Issac Hempstead Wright initially thought Bran Stark becoming the King was a prank

Game of Thrones ended with a twist that none of us saw coming. Daenerys Targaryen, who was expected to sit on the Iron Throne, was killed by Jon Snow, who was also expected to sit on the Iron Throne. In the end, Bran Stark became the King. Nobody expected this ending, and it was so far from the most supported theories that even Issac Hempstead Wright, who played Bran, himself thought it was a prank when he initially read the script. Read on!

Speaking of his initial reaction to the script to Entertainment Weekly, Issac said:

“When I got to the [Dragonpit scene] in the last episode and they’re like, ‘What about Bran?’ I had to get up and pace around the room.

I genuinely thought it was a joke script and that [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] sent to everyone a script with their own character ends up on the Iron Throne. ‘Yeah, good one guys. Oh s—, it’s actually real?’”

He said he was happy with the ending, however:

“Though I kind of did want to die and get in one good death scene with an exploding head or something.”

Issac also thinks Bran will be a good King:

“I think he’ll be a really good king actually. Perhaps there will be something missing in having real emotive leader, which is a useful quality in a king or queen as well. At the same time, you can’t really argue with Bran. He’s like, ‘No, I know everything.’”

Issac also said that he was very much enjoying the ending now:

“I just want to shout: ‘King motherf—ers!’ Though that’s probably not a wise plan, obviously.”

How do you guys feel about Bran Stark becoming the King?

Game of Thrones has had a lot of great cast members, but apparently, we might have missed out on one more. While we all absolutely adore Emilia Clarke as Daenerys on the show, another amazing actress, Elizabeth Olsen, had also auditioned to play the part, with two accents. Read on!

Olsen, who is now popular for her portrayal of Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. Scarlett Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could have ended up as our Khaleesi if things had gone right. At Vulture’s Emmy studio, Olsen revealed that one of her early auditions was for Game of Thrones, for the role of Daenerys:

“When I first started working, I just auditioned for everything, because I like auditioning. And I auditioned for Khaleesi. I forgot that. It was the most awkward audition I’d ever had.”

Elizabeth revealed that she had auditioned with a monologue from the end of Season 1:

“[From] after she just burned. And she’s making this speech to thousands of people about how she’s their queen. They didn’t know if they wanted a British accent or not. So, you did it in both. It was terrible. Anytime someone says, ‘Bad audition story.’ That’s one I remember.”

That bad audition, however, didn’t stop her from becoming a fan of the show, she revealed:

“I’m just so deep in Game of Thrones that all I can think about is Kit Harington. I mean, he’s just brainwashed me.”

Well, just as much as we love Elizabeth, we cannot imagine a world where she isn’t Scarlett Witch, and Emilia isn’t the Mother of Dragons, so we’re glad it went this way. What do you think? Talk to us in the comments, down below!

Hold your beating hearts fandom, Tormund Giantsbane may have a chance with the ‘big woman’, or Ser Brienne of Tarth, yet. In a recent interview with TV Line, Brienne actor Gwendoline Christie hinted that a romance with Tormund shouldn’t be totally off-the-charts for her character going forward. Of course, we will not see that happen, but the thought alone is warming my heart!

The self-proclaimed Giantsbane has been very taken with Brienne from day 1. But Brienne was always pretty weirded out by his attention, and when a tough rival arrived in the form of Jaime Lannister, Tormund’s chances with her seemed nonexistent. But with Jaime leaving Brienne and then dying by the side of his old lover (and sister) Cersei, Tormund may have a better shot.

But even then, it won’t be easy for him. so Gwendoline Christie thinks. In her words:

“Yeah, maybe he has a chance, but she would really make him work. I mean, you know, she’s landed her dream job. Also, the story about the giant’s milk might take a little bit of getting over. But maybe not.”

Having said that, Christie is happy with the way her character’s emotional possibilities have been handled in Game of Thrones.

“I never expected people to get behind Brienne of Tarth. I truly didn’t think that she would be embraced because she wasn’t conventionally attractive, and she wasn’t sexy or cute or sassy. I feel like we saw this incredibly unconventional character and we saw her display all the behaviours that we’re taught as women not to display.”

Tormund, in fact, is one of the only people in the show who found her attractive just as she is. Jaime, on the other hand, has always insulted her because of her perceived lack of beauty and fell in love only much later. Many fans saw Tormund as a much better candidate for Brienne’s heart than Jaime, and Jaime sort of proved everyone right by ditching Brienne like that.

With Tormund journeying beyond the Wall and Brienne in King’s Landing, the romance does not seem very likely at this point. But weren’t there at least some tender words shared between them? Tormund actor Kristofer Hivju recently claimed that some scenes featuring Brienne and Tormund were cut from Season 8. Who knows, a romance may still be budding between the far ends of Westeros.

All the Brienne-Tormund shippers in the world, you were not all wrong. There could indeed have been more between the lovable wildling and our lady knight, except those bits got cut on the editing table. In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Tormund actor Kristofer Hivju talked about some deleted scenes that he and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) had shot together – including one with an improvised monologue from Tormund’s end.

Hivju revealed this in a discussion about deleted scenes along with John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Gilly (Hannah Murray) and Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark) which you can watch here. Hivju’s bit starts from 1:17.

Hivju says the scenes between him and Christie got cut mainly because they exceeded the time limits of the tightly packed Season 8 episode lengths. In his words, “We did a lot of stuff with Tormund and Brienne that they took out because it became too much. Well, you don’t have too much time!”

He even describes one of the scenes that never made to the episodes as they aired. “I remember there was a scene where I added some small monologues.” That may not give out too much, but sure sounds like some sort of intense conversation were going on between Brienne and Tormund in that scene. Add to the fact that Hivju thinks the left-out stuff was “fun”. In his words, “I think they took the right choice in the edit but there is some fun stuff laying around.”

If only some benevolent soul would let us in on those “fun” stuff!

 

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