0 3 mins 8 yrs

“He’s now discovering how crucial he could be in the Great War.”

778-ew-isaac-hempstead-wright

© HBO

Following his Season 5 absence, Isaac Hempstead-Wright returns in Season 6 of Game Of Thrones as Bran Stark.

Bran was last seen in Season 4, discovering the mystical Three-Eyed Raven (now played by Max von Sydow who replaces Struan Rodger) he’d been searching for to help him with his psychic powers.

Game of Thrones Season 6 releases teaser trailer

A new image from HBO (above) shows the now 16-year-old actor taller (six-foot), shorter haired and now in control of his powers thanks to his off-screen training.

Isaac Hempstead-Wright recently told EW his thoughts when he first heard from showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss that he wasn’t going to be in the shows fifth series.

“When I first heard the news Dan and David wanted to have a chat with me, I was like, ‘Oh no!’ Usually that’s to tell you [your character is] dead. So comparatively, missing a season was like, ‘phew!.’“

Game Of Thrones casts Samwell Tarly’s brother

Hempstead-Wright also thinks the showrunners made the right choice in fast forwarding to the point where Bran is mostly trained: “They’re exactly right. I would have just been sitting in a cave going, ‘Oh, I can nearly do it now.’“

“Previously Bran’s seen tiny glimpses of future or past but never has he been very much in control in the situation,” he says. “Now we’re given looks into very important events in the past, present and future of this world and Bran is beginning to piece them together like a detective, almost as if he’s watching the show. Equally, he’s now discovering how crucial he could be in the Great War. It’s quite Inception-y.”

Game Of Thrones returns in April on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK.