Maybe if Ned Stark had stuck around we’d have had a “how I met your mother” moment on Game of Thrones next year, when he finally fulfilled his promise to bastard son Jon Snow of revealing his parentage. As it is, Sean Bean can only give us hints as to the mystery (does he know?), and at the same time laments that he will no longer be on the show.

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In an interview with New York Magazine, Sean Bean discusses his brutal and shocking Game of Thrones exit in the penultimate episode. He says:

It really sets the standard, which is high already, for what you would expect from HBO. This was a courageous venture to take on in the first place, with such a vast, big-scale production, and this very bold, daring narrative structure. That’s what people admire about it. I think people who weren’t as familiar with the books were shocked. I know I was, when I read the script; then I read the book. It’s a good thing about George R.R. Martin: He’s prepared to kill off the main guys. You don’t get the feeling that the good guy is going to last forever, like James Bond.

When asked about Jon Snow’s mother and fan theories that Ned Stark wasn’t in fact his father, Bean gives us this cryptic answer:

That’s another twist [to come]. It’s a great conundrum. Ned really knows who [Jon’s parents are], but he can’t let on. That’s why it’s such a moving moment, those poignant scenes I have with Kit Harington [who plays Jon], because I couldn’t say what I really thought. There are so many things I could have said, because there is a love there between the two of them, but I can’t express it as overtly as I can with the other children, who I can hold and kiss. Even if I were his true father, I can’t talk about it for fear of offending my wife, who’s really bitter about this. So it’s really a cruel situation. Through no fault of his own, Ned took on a lot by taking Jon in.

Personally, I’m 100% on team Ned’s-sister-is-the-mother-and-Ned’s-the-uncle (it needs a better name though)!

On whether it’s possible for Ned to come back in some form, Bean is optimistic:

Maybe there’s hope for Ned yet! They can do anything. Anything can happen. It’s a very complex show. Very multilayered. And even the most absurd thing is believable. They’re about to start up again, and I’m feeling a twinge of envy, because the saga gets to go on without me. I’m doing something else now, but sometimes I go, “Aw, sh-t, bring me back.”

I personally hope we’ll at least see some form of flashback or dream sequence with him next year. Maybe a clean break is better, but considering how influential Ned Stark was and still is to the show and how much his death will shape the characters’ path, I don’t think the audience necessarily needs to forget about him straight away.

Read the full interview here at the New York Magazine!