Joe Dempsie Reveals Who Should Sit on the Iron Throne at the End of ‘Game of Thrones’

WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for the latest episode of Game of Thrones! Read at your own risk…

Joe Dempsie, who portrays Gendry on Game of Thrones, is speaking out about which character he thinks should ultimately end up on the Iron Throne at the conclusion of the HBO series. While many fans might like to see Kit Harington’s Jon Snow or Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen become the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms when all is said and done, Dempsie says has a different character in mind that he believes would be best suited to lead.

“I think Tyrion [Lannister] should, really. Not if you’re looking at sort of birthrights or family trees and all that, but I just think as a character he is constantly surprising you,” the English actor said during an interview with Variety.

Dempsie, 30, feels that the youngest son of Tywin Lannister has the emotional capabilities needed to be a strong ruler.

“[Tyrion’s] a favorite for a number of reasons, not just for his witty one-liners. He’s a genuinely compassionate person because of the life he has lived. Even though he was born into a family of privilege, he’s not had an easy life at all. I would like to think that makes him a pretty good leader.”

On Sunday’s episode of GOT, Dempsie’s character, Gendry, who was last seen at the end of Season 3, made his triumphant return to the series. According to the showrunners, this was the ideal time to interject Robert Baratheon’s back into the storyline.

“Gendry played an important part in the lives of more than one main character in the show. It wasn’t so much of a question about whether to bring him back as it was how to bring it back,” D.B. Weiss said during a GOT “Inside the Episode” spot.

Weiss continued by saying: “Given the relationship he had to Davos in Season 3, and we ended up with a situation where Davos was the only way Tyrion was going to get to King’s Landing to do what he needed to do. We realized that Davos could either be sitting, waiting by the boat, twiddling his thumbs. Or he could go look for the guy who ended up being almost like a surrogate son to him. His role just took shape from there.”

As for Dempsie, he watched the gripping drama as a fan for the past few years. Check out his reaction to finally being asked to come back to the GOT here.

Tune into Game of Thrones on Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.