'Game Of Thrones' Season 6 Spoilers: First Photos Of Older Bran Stark Released
While most "Game of Thrones" fans are focused on trying to figure out the fate of Lord Commander Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who was ambushed by his own sworn brothers of the Night's Watch in the final moments of Season 5, HBO has just offered proof that another member of House Stark will be returning to the show in Season 6.
Entertainment Weekly has released a peek at Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) returning to his role as the paralyzed second-to-the-youngest son of Ned (Sean Bean) and Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) Stark in a photo from the upcoming sixth season of "Game of Thrones."
In the popular HBO TV series, as in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels on which the series is adapted from, Bran Stark is a "greenseer," a person who sees visions, and a "skinchanger," someone who is able to inhabit the bodies of other animals, including humans.
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The character was absent from the show for the entirety of Season 5 and was last seen in the Season 4 finale, where he met the Three-Eyed Raven (played in Season 4 by Struan Rodger and by Max von Sydow in the forthcoming Season 6). Hempstead-Wright was only 12 years old when he made his debut in the first season of "Game of Thrones."
The British actor, who is now 16, looks a lot older in the Season 6 teaser photo than when audiences last saw him in the series. His hair is much shorter and it appears that he may have grown several inches since Season 4.
Hempstead-Wright confirmed that he was returning to "Game of Thrones" in an interview with the Irish Examiner earlier this year. He said, "I am back this season and it's going to get particularly interesting with Bran … he has some interesting visions."
In the same interview, the actor also talked about whether or not his on-screen half-brother (or "half-brother," if the R+L=J theory is to be believed) will be coming back. "I don't know [if he will come back]," Hempstead-Wright said. "He's said he's not."
"I wish he would because I love Kit and because the character's so cool," he added.
