Game of Thrones alum Kristian Nairn reflects on friendship with Isaac Hempstead-Wright
By Dan Selcke
Kristian Nairn is a DJ who's toured the world as well as an actor on shows like Our Flag Means Death, but he'll probably always be best known for appearing on Game of Thrones as Hodor, a towering man of few words (one word, actually) who carted around Bran Stark on his back after the young boy lost the use of his legs.
Nairn is aware of how much he's associated with Hodor, but sometimes he'll try to downplay it. “You’ll never hear me play a remix with a Hodor reference,” the actor recently told Us Weekly. “I’m not blind to it all. Maybe I should have done that. Maybe I’d be playing for a few hundred thousand people. But I don’t feel that my soul would have allowed me to do it because I’ve been a musician all my life. That was the part that felt a bit cheesy to me.”
"I’ll play the Game of Thrones theme on my guitar, it’s using one of my other skills. It’s a way just to put that in there, and I really enjoy doing it, so I’ll do something like that with a little nod to it. Whereas on the Rave of Thrones proper tour, there would have been props and stuff, people dressed up, but now that’s probably not the vibe unless it’s a theme party."
Nairn embarked on the Rave of Thrones tour back in the mid-2010s, at the height of Game of Thrones popularity. But as much as Nairn wants to distance himself from the show, he also knows he can't fully get away from it. Perhaps that's why he leaned in with his recent memoir
Beyond the Throne: Epic Journeys, Enduring Friendships, and Surprising Tales. There are plenty of interesting stories in there, including about Nairn's childhood growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, his issues with substance abuse and how he came to terms with his sexuality. But every other chapter is about Game of Thrones, so there's plenty for fans to dig into.
In particular, Nairn has a lot of stories about working with Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who played Bran Stark; that makes sense, since Nairn shared most of his scenes with the actor, who was 12 years old when the first season aired and 20 for the final season. Nairn basically watched him grew up, and the two became quite close.
“I adore that boy,” Nairn said. “He’s the little brother I never had. I still feel that way. I think probably to the day we die we’ll be connected. … It was a wonderful thing.”
Beyond the Throne: Epic Journeys, Enduring Friendships, and Surprising Tales is on sale now.
dark. Next. Game of Thrones vet Kristian Nairn recalls the emotional experience of filming Hodor's death scene. Game of Thrones vet Kristian Nairn recalls the emotional experience of filming Hodor's death scene
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