The director for my final [Game of Thrones] episode is Jack Bender. As soon as I find out, I Google him. We’ve not met, but I try to second-guess how he’ll work. If this is to be an epic scene, I need to get it spot-on. His past accolades tell me what I need to know: He’s an old hand, a longtime director on the 1980s hit TV series Falcon Crest. The Sopranos is also in his back catalog. My hope is that he’ll draw out the best in me.
When our first day of filming rolls around, Helen [Hempstead Wright, Isaac’s mother] greets me with a warm hug.
“Great to see you, Kristian!” she says. But I also sense her hesitation. Neither of us want to acknowledge that our time together is drawing to a close.
“Kristian!” Isaac also rushes up to say hello, but I notice that he doesn’t run to hug me. Immediately, sadness surges through me. I haven’t seen him for months, but what’s obvious is just how much Isaac has grown. He’s 15 now. Fifteen! He’s also nearly 6 foot tall. My rational brain kicks in. Would I have wanted to bear-hug anyone at that age? Categorically no. But it’s also weird to think of our first day together when Isaac used me as a human climbing frame and smashed my iPhone in the Paint Hall. What a journey we’ve been on since then …
“I still can’t believe the script!” Isaac tells me.
“It’s going to be really tough,” I gulp. Already I can feel the emotion rising.
How I’m going to survive the next few days will be anyone’s guess.
“Hey, Kristian,” Jack greets me with a firm handshake when we finally meet. He has small, round glasses, a shaggy-dog demeanor, and a beard to rival my own. Since season 4 I’ve been rocking the Methuselah look. And whenever I glance in the mirror, I laugh. There’s been so much to-ing and fro-ing over my facial hair over the years. First David [Benioff] and [D.B. Weiss] wanted Hodor with a beard, but then reckoned I looked too much like a college professor. Now that I’ve been living in a cave for a year eating moss while Bran hones his powers and the White Walkers edge closer, I’ve unleashed the beast and let my hair and beard run free. That, too, feels liberating.
“Great to meet you,” I say to Jack before we launch into work.
Before we begin our first run-through there’s one thing I’m concerned about. “Will I meet Sam?” I ask. As Sam is going to be playing me as a young boy, we are going to have to follow each other’s movements in certain scenes while Bran is warging, so I feel I should meet him face-to-face.
“Sorry, Kristian,” Jack grimaces. Because of the schedule, Sam’s scenes had to be filmed several days ago, but Jack does have a set of outtakes to show me on his iPhone, so that I can get a feel for what’s needed. The challenge, he explains, is that he’s going to have to match up our performances later, so they’ll need to be as exact as we can get them.