... yes, it's Rory McCann, a wonderful Scots actor.

Most of you figured that out weeks ago, of course. Mea culpa. My clues were much too obvious this time around, especially the spelling of "porage," which yielded up the secret to anyone who googled the word. If I had gone with "porridge," that might have created a few more hours of mystery at least.

Here's the Scotts Porage Oats commercial from which the clue was taken:


As for my second clue, "the dog is green," well, that one was pretty easy to find as well, once you found McCann's name from the "porage" reference:



It wasn't either of those that won Rory the role, however. Nor was it his performance in HOT FUZZ, a movie that I've heard good things about but never seen. His look had a lot to do with it, though. A lot of good actors auditioned for the role, and several gave really first class readings... but simply did not have the physicality the part demands. Sandor needs to be a big guy, powerful and threatening, someone who looks like he could break you in half. Rory is all of that and more.

Mostly, though, it was his readings. We had other good ones, yes, but none to touch his. One of the scenes in the side was Sandor's scene with Sansa, where he tells her how his face came to be scarred. In the space of a few lines, Rory had me terrified (where he roars, "Look at me," and makes her look at his face), made me chuckle (when he says no, the burns weren't dragonflame), and brought a tear to my eye (when he tells his story). After I saw that, I knew he was Sandor... and David, Dan, and Tom all agreed.

I think you'll going to love him as the Hound.

Of course, if we go to series, now we're going to have to find someone a foot and a half taller to play his brother. Now THAT will be difficult!