Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hivju says that there is an “alternate ending” to the series, though it is not clear what he means. Hivju was on a panel reminiscing about Game of Thrones with some of his former co-stars this weekend when he made the shocking revelation. However, fans are still debating whether he was joking, misunderstood or just plain wrong.
Hivju played Tormund Giantsbane, the wildling leader on Game of Thrones. He spoke about the show on a panel at the British Film Institute in London this weekend with Isaac Hempstead Wright — who played Bran Stark — and Gemma Whelan — who played Yara Greyjoy.
While he was there, Hivju spoke to reporters as well, and he made a surprising comment to the folks from Metro News. He claimed that the controversial Game of Thrones ending we saw was not the only one filmed.
We were joined by @Isaac_H_Wright (Bran Stark), @WhelanGemma (Yara Greyjoy), @KristoferHivju (Tormund), costume designer Michele Clapton, Barrie and Sarah Gower from the prosthetics unit, and weapons master Tommy Dunne for a special celebration of #GameOfThrones at #BFISouthbank! pic.twitter.com/K2byBCoXXm
— BFI (@BFI) November 19, 2019
“Well, we shot an alternative ending,” he said. “That was mostly for fun but I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you about that.”
Hivju did not want to answer any further questions or clarify what he meant on that subject, but he reportedly laughed as he said “I won’t tell you! But it was fun.”
Naturally, fans have had a field day with this off-the-cuff comment, but it could have several different meanings. For one thing, some assumed Hivju was speaking about some kind of on-set gag — probably the kind of thing we have seen in behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Other fans argued that Hivju might be talking about a deleted scene. Fans got a look at the scripts for Season 8 last month, and there was plenty of dialogue and even whole scenes that were edited out in the final product. Many people hope we will see these scenes on the Game of Thrones Season 8 DVD box set, which comes out in two weeks.
Whatever the case, Hivju’s words cannot staunch the outrage over the Game of Thrones finale, which left many fans unsatisfied. However, Hempstead Wright — whose character wound up on the throne, such as it was — thought that there was a lot to like about the story’s conclusion.
“I was pretty happy with just [Bran] becoming the Three-Eyed Raven, but what a great story where this boy – this disabled 10-year-old in the harshest world ever – [comes] to triumph,” he said. “And so to see him become king and be victorious is so… it’s brilliant to have a disabled character win the whole of Game of Thrones.”
The Game of Thrones Season 8 DVD collection is available for pre-order now, and will be out on Dec. 3. The whole series is streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now.
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