From Men's Health

Warning: The following post contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones series finale.

• The Game of Thrones series finale aired Sunday night.

• Bran Stark was named the new king at the show's end.

• Actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who plays Bran, reacted in both EW and THR to his character's fate.

Long live the....raven? King? Whatever he is, at the end of Game of Thrones, Bran Stark is in charge-he knows everything, and now he's atop whatever may have replaced the Iron Throne after it was melted down by Drogon.

In an interview with EW, actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright said that he legitimately thought that the script for the dragon pit scene-where Bran is nominated by Tyrion Lannister and eventually appointed as king-was a practical joke played by Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. (Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, previously said she thought that her sex scene with Gendry was a practical joke in the same manner.)

“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 told the magazine. “I genuinely thought it was a joke script and that [Benioff and Weiss] sent to everyone a script with their own character ends up on the Iron Throne. ‘Yeah, good one guys. Oh s-, it’s actually real?’”

He chimed in on Twitter with a quick reaction to the finale's events:

Hempstead-Wright has been examining how the show has affected him. He just published a guest column at THR detailing how Thrones informed his life; he started playing Bran at age 10, finished filming a year ago, and is 20 now.

The actor said in the column that Bran's coronation doesn't simply serve a narrative purpose for the story that Benioff and Weiss were crafting, but that it could serve as a message to people who, perhaps like Bran, are more quiet, introverted, and reserved.

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"Bran becoming king is a victory for the still and considered people of this world, who too often get side-lined by the commotion of those who are louder and more reactionary," he wrote. "He doesn't shout to make himself heard, but instead waits and chooses his words and actions very carefully. In that, I think Bran presents a valuable reminder to us all in this day and age where sensationalism is rife and anybody can voice an opinion to millions, to sit and consider things a little more carefully."

A little deeper than you might have initially thought! Given who the past rulers have been in Thrones-a delusional madman in The Mad King, an oafish warrior in King Robert, a psychopathic child in Joffrey, and the varying evilness of Cersei and Daenerys, (let's leave poor Tommen out of this for now)-Bran's even-keeled nature is not only a good fit for the realm going forward, but sends a strong message: You don't have to be loud to have your voice heard.

Photo credit: HBO

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