As the new Three-eyed Raven, actor Isaac Hempstead Wright has become a key player on Game of Thrones. It’s both powerful and dangerous to be the guy who can see everything — past, present, and perhaps even future — in a world full of this many dark secrets and people willing to kill to keep them.
In “The Dragon and the Wolf,” Bran used his powers of perception to reveal some of Littlefinger’s many secrets. Sansa and Arya used those secrets to expose and execute him. But fans have been wondering how long the Stark siblings were working together on this. Talking to Variety, Wright explained that there was a deleted scene that answered those questions:
We actually did a scene that clearly got cut, a short scene with Sansa where she knocks on Bran’s door and says, “I need your help,” or something along those lines. So basically, as far as I know, the story was that it suddenly occurred to Sansa that she had a huge CCTV department at her discretion and it might be a good idea to check with him first before she guts her own sister. So she goes to Bran, and Bran tells her everything she needs to know, and she’s like, “Oh, s—.
Our best guess is that Sansa started to wise up to Littlefinger’s schemes when he advised her to assume the worst about her enemy’s motives — if you spend even a second doing that with Littlefinger’s motives, you’re bound to get suspicious. Then, offscreen, she got confirmation from Bran, looped in Arya, and before you could say “Winter is Coming,” Littlefinger was dead. But until then, Littlefinger’s plot to turn the sisters against each other was working.
Wright also talked about Bran’s big moment with Sam Tarly, where his character delivers the scoop on Jon Snow’s parentage:
It was really fun. One of the most annoying things was that it was so hot in that studio. But aside from that, once we mopped up all the sweat, it was a really, really touching, really cool scene. And I think it was cool for both of them because they’re two of these characters in Game of Thrones whose weapons really are their wits. And the way they do battle is through knowledge. So I think it was great to see those two together — especially since the last time we saw them together, they were headed in opposite directions. Sam was heading south and Bran was heading north.
Like many cast members, Hempstead Wright talked about how fun it was to finally work with actors he’s known but not filmed scenes with before. “It’s weird more than anything to actually see them in the context of a Game of Thrones set.” He’s used to seeing them in street clothes or expensive world premiere duds, not armor and wolf skins. Take working with Maisie Williams (Arya) and Sophie Turner (Sansa) for example. “We literally only ever had one scene together, with all three of us together onscreen, so it was almost like this was the first time working together, which is bizarre.”
Fans have noticed Bran’s strangely detached demeanor this year. Wright doesn’t think his character is capable of operating on an emotional human level any more. “I think that what’s happening there is that Bran is in many ways a bit bored at Winterfell,” he says. “Can you imagine having someone so high-functioning that they have the history of the world in their head?” He thinks Bran is “just waiting for the Great War to come about” and “probably does really hard crossword puzzles.” Sam’s information regarding Rheagar Targaryen’s annulled marriage (actually sourced by Gilly) is a game-changing revelation, and brings Bran back to himself a bit.
To be honest I think until this time Bran has been so focused on the White Walkers that that hasn’t really mattered. Jon was what Bran thought was Rhaegar’s illegitimate child. That doesn’t have that much impact in the face of the swirling chaos that is about to descend on Westeros. Then Sam comes to Bran and it becomes clear that this is actually really important. That is why Bran gets a bit more animated in that scene.
As for Bran being the one to break the DNA news to Jon, Hempstead Wright says he isn’t sure.
I don’t know that Bran has quite got the charisma anymore. I think that would be a bit of a disappointing reveal for Bran to go, ‘Hi, Jon. You’re the heir to the Iron Throne and I’m back in Winterfell and I know everything.’ I think it would be a bit better if Sam did it. Bran can do the finding out and Sam can do the talking.
And after Jon finds out? How might that affect the dynamics among members of the Stark family? “In terms of their bond together, I think it will have absolutely no impact” he said. “The big question now is how it will go between Jon and Daenerys. I can’t imagine she’ll be pleased.”
Wright also spoke to Esquire about his character, where he answered another fan question: If Bran knows everything, why didn’t he already know about Rhaegar’s annulled marriage to Elia?
The way we’ve been explaining it is that Bran isn’t the old Three-Eyed Raven who has sat in a tree for a thousand years and been through the history of the world. Bran has his Kindle library of every single thing that’s happened, but he hasn’t gotten time to read it all yet. The other Raven has had an eternity to see everything and know it all by heart. Bran doesn’t and still needs time to look it up in his encyclopedias. There’s that moment, where he tells Samwell Tarly, “Are you sure? Let me just look this up in my history book and verify.” It’s the same thing with Littlefinger. It’s not like he hadn’t told his sisters yet. Bran just needed time to think before they came to him and asked him what was going on, and he was like, “Oh god, look!” Bran isn’t ancient yet. He’s still a teenager who has all this downloaded in his head. He needs some time.
He also addressed a theory that’s been floating around recently: Bran is the Night King.
I mean…there’s your proof, right?
I saw someone tweeting pictures of me and the Night King together and were like, “Yep. That’s him. Definitive proof!” I was like we don’t look that much alike. I saw someone photoshop the Night King’s buckle onto Bran and say, “Yep it’s him!” I think the cool thing now about this being the last season is that the theories that everyone has are going to tie up. If anyone has had any theory about any of the characters who are still alive will probably get answered now. I personally think the Night King theory is a bit far-fetched, but I would have said the same thing about the Hodor theory. And when I saw that on paper, I was like, “What! No way!” But this is Game of Thrones, and anything is possible. I’d love to be the Night King. That would be so fun to be like, “It was me all along.” But I don’t know—I doubt it.
Season 8 will reveal all…eventually.
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