Rob McElhenney's Game Of Thrones Cameo Explained

At first glance, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Game of Thrones" don't have a whole lot in common. The former, created by Rob Mac (née McElhenney) alongside his cohorts Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day, is a delightfully nasty comedy series about five dirtbags in Philadelphia who never change, grow, or evolve. ("Go Birds," by the way.) The latter, based on George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel series and overseen by co-showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, centers around political intrigue in a fantasy world where magic and dragons exist. Something they do share in common, though, is that Mac was involved with both shows.

Mac, who won two Emmys not for his work on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" but for his reality series "Welcome to Wrexham," shows up ever-so-briefly in the much-criticized eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones" — and he's not alone. Alongside Mac, Martin Starr, known for everything from "Freaks & Geeks" to "Party Down" and "Silicon Valley," pops up in one of the show's huge action set pieces with Mac during a battle at sea between the villainous Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) and his niece and nephew Yara and Theon Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan and Alfie Allen). 

So, what particular role did Starr and Mac, two guys known for comedies and not dark, politics-heavy fantasy shows full of violence and gore, play during Season 8 of "Game of Thrones?" They portrayed a pair of soldiers who got slaughtered as soon as they appeared on screen during that season's premiere episode.

During the Season 8 premiere of "Game of Thrones," simply titled "Winterfell," there's a massive battle at sea — a battle that actually pits family against family in the aftermath of Euron Greyjoy murdering his own brother, Balon (Patrick Malahide). Euron, who's probably the most annoying late-stage "Game of Thrones" character, is slightly less evil than he is in George R.R. Martin's original books — in those, he's a genuinely terrifying man who dabbles in dark sorcery and cuts out the tongues of all of the men on his ships, whereas in the series he's just sort of an annoyance who won't shut up at inopportune moments. Weirdly, Pilou Asbæk went on to essentially play a more book-accurate Euron Greyjoy when he showed up on Apple TV's "Foundation" several years later.

Anyway, Euron is hellbent on killing his niece and nephew, so he's holding Yara captive at the start of Season 8. That's why Theon, now a broken man after a lengthy tenure as the tortured plaything of the sadistic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), storms Euron's ships. That's also how the unnamed soldiers played by Rob Mac and Martin Starr perish in the battle. So, did any of the primary "Game of Thrones" cast or crew ever show up on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?" Sort of!

During the ninth season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," which aired back in 2013, "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss actually wrote one of the show's standout episodes, titled "Flowers for Charlie." In this astonishingly silly and funny installment, Charlie Kelly's (Charlie Day) alleged lack of intelligence (to be fair, he's completely illiterate) ends up the subject of a scientific study, and as he keeps getting smarter and smarter, the Gang — Rob Mac's Ronald "Mac" McDonald, Glenn Howerton's Dennis Reynolds, Kaitlin Olson's Dee Reynolds, and Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds — grow increasingly angry that they have to do a bunch of grunt work around the bar, which they describe as "Charlie Work." Benioff and Weiss did a better job writing this than, frankly, they did with any of the episodes in the final two to three seasons of "Game of Thrones" — but they also physically appeared on "Always Sunny."

Indeed, Benioff and Weiss made their in-person debut on "Always Sunny" during the FXX's comedy's 12th season in 2017. In an episode aptly titled "The Gang Goes to a Water Park," the gang meets unhelpful unnamed lifeguards played by Benioff and Weiss. It's a perfect opportunity to include them, and because Mac's cameo on "Game of Thrones" is so beautifully brief, it's also an amusing Easter egg for fans of both shows. (Appropriately, this episode was helmed by "WandaVision" and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" director Matt Shakman, who was once at the heart of a dark prank that Benioff and Weiss pulled on Rob Mac.)

"Game of Thrones" is streaming on HBO Max, and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is available to watch on Hulu.