Brenock O’Connor (Olly) and Joe Dempsie (Gendry) talk potential returns to Game of Thrones

Filming for Game of Thrones Season 6 is in full swing, but we haven’t heard much about the goings-on at the Wall yet, possibly because most of the attention has been on Spain, whereas the Wall stuff is filmed in boring ol’ Northern Ireland. Obviously, we left the Wall with a lot of unanswered questions, but if Express was hoping for a few hints about what’s to come when it interviewed Brenock O’Connor (Olly), it was disappointed. O’Connor wouldn’t even confirm if he was returning for Season 6.

"It’s great fun and whether I return or not is yet to be confirmed or denied. But if I do go back, I think I’ll love it because I’ve loved these past few series. So if I get another series out of it, should be great."

I think most fans have assumed that Olly, like it or not, would be coming back to the show next year. After all, he has a deal to answer for, and you’d figure O’Connor would know if he’s coming back by now, even if he doesn’t film for a while. I get the idea he’s being coy here—after all, Owen Teale (Alliser Thorne) confirmed that he was coming back, so it seems hard to believe that Olly wouldn’t be at his side.

On the other hand, apparently O’Connor didn’t know that he would dealing Jon Snow his death blow until a couple of weeks before the scene was filmed, although crew members kept dropping hints. Maybe, as a younger actor, he’s not told as much.

"Everyone like that: ‘oh, you don’t like wildlings, do you?’ Then I was told by one of the stuntmen that I stabbed someone in episode 10 and I wasn’t sure who it was and I was thinking: ‘do I go on a mad killing spree on the wildlings or something like that?’"

Speaking of Jon Snow’s infamous death scene, O’Connor said that it was “great fun to film” and that he was pleased with the reaction it got among fans, although he had to walk through some fire to get to that point. “At the beginning I was getting quite a bit of hate,” he said. “It was quite strange from no one really noticing my character to people sending hateful messages over Twitter and stuff but it’s sort of died down now.”

"I just enjoy the fact that I had that much of an impact. It’s very rare for my character to get noticed really, so I was quite happy with the reaction that I got. When you do something bad, you want a bad reaction for it."

Probably a healthy reaction.

Whatever O’Connor may say, I tend to think that Olly is coming back for Season 6. I’m much less sure about Joe Dempsie (Gendry), who hasn’t been on the show since Season 3 and very well might not appear again. I’m fine with that, but I do pity Dempsie a bit, since he’ll probably be fielding questions about his return until the show is over. When The Nottingham Post brought the question up again recently, Dempsie said that he had “absolutely no idea” if he would come back.

"It’s something that I really enjoyed working on, I have lots of friends in the show and I love Belfast as a place. Even though I’d love to go back, I’m not waiting for the phone to ring because I’ve just got to get on with other stuff."

In any case, Dempsie is doing well in his post-Thrones career. He’s starring in the heavily-promoted (in the U.K.) This is England series, and recently appeared alongside Daniel Radcliffe in The Gamechangers, a TV movie about the creation of the Grand Theft Auto videogame series. Still, if he ever wants to row back into the lives of Game of Thrones fans, we’ll be happy to see him.

Finally, because it didn’t really fit anywhere else, he’s a short movie of Maisie Williams performing an acrobatic stunt with her brother. You’re welcome.

Next: Preparations for Game of Thrones Season 6 continue in Peñíscola, Almería