Isaac Hempstead Wright has given ravenous “Game of Thrones” some chum to feast on until Season 7 begins.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor who plays Bran Stark shared what’s to come for his character in the penultimate season of HBO’s hit series, now that he is the new Three-Eyed Raven.
Wright said that he has already finished filming all his scenes as Bran for the upcoming season, having wrapped his part several weeks before several other major members of the cast were even flown out to film their parts. Of course, Wright’s experience on set this year was sadly much different than in seasons past, as this was his first time on set without Kristian Nairn, a.k.a. Bran’s beloved guardian, Hodor.
“It’s just weird. It feels empty, like, where’s my buddy on set?” Wright joked. “Although it’s a lot more peaceful now. I’m just teasing! Don’t tell him.”
Season 6 was very rough on Bran, as his reckless use of his dreamseeing powers resulted in his training under the Three-Eyed Raven coming to an abrupt end. An attack by the undead army of the Night’s King forced Bran to flee with his friend Meera, while the Raven, Hodor, and Bran’s direwolf, Summer, were killed holding off the White Walkers.
Bran and Meera were rescued in the nick of time by Bran’s long-lost uncle, Benjen Stark, who whisked them off to safety. In the Season 6 finale, Bran used his powers one more time to prove correct the most popular “GoT” fan theory: Jon Snow’s true father is Rhaegar Targaryen, not Ned Stark, making him the true heir to the Iron Throne.
Wright told EW that the growth Bran has made this past season and the new powers and information he has gained have done more than transform him from a boy to a man.
“I think Bran has transcended ‘growing,’” he said in the interview. “Growing up or being an adult is not on his to-do list anymore. It’s doing what he needs to do. He’s on another plane. It’s not like he has to grow up and prove himself a man. He just knows he has to do his stuff.”
With Season 7 done, Wright knows he only has one more season’s worth of “Game of Thrones” episodes left to film, and he says he has mixed feelings knowing the end is near.
“It’s been a big part of my life for seven years, just every year doing this show with the same faces, the same crew,” he said. It’s kind of exciting, it’s something new with lots of new possibilities. It’s gonna be so sad.”
Like all his fellow “GoT” castmates, Wright is very guarded when it comes to hints about what’s coming this summer, but he did give a one-word theme for the upcoming season: “Connections.”
Make of that what you will.
Read the full interview with Isaac Hempstead Wright here.