Game of Thrones star Pedro Pascal on the traumatic showdown between Prince Oberyn and the Mountain

If Monday night’s episode of Game of Thrones was traumatic for fans, imagine how it must have felt for Pedro Pascal…

The actor who played the late Prince Oberyn Martell saw his own head being crushed like a melon in a shocking end to a trial by combat with the man they call the Mountain.

Not only that but he sat down to watch it for the first time on the night it was broadcast – with his family.

“I haven't [seen it], but I can't imagine,” Pascal admitted in an interview with HBO before the episode aired. “I have to watch it in time with everyone else. I worry for my family; I really do…”

But if Pascal hadn’t actually watched the scene at that point, he had been party to the grisly details much earlier on.

“I didn't know how [Oberyn] died, until I met [series creators] David Benioff and Dan Weiss in Belfast. They mentioned the crushing of my head in three steps: first the teeth, then the eyes, and finally the entire melon head.

“My first thought was, ‘Hopefully I'll be able to compete for a top spot for the most gruesome death on Game of Thrones…”

He also had the eerie experience of seeing the ill-fated model of his own head before it met its end.

“They made a cast of my head from the shoulders up and dressed it with facial hair and the expression of violent agony,” said Pascal.

“They caught me staring at my head on set. We never get a chance to see ourselves three-dimensionally, and it's totally different. Maybe there was a little narcissism or just the fascination of seeing myself in 360 degrees. I was like, "Holy s**t. I really look like my dad."