"Oh s**t, it’s actually real?" – Bran’s actor originally thought his big Game of Thrones finale scene was fake

Game of Thrones
Image credit: HBO

We can argue about the Game of Thrones ending until the Three-Eyed Ravens come home, but not everyone was upset with the finale. Take Bran actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright, for example. Despite his character seeing all and knowing all, he was surprisingly taken aback when reading about his fate in the script – so much so that he thought it was all one big joke at first.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hempstead-Wright – who has been on the show since he was 12 – outlined the moment where he found out Bran would be named King of the Six Kingdoms, explaining “When I got to the [Dragonpit scene] in the last episode and they’re like, ‘What about Bran?’ I had to get up and pace around the room.”

In fact, such is the tendency for the likes of Thrones and the MCU to produce fake scripts and include dummy endings, the Bran actor reckoned it was all a rib, revealing “I genuinely thought it was a joke script and that [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] sent everyone a script with their own character ends up on the Iron Throne. ‘Yeah, good one guys. Oh shit, it’s actually real?’”

But, maybe if Hempstead-Wright had his way, things in Game of Thrones season 8 could’ve taken a much more explosive turn. While he’s “happy” with how it all turned out for the Three-Eyed Raven (“I think he’ll be a really good king,” he teases), the actor “Kind of did want to die and get in one good death scene with an exploding head or something.”

Luckily for us, we’re sat here talking about Bran the Broken and not Bran with his Brains All Over The Wall – even if it still seems fairly unbelievable.

We took a stab at answering one of the Game of Thrones finale's most burning questions: Where is Drogon?

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.