THRONES WAS A GAME CHANGER FOR THE CAST
Star Isaac tells of shooting top drama’s ‘bittersweet’ last season
GAME Of Thrones’ Isaac Hempstead Wright said the final season of the hit show is “bittersweet”.
The 20-year-old, who plays Bran Stark in the HBO fantasy drama, said he hoped fans would think they had done the characters justice.
Speaking to the Mirror as he helped launch a new exhibition on the series in Belfast, he added: “I hope they will think we have wrapped it up convincingly and compellingly.
“I think people will be so excited to see how these storylines end.
“These characters you have been watching for 67 episodes, 67 hours of TV. That’s a long time to spend with these characters so I just hope everyone thinks they get a justified ending.”
He was joined by Irish actors Liam Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth, and Ian Beattie, who stars as Ser Meryn Trant, for the opening of Game of Thrones: The Touring Exhibition.
Talking about growing up on the iconic show, Isaac described it as “mad” and admitted he found it hard to remember life before he took up the role of Bran aged 10.
He said: “When we filmed that pilot episode it was a thing that only a handful of people had heard of, no one was that excited about it apart from the community of already established fans.
“We have just watched it grow and grow, slowly but surely, into this phenomenon and now I am standing here today and we have a whole exhibition about it, we are about to premiere our last season and it’s quite hard to believe.
“Since I wrapped last year I have taken the time to chill out and see where I am but now I am excited to look for the next thing.
“I didn’t have a huge amount of time to fit things in between school and Game Of Thrones so now there is time I can find my style and see what I want to do, but I am also going back to university in September.”
Isaac, who gets recognised when out and about in Northern Ireland where the drama was filmed, added although there were never outrageous encounters with fans, there was one thing he would get asked. He said: “I have never had anything that outlandish but some people often ask if they can pick me up on their shoulders and I used to be quite obliging when I was younger but now I have to say no.”
Isaac added Belfast would always hold a special place in his heart but it is the landscape that will leave a lasting
I just think people will be excited to see how storylines will end ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT YESTERDAY
impression, comparing it to the beauty of New Zealand.
Under strict instructions not to give anything away about how the eighth series ends, he told of his favourite scene to film in previous seasons.
Isaac added: “One memory which I thought is amazing is when Bran had the vision walking through the Army Of The Dead and he encounters the Night King and the Night King grabs him and there were all the other White Walkers there.
“That was genuinely in a big snowy quarry, there were hundreds of extras in full zombie gear and I had to walk through them.
“And then there’s the Night King there and he grabs me and not many people get that close to the Night King and live to tell the tale.”
The star said the items on display at the Titanic Exhibition Centre are a must-see for fans. He added: “We are lucky enough we get to deal with them on a day-to-day basis and get to mess around and play with them and marvel at the craftsmanship but there are plenty of things I have never seen here.
“There are things from other storylines that I have never been involved with, it is incredible to see.
“There is so much work that goes into this show and there’s something to be said for experiencing these things in person, you get so much more from it than just watching something on screen.
“If you are a Game Of Thrones fan you have to see it and if you aren’t you should come and appreciate the art of it all, the time that has gone into all this stuff here, the thought and just how beautiful and well thought out it is as works of art.”
The exhibition, which opens to the public today and runs until September 1, includes costumes, props and settings from seven seasons.
It comes ahead of the premiere of the eighth series on Monday.
Visitors can also see for the first time the sacred crypt of Winterfell, guarded by stone direwolves, to pay their respects to six of the Stark ancestors as well as explore the settings and artefacts.