‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Isaac Hempstead Wright Reveals What Bran Learned From Episode 5 Time-Travel Moments

As the Three-Eyed Raven said during HBO’s “Game of Thrones” Season 6, “The past is already written, the ink is dry.” This is bad news for Bran Stark, who witnessed both the Three-Eyed Raven and Hodor fall victim to the White Walkers because of his decision to time-travel on his own in episode 5. Bran now has to quickly learn from what went wrong.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, actor Isaac Hempstead Wright said the tragic time-travel moments in episode 5 will teach his character a lot going forward. He will realize there’s no more room for mistakes and that he’s not sure whether the Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) knew that’s how he would leave the cave.

“I think in essence what this episode has done for Bran is essentially say, ‘Right, have you had your fun? Do you understand now that this isn’t a game? You’re not a kid with these amazing powers you can mess around with. You’re holding the atom bomb. If you drop it again, we’re not going to be so lucky,’” Wright said. “For Bran, he’s realizing that ‘I have to ditch every emotion and every sense of free will in my body and act as I know I have to act.’”

Bran got himself into trouble in episode 5 when he time-traveled on his own and saw the White Walkers. He came face-to-face with the Night’s King (Vladimir Furdik), who grabbed his arm. By touching Bran, the Night’s King found out where Bran was and took his entire army to the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave.

The Three-Eyed Raven told Bran it was time for the Stark lad to succeed him, even though Bran was not ready as White Walkers descended upon the cave. Bran began to warg with the Three-Eyed Raven back to the moment he learned Hodor (Kristian Nairn) formerly was able to talk. To escape the cave in one piece, Meera (Ellie Kendrick) yelled for Bran to warg into Hodor and by doing so he forever took away Hodor’s ability to speak other than to say his name. Hodor would later give his life to help Meera and Bran escape by “holding the door.”

Wright told THR that, right now, the odds aren’t exactly in the favor of Bran and Meera on their journey. He said it’s the two of them attempting to escape an army of 10,000 White Walkers and they’ll be doing their best to get to safety before they’re killed. Theories have been developed that suggest Bran and Meera could get some help in their escape thanks to the return of Benjen Stark (Joseph Mawle) or the debut of a character named Coldhands, who appears in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels underlying the “Game of Thrones” television series. Even so, will they be saved or turned into the next victims of the White Walkers?

“Game of Thrones” Season 6, episode 6 airs on HBO Sunday, May 29, at 9 p.m. EDT.