One of the youngest cast members from Game of Thrones says he initially did not think the show would ever air.
Isaac Hempstead Wright from Surrey was just 10 years old when he was first cast as Bran Stark in the HBO epic.
His character developed from a mischievous young boy, to being hurled from a window and losing the use of his legs, surviving a second murder attempt and eventually becoming a magical being called the Three Eyed Raven.
He was speaking to the Press Association in Belfast at the launch of the Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition at the Titanic Exhibition Centre.
“It was pretty much my first role ever and I was thrown straight at the deep end doing the pilot episode.
“I was ten years old, that’s half my life,” said the 20-year-old.
“To be honest, we didn’t even think it would be picked up into a series. We shot the pilot episode, and you know these things don’t always come off but they took a chance on it.”
Hempstead Wright described the character Bran’s journey as remarkable.
“He’s a disabled ten-year-old in an incredibly harsh world, his chances are not good,” he said.
“His home gets burnt down, his family gets slaughtered, and he ends up on this bizarre quest north of the wall in another perilous territory and he triumphs.
“He becomes the Three Eyed Raven who is one of the most powerful and interesting characters.
“He is weak physically, he’s never going to save the day on horseback, but his weapon is his mind and I think that is a great message – that this little character, who we don’t think is going to have any chance, becomes one of the most interesting and powerful.”