Richard Madden is grateful for his time on 'Game of Thrones' - but is glad he left years ago.

Richard Madden

Richard Madden

The 32-year-old actor departed the show in season three after his character Robb Stark died and whilst he is so thankful for his role and had the "best time", he thinks those stars that have stayed on throughout the eight seasons deserve a "medal".

He said: "It was such a hard thing to finish because from first pilot to my death was five years. And I think, five years to spend with any one character - cause you just kinda put them on the shelf for six months and then you take them back again. I had the best time, it helped me so much with my career and my experience. I learned a lot just from shooting 30 hours of television, I really started to learn my trade doing that."

Richard was "thankful" to leave his role and praised the likes of Kit Harington, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, who have stayed in the show over the years.

Speaking to Amy Adams for Variety's Actors on Actors, he added: "And I was thankful to leave it, I think the actors on it now must be 11 years into playing these characters and that is like - give these guys some medals here because that is a marathon."

Meanwhile, Richard previously confessed he was "completely broke" before he got his big break on 'Game of Thrones'.

He said: "I'm not bullsh***ing you - I was completely broke. I used my savings to pay my last month's rent and that was it. I thought, 'After this, I don't have any money. I'll have to move back to my parents.'"

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