Game of Thrones' Bran actor says it was "so brilliant" to have a disabled character become king
Isaac Hempstead Wright reflected on the young Stark's fate at a retrospective event
Few expected that Bran Stark would become king in the final episode of Game of Thrones – least of all the actor who played him, Isaac Hempstead Wright.
Speaking last night (18th November) at a BFI retrospective, Hempstead Wright said it was "really special" that his character – who lost the use of his legs after being pushed from a great height by Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) – ended up winning the 'game of thrones'.
"I would obviously say this, but I think that Bran had the best character arc of anybody," the actor said at the event to mark the release of season eight and the complete series boxset on Blu-Ray and DVD.
"In the very first episode, you think, 'He's toast, he's dead' and he grows and learns... the hard way about a lot of things, and he goes from being this vulnerable character to the most powerful person there is."
Hempstead Wright added that he was already satisfied with wide-eyed Bran having evolved into the all-seeing Three-Eyed Raven and never expected the young Stark to become the most powerful figure in the Seven Kingdoms.
"I was pretty happy just with him becoming the Three-Eyed Raven. I thought, 'What a great story for this boy, this disabled 10-year-old in the harshest world ever to triumph' – so to see him become king and victorious, I think it's so brilliant, to have a disabled character win the whole game of thrones. It was really special."
Looking back on all eight seasons of the HBO hit, though, he did have one regret – that Bran never got to engage in one of the show's memorably epic battle sequences.
"Whenever I was on-set with somebody with a sword, I'd be like, 'Ooh, can I play with it?' - even when Bran got given that really cool dagger in season seven, he gave that away!" Hempstead Wright joked.
Game of Thrones ended its run on HBO and Sky Atlantic in May of this year. A prequel spin-off charting the history of the Targaryen clan has been greenlit.
Game of Thrones: Season 8 is out on DVD and Blu-ray on 2nd December, along with the Complete Series boxset
Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
