'Game of Thrones' Star Aisling Franciosi Reveals How She Learned Jon Snow's Secret Early (Exclusive)
Aisling Franciosi revealed the biggest secret in Game of Thrones when she played Lyanna Stark on the series, and she learned the answer to another mystery for herself in the process. Franciosi spoke to PopCulture.com ahead of the premiere of Netflix's The Unforgivable on Friday, and she graciously accepted a few questions about Westeros as well. Fair warning: There are spoilers for Game of Thrones ahead.
Franciosi admitted that she has not read A Song of Ice and Fire and does not know much about the deep lore-based questions a lot of fans might have for Winterfell's blue rose. However, she recalled filming her flashback scenes for Season 6 of the HBO series, just after the episode where Jon Snow was killed by mutineers had aired. She said that the mystery of his death was solved for her as soon as she arrived on set and saw Kit Harington there.
"Sometimes people would ask me, 'Oh, like, do you know...' I don't know, some gigantic thing on Twitter," she laughed. "I'm like 'no, I was only there for one day.' Although, hilariously, the day that I was shooting it was still when people didn't know whether Jon Snow was alive or not. The day that I went to shoot I pulled up, and Kit Harington was there. So I was like, 'Huh, OK. Well, I guess I know the answer to that."
Sadly, that's the last big revelation about Game of Thrones that Franciosi ever got. She told me that she did not film any other scenes as Lyanna, and never heard anything from producers about returning for more scenes, despite fans' speculation that the books will contain more background on her character and the circumstances of Lyanna's tryst with Rhaegar Targaryen.
Still, Franciosi indulged one more sill Game of Thrones question – this time about the wig that her co-star Wilf Scolding wore in their wedding scene in Season 7. I informed Franciosi about fans' fixation on this wig online, and the fact that many believe it had been reused from Season 1, and may even be reused yet again for the upcoming spinoff series House of the Dragon.
"I'm completely oblivious," Franciosi said, laughing, "but, I mean, if a wig is well-made, why waste it? You should just keep using it!"
Franciosi plays a character nearly as mysterious as Lyanna Stark in the new movie The Unforgivable. She is Katie, the estranged younger sister of Ruth (Sandra Bullock), who has just been released from prison after 20 years and goes looking for Katie through the foster care system. The problem is that Katie has no memory of Ruth whatsoever. The Unforgivable premieres on Friday, Dec. 10 on Netflix.