Isaac Hempstead-Wright talks Bran Stark in GQ+A

Isaac Hempstead-Wright is featured in GQ.Com’s latest edition of The GQ+A.

In this new interview Isaac discusses what it has been like to grow up on the show, and if he was allowed to watch Thrones when he started working on it at such a young age. Isaac goes into depth about his character Bran Stark, including ties to the mystical side of the show, and his perseverance and belief that will lead him North this upcoming season. Isaac also touches on some of the viewers and possibly George R.R. Martin’s biggest fear, will the show catch up with the books?

GQ: What has it been like to grow up on this show?
The show doesn’t dominate my life in the way that lots of people think it does. Because I was doing it from so young, it just became this thing I would do in the second half of the year — a little something that I’d do on the side. To see where it’s come now from the audition that I did, for this unknown pilot from this series of books, is insane.

GQ: You were only ten or eleven when you did the pilot. Were you even allowed to watch the show back then?
It was a process. The violence was very much debunked because you’d be walking around on set and there would be decapitated heads or buckets of blood that you’d be taking pictures with. [Laughs] So, by the time you watched it, you knew that there was a guy pumping blood out of the body from behind the stone. The sex was a little more difficult, but my mom just gave me equally inappropriate talks of it. [Laughs]

GQ: What do you think it is about Bran Stark that people love so much?
I think definitely his mystical element is very intriguing. What’s great about the show is that magic isn’t this rampant force in the kingdom. It’s very much, as it is in our world, a sense that many of the characters are just as skeptical as we would be about dragons or zombies. That makes all the magic in the show not only all the more real, but it also makes all the magic that is there all the more exciting.

GQ: He’s such a strong character with so much perseverance.
Yeah. I’ve often thought how it would be really cool to be one of the fighting people or have a sword, but whilst Bran might not be the most exciting character, he is definitely one of the most true. The obstacles that he’s had to overcome – like losing his legs and all his family – I think are just as difficult (if not more so) than any of the physical battles that any of the other characters have had.

GQ: Why do you think Bran is steadfast in his belief, and so strong in his will, that he keeps going North even though it’s probably not going to end well for them?
There’s this force absolutely driving him from deep within, and I’m not even sure if he knows entirely what it is. As he says in season three, “I don’t want to go. I have to go.” It’s very much a duty rather than some kind of dream following. It’s like a rope pulling him rather than him jumping out into the unknown. Even though I think he knows that where he’s going is dangerous, this drive and the final pinnacle at the end makes him forget everything else and just allows him to focus on that.

GQ: Do you guys worry about catching up with George R.R. Martin’s books?
That’s interesting you say that because, in season four actually, a lot of the storylines are starting to be either sped up or slowed down and some people are nearly at the end of their storyline and others are way before. I guess it’s George’s biggest fear, when the show catches up to him, which it inevitably will unless he gets the next book out. But I don’t think we’re particularly worried about it because David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] know the ending. In a sense, we follow David and Dan rather than the books. It’s inevitable that things are going to get left out. In condensing the books, different storylines are made differently. Rather than the books, it’s definitely the scripts and the producers for us.

GQ: Who is your on-set BFF that you hang around the most with?
I think it’s got to be Kristian [Nairn] who plays Hodor. Considering that I’m strapped to his back for the entire time, we’ve bonded rather well. [Laughs] We’re interested in a lot of the same things. We’re both gamers and he’s got this wonderful sharp, dry sense of humor. When I’m always singing him SpongeBob songs or whatever, he’s always there. [Laughs]

GQ: Aside from yourself, who is your favorite Game of Thrones character?
I actually like Joffrey. [Laughs] Not as a person, but in the sense that he’s a very interesting character study because he’s this hormonal, crazy teenager who’s given absolute power and is corrupted absolutely. It’s intriguing to watch him absolutely destroyed from the inside by all of this.

For more from Isaac visit GQ.Com!

• Published on 02/19/2014 at 11:59 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 12:43 PM CDT