'Game of Thrones' Star Kristofer Hivju Wants Tormund and Brienne Spinoff

Kristofer Hivju thinks that HBO is ignoring one obvious idea for a Game of Thrones spinoff — one [...]

By Michael Hein

Kristofer Hivju thinks that HBO is ignoring one obvious idea for a Game of Thrones spinoff — one focusing on his character Tormund Giantsbane, and Brienne of Tarth. The wildling leader had an unrequited crush on Brienne that did not really go anywhere in the main series, but Hivju now says that he thinks they could develop the relationship further in a spinoff. Fans obviously loved the idea.

Hivju was a part of a panel called "Game of Thrones: A Celebration" at the British Film Institute in London on Monday, along with co-stars Isaac Hempstead Wright and Gemma Whelan. The gathering ended with a Q&A session, where a fan asked if he would take part in a Tormund-Brienne spinoff.

"I'm up for it," he said. "You'd have Castle Black and [us] trying to run it together. It's 19 minutes per episode."

Fans had a good laugh at the idea, though many on social media also harbored a small hope that it could be real. Meanwhile, Hivju told reporters from Metro at the event that there was a whole alternate ending to the series, though it was not clear how serious he was here either.

"Well, we shot an alternative ending," he said. "That was mostly for fun but I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you about that."

Some fans wondered whether he might be referring to a deleted scene, as many suspect we will see some cut footage next month when the DVD collection is released. The scripts for Game of Thrones Season 8 include some dialogue that many fans wished had been on screen, and it may well turn up in the home release version.

Others assumed Hivju was talking about some kind of on-set gag, which we might see in a behind-the-scenes featurette, at best. As it stands, the ending is canonical, with Hempstead Wright's character Bran Stark ruling the continent of Westeros. Hemstead Wright talked about his character's journey a lot at the panel.

"He grows and learns the hard way about a lot of things. He goes from being this traditionally vulnerable character to the most powerful person there is," he said of Bran.

"I was pretty happy with just him becoming the Three-Eyed Raven, but what a great story where this boy – this disabled 10-year-old in the harshest world ever – [comes] to triumph," he went on. "And so to see him become king and be victorious is so... it's brilliant to have a disabled character win the whole of Game of Thrones."

The Game of Thrones Season 8 DVD collection is available for pre-order now, and will be out on Dec. 3. The whole series is streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now.

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