As part of the grand ending of Game of Thrones, Tyrion announced that the next ruler of Westeros should be the person with the best story, and that person was … Bran … really? Yes, as it turns out, Brandon the Broken was where the show ended up, regardless of how well it bodes for the kingdom to have a Three-Eyed Raven on the throne, but if you’re looking to blame that choice on show writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, you’ll be mistaken. According to Bran himself, actor Isaac Hempstead Wright, the idea for King Bran came straight from author George R.R. Martin. “David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] told me there were two things George R.R. Martin had planned for Bran,†he said in an HBO behind-the-scenes interview. “And that was the Hodor revelation, and that he would be king. So that’s pretty special to be directly involved in something that is part of George’s vision. It was a really nice way to wrap it up.â€
Martin has discussed how he’d wished he’d gotten to the end of his book series before the TV show got there, while Benioff and Weiss have said they’re not going to reveal how their endgame differs from Martin’s plans so as not to spoil things for book readers. Martin has said his ending will be both similar and different from what we saw onscreen, and pointed out that there are many A Song of Ice and Fire characters who are still around who were never introduced in the book series in the first place. So, you could probably assume that Bran is going to become king in the books, but maybe for different reasons or in a different way — or maybe Martin will change his mind and give it all to Lady Stoneheart.