Game of Thrones Actor Michael Patrick Dies at 35 as Tributes Pour In
Bit parts on Hollywood juggernauts like Game of Thrones can mint new stars. Irish actor Michael Patrick, sharpened at Cambridge Footlights, looked poised to make the leap from supporting player to leading man.
Michael Patrick was one of those actors you spot in a massive show, think 'oh, he pops,' and start expecting to see everywhere. He was an Irish actor and writer with the chops to back it up, and he was very clearly on the climb. Patrick died at 35 after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in early 2023, an illness that also took his father years ago.
The announcement
Patrick's wife, actor and writer Naomi Sheehan, shared the news on Instagram on April 8. She said he died at the Northern Ireland Hospice after being admitted 10 days earlier, and that he was surrounded by family and friends when he passed.
Last night, Mick sadly passed away in the Northern Ireland Hospice. He was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease on 1st February 2023. He was admitted 10 days ago and was cared for by the incredible team there. He passed peacefully, surrounded by family and friends. Words can't describe how broken-hearted we are.
Just two months earlier, on February 6, 2026, Patrick posted that his neurologist had given him a year to live. He stayed stubbornly hopeful anyway, saying he still had 'lots to live for and lots planned.'
The work you might know him from
Patrick showed up in Season 6 of Game of Thrones as a wildling — small part, gigantic stage — and kept stacking screen credits after that. He did Krypton, the DC prequel series; then the BBC drama Blue Lights; and Steven Knight's period series This Town. He was not just taking jobs — he was building range, bouncing from fantasy epic to grounded crime drama to 70s-set prestige TV.
His most personal TV project was the BBC coming-of-age comedy My Left Nut, which he co-wrote from his own teenage experience. It was a sharp reminder that he was as comfortable behind the keyboard as he was in front of the camera.
Even as his illness progressed, he kept working. His final screen credit was in 2025, in the German television film Mordlichtern - Tod auf den Färöer Inseln.
How he got here
Patrick cut his teeth with Cambridge Footlights, then trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. That combo — comedy smarts plus formal stage training — set him up as both a performer and a writer from the jump.
Turning the diagnosis into art
On stage, Patrick co-wrote a bold new take on Shakespeare's Richard III at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. Instead of Richard's physical disability, the production reframed the character with a terminal illness that deliberately echoed Patrick's own MND. That could have been a stunt; it wasn't. The show earned a standing ovation, the kind of response you only get when the idea and the craft both land.
It is gutting to write about a career this promising being cut off. Patrick was still finding new gears — on sets, in writers' rooms, and on stage — right up to the end. He left behind proof he could do all of it.