For most fantasy fans, Robert Aramayo is best known for playing a young elf lord Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Before that, however, Aramayo played a young Ned Stark in season 6 of Game of Thrones. The sequences were flashback visions where Bran Stark watched his father (played in adulthood by Sean Bean) taking part in Robert’s Rebellion, showing the younger warrior Ned once was.
Speaking to ScreenRant to promote the U.S. release of his drama I Swear (which already earned him a BAFTA award), Aramayo was pressed on the chances of playing a younger Ned again, perhaps in a screen adaptation of the upcoming play Game of Thrones: The Mad King.
“Oh, my word. I've never been asked that question before," Aramayo said. "I mean, that was just such an amazing part of my life. I absolutely loved playing Ned. It was great. I loved Game of Thrones. I was so excited to do. It was one of my first jobs. So I've got very, very good memories of it, but it was a long time ago.”
The Mad King is set to debut at England’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on July 20. It will tell the story of the Great Tourney of Harrenhal, where Rhaegar Targaryen publicly reveals his feelings for Lyanna Stark, setting up the events of Robert’s Rebellion.
Aramayo’s scenes in Game of Thrones showed a young Ned fighting to rescue Lyanna at the Tower of Joy, only to find her dying after childbirth. Ned promised his sister he would raise her and Rhaegar’s son as his own, with the boy becoming Jon Snow.
A prequel about Ned is among the possible GOT spinoffs fans have wanted for a while. It would be interesting to see how Robert’s Rebellion was formed, and the exact details about the power plays that changed the Seven Kingdoms. The Mad King could easily be adapted for a movie to set up a larger series.
However, the chances of Aramayo reprising the role of Ned are low. He played the role in 2016 and such a prequel series wouldn’t arrive for years, so Aramayo would be too old to believably play a younger Ned. The actor himself appears to have moved on from that with his new stardom and The Rings of Power, which is expected to debut its third season later this year.
So while the chances of a Ned Stark prequel are still open, the door seems to be closed on Robert Aramayo portraying him. Yet Aramayo still has to be proud of being part of two of the biggest fantasy epics on television, marking a fine legacy in the genre.
Game of Thrones is streaming on HBO Max.
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