Iwan Rheon: ‘Game of Thrones’ star tackles billionaires and space travel on second album

Having starred on one of the biggest TV series of all time, Game of Thrones, and Channel 4’s cult-hit Misfits, you might think Welsh actor and singer-songwriter Iwan Rheon might now have his sights set on conquering the music industry. Quite the opposite, it turns out. As he returns with his second album, I Just Wish I’d Never Gone To Space, he talks to Headliner about how becoming a rockstar couldn’t be further away from his mind. Having hurriedly recorded his debut album during the intensive Thrones shooting schedule, he reveals all about being able to give this second record much more time and energy, and its stunning lead single, Forward Motion.

The Cardiff-raised Welshman was actively pursuing music in a band until he got a West End call-up, shortly followed by his breakthrough UK TV role when he was cast in the BAFTA-winning sci-fi Misfits. Dark, comedic, and compelling, it’s not hard to see why the series has maintained a cult following since; it follows a group of youths on community service who are granted superpowers during a supernatural storm.

His next major role came on Thrones, in which he played one of television’s most deeply unpleasant characters, Ramsey Bolton. While not being quite among the core ensemble cast, such as Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage, Bolton was nonetheless one of the most memorable characters in the long-running series, particularly for the manner in which he faced off against series-favourite Jon Snow. Despite their brutal relationship on-screen, he reportedly remains close friends with Snow actor Kit Harrington to this day.

Undeterred by how intensive the shooting schedule was in Northern Ireland, Rheon would dart back to Wales in the pockets of time he could find to record his debut album Dinard, which he released in 2015. He joins the call from home in London. The Thrones part of the conversation is kept brief, as he has had a number of interviews in the past booked to promote his music, only for the interviewer to quickly pivot into just asking about GoT. 

“That show gave me a wider audience and a platform,” he says. “I did find that with the early releases, at the same time as the show would air, I found it a little bit problematic at times. Everyone just wanted to talk about that, and then it just felt like ‘Oh, and by the way, you've got some music out.’ And I thought I was there to talk about that. You can't win. But it really did give me a platform for an audience, and I’m definitely grateful for that.”

His debut album, Dinard, is a much more acoustic and singer-songwriter-focused record, which perhaps made it a much more feasible project as he was recording during pockets of free time amidst GoT season 5, in which his character is busy terrorising the captured Winterfell and feeding people to his hounds.

“Whenever I had a little break, I'd shoot off and record some music, usually in Wales, and we did it in bits,” he reflects. “It was the same as this new album as well. It's all about availability. I find being in the studio a bit like a mind holiday, because it's a very different focus and a different kind of creative process to filming. When you're in something as huge as Game of Thrones, and you’re a very small part of this huge machine, my job is to do my little bit as well as possible to help create this amazing show. So when you're in a studio, and it's just me and a producer, you have this incredible, complete creative control.”

With Rheon’s big acting profile, he could almost certainly attract some record labels to work with, but keeping both albums independent has been very important to him. Like many other artists, he can’t stand the thought of any label head suggesting how to do things creatively. And in terms of this new album, that independent creativity first yielded Forward Motion as its first single.

That song, like much of his oeuvre, starts as an acoustic guitar-infused track, but it builds to a stunning close. From its opening verse of just Rheon’s vocals and guitar, gradually piano, drums, and strings are layered in, before it becomes a full-blown hymn with a backing choir for its last moments. You can imagine Rheon and his singers belting it out over some befittingly beautiful Welsh countryside.

“It was quite a sweet way to start the whole process,” he says. “I'm really pleased with how the song came out. I always had this idea that it was going to be a slow build into this climax at the end, and adding different elements. And Chris [Hyson, the album’s producer] always got that – I had done a demo on Garage Band, he heard that, and we started recording it properly. Adding all the backing vocals and building up that rich sound.”

Rheon’s collaboration with producer Chris Hyson, who is known for his work with Jordan Rakei, helped the record go from folky demos to a much more expansive place and to new creative territory.

“They had a Juno in the studio,” he says. “And Chris had said he wanted to put a bit of Juno on the songs. And at first I was a little bit like, ‘I don't know, man, synth? Are we gonna put synths on this album?’ I initially set out to make a really folk album, although I don't know if I was really fully committed to that, but it changed very quickly. Once the synth started going on, then you start realising how much power it has and how much flexibility the Juno has in terms of sound and the warmth it can create. So I think there's Juno on possibly every track except for two on the album. It ended up being quite heavily used, but not overly used. And that's what Chris does really well. He creates a very rich, warm sort of sound.” 

Another single from the record is Hashtag, which also contains the album’s title, I Just Wish I’d Never Gone to Space. Next to Forward Motion, it’s a darker track, as Rheon doggedly repeats a melody throughout that is doubled by an electric guitar. With the moody atmospherics that Hyson conjures up for this song, it sets the tone perfectly for the subject matter the lyrics touch on.

In terms of that lyric becoming the LP’s title, Rheon says, “I couldn't really think of an album title. I think it's me being obtuse, more than anything. Everyone's like, ‘We need a nice, snappy title.’ It's one of the lyrics on Hashtag. I was watching a rocket being shot into space by a tech tycoon, not naming any names. I thought, what would happen if something went wrong with the rocket, and it just carried on going, and the tech tycoon was just lost in space, with all their wealth stuck on Earth, and they're like, ‘Oh no.’”

With the album out, Rheon shares that he is keen to do some shows, while not being able to commit to a full tour due to the demands of his acting career, so keep an eye out for those when they get organised.

“I’d love to do a couple of live shows with the band. Hopefully, the boys who played on the album can come and play with me. It’s simpler for me to do a few shows instead of going wild with a full tour. I never got to play Dinard live, which is really annoying. So definitely a show in London, maybe in Wales too, that’s the plan.” 

The 10-year wait is over, and I Just Wish I’d Never Gone to Space is out now, a deeply impressive sophomore record from this Welsh musician and actor. And if that decade wait was too long for you, the good news is Rheon is keen to ensure that gap doesn’t repeat itself. “This album was all written quite a while ago, and I’d like to start thinking about the next one. I’ve already started writing it. So, at some point, I’ll be back in the studio. But for the time being, I hope people enjoy listening to this one.”

Photography credit: Kate Stuart