WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the finale of Game of Thrones, "The Iron Throne," which aired Sunday on HBO.
Game of Thrones actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright thought the HBO series' showrunners were playing a joke on him when it was revealed his character, Bran Stark, would end up winning the throne to rule Westeros.
In the finale's last act, after the death of Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow's imprisonment, Tyrion leads a surprise impromptu vote of all the lords across the Six Kingdoms, and they unanimously elect Bran the Broken to oversee the realm and unite everyone in peace.
"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," he said to Entertainment Weekly. "I genuinely thought it was a joke script and that [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] sent to everyone a script with their own character ends up on the Iron Throne. 'Yeah, good one guys. Oh s--t, it's actually real?'"
He admitted, though, he knew it'd be a "bittersweet" ending as he understands how many fans were backing warriors like Jon and Dany to take the seat. Bran only became an underdog candidate as the season progressed and we saw how torn Jon grew over understanding he'd have to overthrow his Queen and fellow Targaryen at some point.
"Not everyone will be happy. It's so difficult to finish a series as popular as this without pissing some people off," he added. "I don't think anybody will think it's predictable and that's as much as you can hope for. People are going to be angry. There's going to be a lot of broken hearts. It’s bittersweet, exactly as [author] George R.R. Martin intended. It’s a fitting conclusion to this epic saga."
Game of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.