King Bran the Broken.
When the dust settled, and the remnants of King’s Landing – and indeed the Seven Kingdoms – gathered in the Dragonspit, Isaac Hempstead Wright’s cripple was anointed king, much to the surprise of Greyworm, Sansa, and the Game of Thrones faithful. But it seems no one was more surprised that Isaac Hempstead Wright himself, who initially thought the final script was a joke when it was given to him by series writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Chatting to Entertainment Weekly as part of the outlet’s post-finale coverage, Wright admitted that he was completely floored by Bran’s fate, stating:
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. I genuinely thought it was a joke script and that [Benioff and Weiss] sent to everyone a script where their own character ends up on the Iron Throne. ‘Yeah, good one guys. Oh s***, it’s actually real?’
So, there you have it; you weren’t the only one shocked by “The Iron Throne,” as Isaac Hempstead Wright had to do a double take before realizing that it was his character, Bran the Broken, who ultimately emerged as the winner of Game of Thrones. And that’s despite the fact that the Iron Throne, the one true symbol of power in all of Westeros, was reduced to a molten heap after Drogon unleashed fire and fury, before scooping up the limp Daenerys and flying east.
He’ll likely be tracked by Bran in due time, given the young king still possesses the power of the Three-Eyed Raven. It’s part of the reason why he was elected king in the first place, as the seven six kingdoms of Westeros have endured enough war and bloodshed for a millennium. Of course, we still have that HBO prequel to look forward to, which looks set to wind the clock back 10,000 years…