Game of Thrones: What’s Up With Bran?

This interview contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 1, titled “Winterfell.” 

Since becoming the Three-Eyed Raven back in Season 6, it’s safe to say that Bran Stark has been a little… off. Jon Snow learned that lesson the hard way when he emotionally greeted his little brother in the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere, only to be met with the detached stare of an omniscient greenseer.

Game of Thrones star Isaac Hempstead Wright explained Bran’s feelings for his family – or lack thereof – in a recent Q&A hosted by Hulu and moderated by IGN’s own Terri Schwartz.

“He doesn’t really care to be honest. It’s kind of irrelevant for the Three-Eyed Raven, personal connections. The Three-Eyed Raven just sees things on a much, much wider scale and people are just very, very tiny pieces of this huge machine, which is what the Three-Eyed Raven is actually paying attention to,” he explained. “Things like when Hodor died – the Three-Eyed Raven doesn’t really see it as, ‘Oh no, Hodor is gone,’ it’s [more], ‘alright, that piece of the puzzle had to be removed for this to happen, and that’s just the way it works.’ But, conversely, there’s a great line where Bran says ‘I remember what it felt like to be [Brandon Stark] but I remember so much else now,’ which implies there is a part of him that is still Bran Stark. And especially when he’s in Winterfell and he’s surrounded by people, those memories are obviously gonna come back and he’s gonna be slightly more Bran Stark than not Bran Stark in those moments. But in general he is the Three-Eyed Raven, and the Three-Eyed Raven sees things on a much wider scale.”

Either way, the actor acknowledged that there is undeniably a link between the two: “We don’t know whether it was the creation of the Night King or just the first White Walker, or whatever, but we know that the Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest are basically responsible for this entire mess. They created this Frankenstein’s monster that they’ve lost control of. So it feels only natural that the Night King and the White Walkers are hell-bent on getting at Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven, ’cause that’s the force that kind of put them into this misery of the world. I think as this season goes on, you might learn a little bit more about them.”

Viewers might be pleased to learn that as much as we’ve all become obsessed with theorizing about the show, the actors aren’t immune to speculating either.

“Definitely people get excited about theories, ’cause we always see them popping up here and there,” Hempstead Wright said. “I certainly have always found it quite interesting. I actually remember when I read to whole Hodor thing in the script, I thought ‘Wow, this is really cool, I wonder if anyone’s thought of this.’ And I did Google it and some guy on Reddit thought of it. Not exactly, but they got the whole “Hold the door” thing, so yeah, wherever you are… I wish I’d read that username.”

As for theorizing how Game of Thrones would ultimately end, Hempstead Wright said, “Nobody I know who knows the ending predicted any of it right. Nobody had any idea. I was too scared to put anything into words. I remember when I was telling my mum the ending, I was like ‘I can’t tell you over the phone. They might be listening.'”

And when it came time for the final table read, Hempstead Wright revealed, one of his co-stars took it particularly hard. “It was interesting ’cause some people hadn’t read the scripts and some people had. Kit [Harington] hadn’t, and I was sitting opposite him, and there were moments where he would just look up and he’d be like ‘What?!’ It was funny ’cause he got so emotional about all of that, like ‘wow, it’s all over,’ and we were like ‘No, we’ve got nine months of pretty hard work ahead.'”

Now all those long months of hard work have paid off, and we only have four weeks left to speculate how the show might end before we finally find out for sure. Hit the comments with your theories, and for more on Game of Thrones, check out our theories on the future of Jon and Daenerys’ relationship and Cersei’s pregnancy, plus all the easter eggs you might’ve missed in the new opening credits, and every character confirmed for the Battle of Winterfell. And if you don’t have a cable subscription, here’s how to watch Game of Thrones.

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