Heir to Winterfell, Three-Eyed Raven, King of the Six Kingdoms. The actor behind Bran Stark shares his thoughts on his character’s remarkable journey.

HBO: So, the biggest question on our minds: What was your reaction when you found out Bran would become king?

Isaac Hempstead Wright: I had to physically get up and walk around my flat. I said, “What?! You’re joking.” It was the very last thing I expected to happen. I was convinced they had sent a script to everyone in which they become king or queen, so I still didn’t believe it until the read-through.

But I think he is a great character to take on that role. You never thought of him in that way, but what more could you ask for in a king than to have no personal attachments, no agenda, but have a calm understanding of the entire universe? He’s the ideal person to be in charge.

[Creators] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] told me there were two things [author] George R.R. Martin had planned for Bran, and that was the Hodor revelation, and that he would be king. So that’s pretty special to be directly involved in something that is part of George’s vision. It was a really nice way to wrap it up.

HBO: Do you think Tyrion’s speech about selecting Bran as king shows an overall theme for the series – that our strength is in our stories?

Isaac Hempstead Wright: It’s definitely a nice parallel to Game of Thrones. Episodes and seasons come and go and the show has ended, but stories never die. Great experiences and memories of watching something and loving it and being involved in characters and storylines are things no one can take away from you.

The dragonpit speech scene itself was five days of filming. It’s a long scene, and it was about 10 minutes a take, so we watched Peter [Dinklage, who plays Tyrion] do that speech over and over again — and it didn’t once become boring. It was such an incredible performance from him; utterly captivating. There were a couple of times I almost forgot my line because I was so completely involved in his storytelling. And that was my final scene to shoot, so that was a really special way to end it with so many people. It was very emotional.