Isaac Hempstead-Wright Teases Bran’s Return Tonight

One of the things that Game of Thrones has mostly accomplished throughout its five seasons has been keeping a balance between nearly a dozen different plot threads. From the far north of the Lands of Always Winter to the far east of Slaver’s Bay to the deep South of Dorne, they’re managed mostly to hold all the stories together and not let any one dominate or get ahead of the others, save one.

It was obvious to those who read the novels from early on that Bran was generally running a full book ahead of everyone else by mid-Season 2. So it was not that surprising when he, Hodor and Meera were asked to sit out last year in order to allow everyone else to catch up. (Though considering that A Feast For Crows had not only Bran sit out, but Tyrion, Dany, and Jon Snow too, I suppose it could have been far worse.)

But now, after a year off during which Bran trained (and during which the actor grew about a foot-and-a-half), Isaac Hempstead-Wright returns tonight to the show. The growth spurt was a shock to everyone, including his fellow actors. As Kristain Narin (who play’s ban’s sidekick, the beloved Hodor) told The New York Post, “He really, really shot up since the end of Season 4! My jaw hit the ground [when I saw him].”

Hempstead-Wright says the changes are both outside and in: “Bran is growing into his own new character, waiting to erupt.”

We see exactly what Bran’s powers can do. He has the power of greensight. He can harness the power to look through time. Now he can finally chase this destiny of his.

The big excitement for him was working with the legendary Max Von Sydow, who plays the human embodiment of a character who thus far we’ve only seen as a Three-Eyed Raven in Bran’s dreams. Hempstead-Wright says he’s “been calling to [Bran]” for the entire series.

“When he arrived on set, a hush would descend and everyone would kind of soak in his aura.” Hempstead-Wright continued to gush to The Hollywood Reporter about his costar:

He’s a real sage. There’s magic in the show, but it’s often kept on the fringes. It’s a lot like how magic’s treated in our world; everyone’s skeptical about it in the Game of Thrones world. ‘The dragons died years ago! And White Walkers? They don’t exist!’ So when you do get a bit of it, it’s exciting — but when you get some serious magic like Melisandre or the Three-Eyed Raven, and him in particular with his stoic, philosophical zen sense about him, just sitting in the tree … the idea itself is just fantastic, this man wrapped in all of these roots, connected to the entire history of Westeros. He’s a remarkable character, and clearly a character who is an extraordinarily interesting man of history.

So how does Hodor feel about all this? He’s carried his young master all the way North of the Wall to a cave, only to watch him learn some sort of magic and travel to places Hodor can’t follow. Nairn tells THR that this isn’t easy for the oversized loveable lug of few syllables and fewer words.

Hodor, he says, is “bewildered. I don’t think he particularly enjoys the whole magical element very much, but he’s willing to be there for the sake of Bran. He loves Bran. But he’s bewildered. He doesn’t know what’s happening. He’s a bit scared.”

We’ll have to see how both of them are handling it tonight when the show finally returns to their storyline. (As well as Meera’s—she’s also stuck up there, and lost her brother Jojen to boot!)