Isaac Hempstead Wright on the Tower of Joy, Bran’s power, and the Stark resurgence

It’s amazing what a year off can do. When Bran Stark left Game of Thrones at the end of Season 4, his storyline was among the more tiresome. Mileage may vary, but to me, his long trek into the far North wasn’t nearly as exciting as, say, Tyrion’s ongoing legal difficulties down in King’s Landing.

But three episodes in to Season 6 and Bran is a highlight. So far, he’s used his new powers to show us two scenes from the past: a vision of Winterfell as it was when his father was young, and the fight at the Tower of Joy. Both scenes were excellent, and according to Wright, we can expect more of that later in the season. “When we next see Bran, he’s still training away,” Wright told The Hollywood Reporter.

"He’s still working through these visions of his. It’s not like there are any dull visions, either. Every single vision, you’re learning something new, and you’re seeing a real bombshell. That’s what we’ll see in the next few episodes. There are no visions where we’re like, “Oh, well, cool, we kind of already knew that anyway.” Every time it’s like, “Oh, wow! That’s extraordinary!” There are a couple of visions coming up that I’m really excited to see."

I’ve loved the first two visions, and am excited by the notion of ones that are less expected.

But before we can get to them, Bran will have a firmer grip on his power. As we saw in “Oathbreaker” when Bran saw his father storm the Tower of Joy, Bran doesn’t quite know the limits of what he can do yet. For example, consider the moment when he calls out for his father, and the young Ned Stark turns around. Was it a coincidence, or was it something more? Wright is happy to discuss possibilities.

"Maybe Bran is the only one with this power, and the Raven is going, “It can’t be true, and even if it is, we can’t let Bran use this. It’ll end in tears. There’s no way he’ll be able to control such a responsibility himself.” Or, that’s exactly the power he and the Three-Eyed Raven share, and the Raven is very wary to not let it get ahold of Bran and taint his life over. I think it suddenly presents a bunch of new challenges for the Raven. He’s not only just trying to keep this teenager under control, but now he has a sort of time-traveling teenager to keep under control. (Laughs.) He’ll have some fun with that."

If Bran could indeed not only observe the past but also affect things, it could be huge. As Wright says, “I think the temptation now is definitely there. Who’s to say Bran couldn’t go back in time and stop himself from getting pushed out of that window?” Based on the interview, it sounds like this is something Bran will struggle with. At the moment, I’m curious as to whether the Three-Eyed Raven knows such a thing is possible, or if Bran is unique. Here’s his face immediately after Bran seems to make contact with Ned. What can we read there?

Whatever else he’s thinking, there’s apparently a method to what the Three-Eyed Raven chooses to show Bran. In “Oathbreaker,” Bran saw his father, Ned Stark, execute Ser Arthur Dayne after Howland Reed mounted a sneak attack on him, rather than die with honor after being bested. That goes against Bran’s conception of his father, but there’s a reason he’s seeing it.

"The Three-Eyed Raven is keen to show Bran an accurate picture of everything that’s happened. He’s going to show Bran everything that he needs to know. If Bran needs to know that his father did this for a reason, then he’ll be shown that. I think once you get past the initial shock of seeing his father do this terribly dishonorable thing, he will hopefully be able to appreciate that it was done with the right heart."

Finally, Wright weighed in on whether Season 6 would see the fortunes of the much-beleaguered Starks improve. Happily for fans, he seems optimistic.

"I think they’ve all come to a place where they’re all in their element now. Arya’s becoming this amazing assassin character, and she’s kind of right there in the midst of all that. Then you have Sansa who managed to escape from Winterfell and is now heading somewhere with a mission and a drive, instead of just being held captive in that miserable castle. Now Bran’s following his destiny, and following it in quite a serious way. I think, for sure, this is a season where the Starks are doing their own thing, rather than just being bandied about by all sorts of storylines that result in their displacement from wherever they were staying."

After seasons of watching the Starks suffer, I think a lot of fans are ready for that.