for having me. I was born and raised in a little village called

Eldersley in Scotland. My father was in the fire service for 30 years and my mother

was a classroom assistant in the primary school that I went to but not while I was there.

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