STARK REALITY
The ‘Game of Thrones’ star on growing up on the biggest show in the world – and what he’ll do next
Game of Thrones star Isaac Hempstead Wright gets personal
Isaac Hempstead Wright shrugs his shoulders. After eight seasons playing Bran Stark – aka the all-seeing allknowing Three-Eyed Raven – in hit drama series Game of Thrones (Mon., 11am, Fox Showcase), the actor now finds himself in very un-Bran-like territory. He has no idea what’s coming next. “No-one has written a guide book for what you do after coming off the world’s biggest TV show,” Hempstead Wright, 20, tells WHO. Tall – much taller than you might think – and smart (he was studying neuroscience at university before he quit to focus on acting), Hempstead Wright is, as you might expect, effusive in his praise of the show that has made him a star. Here, he reveals all about Bran, which actors he bonded with and what really happened in a key GoT scene.
What’s it like spending your teenage years on a hit show?
For me, I’ve had nothing but a blast. Getting to work in an adult environment since the age of 10, and having responsibilities and contributing to a genuine piece of filmmaking is a pretty unique thing. Over the course of the show, did you bond with the actors?
Because of the nature of Bran’s storyline, he is always off doing his own thing. The person I was closet with overall – and still am closest with – is a chap called DeanCharles Chapman, who played Tommen Baratheon, and he is one of my very best friends, even though we never shared a single scene together. We met at a premiere and bonded over this crazy world we were in. Love him to bits.
Bran evolved into the Three-Eyed Raven. How do you describe the character now?
I had no clue this was going to happen [to Bran]. The closest way of describing the Three-Eyed Raven is basically he’s a human vehicle for time and history. That is what he really is, this keeper and history book of everything that’s ever happened to mankind. He’s the closest thing to a god or something. I’m not getting ahead of myself, but that kind of thing.
One of great things about Game of Thrones has been the fan theories. Do you have a favourite?
I’ll tell you my least favourite theory was that Bran was the Night King. The one that makes me laugh the most is that Varys [played by Conleth Hill] is a mermaid because you never see his legs and that’s how he gets between the seas really quickly. So, you tell me!
Who would you like to see on the Iron Throne?
I’d like to see someone from the Starks. I suppose Jon [Kit Harington], but he isn’t a Stark anymore. I wish we could have Ned Stark [Sean Bean] back. I think he would have been an honourable, measured leader. Alas.
One of the fan-favourite
Bran episodes is The Door,
Season 6: Episode 5.
Can you tell us about filming that?
That’s an interesting one because [for most of the episode] I was literally lying down “warging”. I did actually fall asleep at one point while we were filming and the chaos was going on, and a White Walker is walking through the cave and I’m there, “Like, what?”
So, you’re now back home and off to university. Do you know what you’ll do next?
I live by myself in London. And yes, back to university in September. Into the big, bad world. Life after Thrones? Who knows what that means?
“He’s like a god”