The second episode of season 7, “Stormborn,” was all about surprise returns. From Melisandre appearing on Dragonstone to Nymeria popping up in the Riverlands, a lot of old friends popped back up. We even got the return of Hot Pie (Ben Hawkey), Arya’s former traveling companion.
Of course, we’d seen Hot Pie during season 4, when Brienne and Podrick stopped by the Inn of the Crossroads and asked after Sansa, but “Stormborn” marked the first time Arya and Hot Pie had shared the screen since season 3. Hawkey discussed his return with Entertainment Weekly. “It was a really big shock,” he said of being asked back. “I wasn’t expecting to be coming back at all.”
I was confused. I didn’t know why they needed me, to be honest. I only recently just watched all the episodes. I hadn’t seen any of it.
He just watched all the episodes? Shame, sir. Shame.
Hawkey also wondered at the need for all the advanced security he got — Thrones producers went so far as to give Hot Pie his own code name in emails. But despite these confusions, Hawkey thought his reunion scene with Arya was perfect for his character. “It was really nice. It’s like a perfect little Hot Pie scene…It’s quite light isn’t it? It’s nice to be a lighter character in a really dark series.”
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Naturally, Hawkey enjoyed working with Maisie Williams again. “It’s interesting because we’ve both grown up quite a bit,” he said. “I was just about to say we’re no longer immature but we both still are!”
Teenagers gonna teenage. At least Hot Pie didn’t turn into a mass murdering assassin.
Hawkey was non-committal on his potential return for Game of Thrones’ final season saying only that he’d be happy to come back. “But if not, that’s good as well.” We’d love to have you back, Hot Pie. Just make sure you’ve watched the episodes, this time.
Game of Thrones season 7 continues with “The Queen’s Justice” this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. EST.
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