Here are some photos of Sean Bean over the weekend. He attended the annual IFTA Film & Drama Awards in Ireland, and he looked like he was having a great time. He posed with his fiancée Ashley Moore (the redhead) and with his mate Ciaran Hinds, in what has to be the most bittersweet photo-op for Game of Thrones nerds. Ooooh, Jon Snow’s father figures! GAH! A quick note about Bean’s fiancée… the Daily Mail wrote that Ashley is “believed to be in her early 30s…” Ha, no she’s not. More like early 40s. Which is fine because Bean is 56 years old now.
Some GOT SPOILERS follow…
Anyway, I just saw these photos yesterday and I knew I was going to end up writing about Bean in some way today. We rarely get new photos of him and a lot of you enjoy some Ned Stark. Meanwhile, about two weeks ago, Bean ended up talking about Game of Thrones yet again. Last year, Bean dropped some major R+L=J Realness on Game of Thrones fans, and Bean expressed his interest in coming back to Game of Thrones, possibly in flashback episodes or something like that. When Vulture spoke to Bean again a few weeks ago, he reiterated his theory that Ned Stark was never Jon Snow’s biological father.
Back in the summer of 2014, Sean Bean used an interview with Vulture to publicly lobby for his return to Game of Thrones, and in the process revealed his opinion on Jon Snow’s true parentage.
“I’ve definitely got some unfinished business that needs to be resolved there,” he argued. “I’m obviously not Jon Snow’s dad. And you need that to be revealed at some point, don’t you?”
When Vulture told Bean the show had been hinting that way recently, during the Turner upfronts this week, Bean was relieved: “He’s not my child. He isn’t. That’s what I suspected all along.”
But how does Bean see the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch reacting to the discovery that his parents may be completely different from who he thought they were? “Probably a bit psychologically confused, I would imagine! I think that’s probably an interesting journey for Jon Snow as a character and for [Kit Harington] as the actor. He’s been very fortunate in being one of the characters that had a very meaty, substantial, very complex story to be able to discover for himself. He’s been lucky to survive!”
I love that Sean Bean still cares. And it’s my feeling that R+L=J is probably correct, or closer to correct than any other theory. God, I hope Game of Thrones brings Sean Bean back for at least one episode! HODOR!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Bringing back Ned would make too many GoT fans happy, which means… NOPE.
Exactly.
i don’t see the point of him coming back if I’m honest.
They did bring Khal Drogo back, though. So maybe Ned has a chance.
I think they could bring him back for a flashback, maybe as an opener to the final season (similar to the Valonqar scene this year)?
Well.. Drogo’s six pack alone was worth watching again!!!
I don’t they could bring Sean Bean again in a flashback though. It would be good to see Lyanna in a flashback more than Ned.
The flashback with Cersei was a good idea but she’s still alive so I see the point of that.
If they bring Ned back it’s only for the fans. And that will never happen.
You all and your hopes and dreams and optimism! It’d be cool if they brought him back for one last hurrah, but they’d probably only do it to kill him all over again.
Exactly. The book has at least two scenes where Ned could come back and he would be welcome sight.
And Sean has not been shy about his theory on Jon’s parents. Nice seeing pics of him and Ciaran Hinds (who GoT totally wasted) on here.
I think it’ll be a relief for Jon Snow to find out that he has a family of his own. He’ll finally put the pieces together and he’ll finally find some peace in his heart. He’ll finally belong to someone and somewhere. He’ll still be a northener but with dragon blood too. Amazing mixture.
He’ll be happy to know that his ‘brothers and sisters’ are still related to him through blood.
All I want from GoT is for Arya and Jon to meet again. All the others can go. I don’t care about anything else but to see those two together one more time.
He’d probably pout that he’s not biologically Ned’s child. (I’m turning into the human slab of cynicism, Jon Snow, himself.)
On a positive note, I would LOVE to see Tyrion’s face when he finds out his sister is in the clink.
I hope Tyrion will find out soon enough 🙂
I’m not really convinced Tyrion is capable of fully hating somebody, not even Cersei. But the fact she’s locked up will bring a smile to his face!
So I spent my holiday weekend reading, and I finished book 3, on to book 4, and I found one of Jon’s early chapters very interesting. His dream about Catelyn screaming at him that he is no Stark, and then his memories of finding the direwolves, noting they were all dark except for Ghost with his white fur – and the Targs are known for their white blond hair. Now that I’ve read all these theories, it’s impossible to unknow them as I read, so I’m constantly picking everything apart…
Catelyn is kind of a jerk in the books? At least to Jon?
Kind of a jerk?!?! In our modern vernacular, we would call her a child abuser! She was unrelentingly and calculatingly cruel to john. The show tried to soften it a bit, but the novels were very clear she hated Jon.
I haven’t read the books, so I’m just trying to pick up what ya’ll are putting down 🙂
Yes, Abbott. She hated Jon because he was a constant reminder of her husband’s betrayal. She “forgave” Ned for supposedly stepping out on her and bringing home a bastard, but she didn’t actually forgive him. She just redirected all her hate and anger onto an innocent child. Quite frankly, I hate her for that. She is truly horrid to him.
Catelyn is kind of a jerk to lots of people in the books. The show allowed her a moment to express regret about how she treated Jon but that never happened in the books. She’s the reason Jon is encouraged to join the Watch because she doesn’t want him at Winterfell. She raised Sansa to be an airhead, had no use for Arya, and made countless bad decisions that ripped her family apart.
Book Catelyn is… not great. And I always found it interesting that she held such a grudge against Jon, since it was more about the principle of Ned cheating than anything else. They were an arranged marriage after Ned’s older brother was killed (which was the impetus for Robert & Ned rebelling). They may have eventually fallen in love, but it’s not like they were the romance of the century.
Whoa. Thanks, guys. I now feel oddly sympathetic toward Jon. First I give up on Theon and now I’m #TeamKit. What are these feelings I’m feeling?
I was irritated by Catelyn’s behavior on my first reading of the books, but I’ve tried to consider an alternate viewpoint as well, to be fair and in hopes of not totally hating a character who isn’t really that bad (as compared to the evil characters at least, ha ha). While a lot of men have bastards (ugh, that term), and wives, except for Walder Frey Ned is the only one who has his bastard living with his true-born children. He comes back from battle with the child and doesn’t tell Catelyn ANYTHING about him. She asks him once about the mother and he snaps at her “he is of my blood and that’s all you need to know”, which is un-Nedlike.
Assuming that R + L = J, Ned HAD to keep Jon’s true identity a secret from Robert and others. If Catelyn knew who Jon really was, she’d have loved him and treated him like one of her own, which would expose him and everyone else to great danger. And he probably wouldn’t have felt compelled to go to the Night’s Watch, either, and become the Lord Commander. Catelyn makes a lot of dumb moves in the books, out of fear and anger, it’s like her fatal character flaw. What she says to Jon after Bran’s accident is really harsh, but as compared to other characters, like Sam’s father or Tywin, she’s not quite as monstrous to the kid.
That said, sometimes I feel like GRRM doesn’t do a great job writing female characters, with the possible exception of Brienne and Arya.
Whoa, FULL STOP. When did you give up on Theon, Abot?!
Catelyn was a stone cold bitch. There, I said it. (I liked her tho).
After this last episode. I was going to tell you earlier but I had to go talk to some BBQ yesterday and I missed all the fun.
@JC126: it’s not like she was on par with the Mountain or anything, but she hated Jon essentially because her pride was wounded. He was a kid.
Well, damn. If he actually does snap out of it, you and I will have to hold a Piñata Party*, or something. You were kind of his only hope.
*donkey with Ramsey’s face
I’ll never let you go, Theon! I’ll never let you go!
*gently let’s go of hand and Theon sinks to the bottom of the sea*
His hair situation is amazing, but he’s trying me. This whole season is trying me.
Who let Sean out of the boot of the Jag?
Book spoiler but Ned is seen in flashbacks by Bran so they legitimately do have a reason to bring him back next season
Bran!? Is he still in a tree somewhere? And what about Rickon? Unaccounted-for Starks abound!
We need a Stark family picnic (where no one dies).
Bran, Summer, Meera, and Hodor are still in a tree with the children of the forest and a Targaryen who turned into a tree. Reckon, Shaggydog, and Osha are still missing but that storyline should reappear soon on the show even though the characters don’t.
And I think Sansa had forgotten about Jon Snow
Sansa was never close to Jon. She always referred to him as her half-brother, while the other Stark kids referred to him as their brother.
Actually towards the end of the books Sansa feels a lot closer to Jon. Having become Littlefinger’s bastard daughter reminds her of how shitty she was to her bastard brother and how much she would love to see him again.
I meant initially she was distant. She was kind of an unlikable princess-type in the beginning, mooning over her beautiful Joffrey – blech!
Jeez, how many times is this guy going to get married? This will be his fifth wife, I think? But I can’t believe he’s 56. He still looks damn good. I totally would!
Right?! And I don’t know what it is about him, but the very sight of him (not to mention that voice!) makes me want to do very naughty things (even if his drinking is starting to catch up with him). 😉
I wouldn’t turn him down. There is something very masculine and real about him.
Early congrats on Sean’s eventual sixth marriage.
Heh.
I must say, his fiancee is super hot though!
Can I post in here about Roose Bolton’s voice, it’s flipping amazing and it’s starting to haunt me. He’s Irish too I think, way better than Hiddles or C/batch, maybe not quite Mark Strong though
His voice is the only reason I want him to not die a terrible death. Here’s hoping he defeats Stannis…
ow yeahhhh
If you haven’t already, you should watch The Fall. He’s in it for about 5 minutes but he is fiendishly hot in it (to me, anyway).
I love me some Roose! Sometimes I wonder about the casting with GoT. I don’t think we’re supposed to find Roose sexier than Jamie. And Tyrion was supposed to be ugly but nope! Dinklage is sex.
Just here for the Captain Wentworth photos.
One of my favorite movies!
My favorite Captain Wentworth, I loved him and Amanda Root together.
Oh squeeeee!
He was a scrumptious Wentworth.
Damn, Sean Bean drank away the hot. Remember when he was sexay? It’s a memory that is fading fast.
Sadly, I have to agree. Reminds me of the Tina Turner-Mel Gibson story, where allegedly she told him he was ruining his good lucks with too much alcohol.
He does look awfully puffy. Must be impossibly difficult growing up with a first name spelled just like your last name but with completely different pronunciations.
He didn’t. His name was Shawn and he changed it to Sean when he became an actor. For why, I don’t know.
I read he changed the spelling just to screw with people, but that could have very easily been a random internet rumor. Still…mission accomplished.
Now that is bizarre. I have to pause every time I read his full name because I’m a word geek and it trips me up.
Still hot to me! I think he just gained some weight and is a normal looking wrinkly man in his mid 50s. I just watched Legends where he plays pretty much Jack Bauer as an undercover operative, and, I’d be his informant any day!
I heard that in season 1 Sean (Ned) filmed a scene with Bran that they cut. They could always use that as one of Bran’s weirwood tree visions. In other Game of Thrones news at this same IFTA awards, Aidan Gillen (Petyr Baelish) won Best Actor in a Drama for the mini series Charlie.
Aidan Gillen is almost unregognizable when not Being Baelish.
The Google has a lot of photos of him with his cat.
I know what I’m doing the rest of the day.
The little orange and white cat!
I’m okay with the theory of Jon Snow not being Ned Stark’s biological son, but only if he really turned out to be Lianna’s son. Because if I remember the first book correctly, Jon and Arya are the only kids that actually look like Ned, so it would make absolutely no sense if he wasn’t at least closely related to him.
Note to self: I really need to finish up book 5 before I come across any real spoilers.
You are correct, only Arya and Jon have the “Stark” look: dark hair, long face, grey/nondescript eyes. Arya had the nickname of “Horseface” in the books. That was one of the things that bothered Catelyn about Jon, he looked more like a Stark than her boys did. Robb, Bran, Sansa and Rickon all favored the Tully side: red hair, blue eyes, handsome/pretty.
Tyrion remarks about Jon in book 1, “who ever his mother was, she left no trace of herself on him.” In other words, Jon totally looks like a Stark. So one clue confirmed-half of his parentage is Stark.
The actor that played Benjen (Joseph Mawle) actually most represented to me what a Stark would look like in the books.
R + L = J makes sense if you need to have three Targaryens to fulfill the prophecy. Although I keep going back to the seen when Maester Aemon mentions that he was once in love. (Don’t think he says the same thing in the books — but don’t recall — I’ve had too much life between me and the first few books….)
I think that there was a child between he and his unrequited love. Whatever (presumably awful and swept under the rug) thing happened to break them up resulted in Aemon turning his back on King’s Landing and going to the Wall. That child’s child or grandchild could make an excuse for a good out-of-left-field, unknown Targaryen — which could even be some minor, random character….
I never thought about that!!!!
I need to go and re-read the books…
That’s interesting! About how old would that make this random Targ?
Since Aemon was 100+, his descendents could be anyone from an 80-something child to a several-greats grandchild who is an infant.
Aemon’s “love” sounded unrequited. If he’d had an illegitimate child it wouldn’t have been a big deal and wouldn’t have necessitated hiding.
Though am I the only one who read it as him being gay?
I’ve considered before that Aemon was gay — I think it’s a reasonable possibility in the books. I don’t recall that the books indicate his orientation one way or another?
In the show, he goes on at length about his female love — says that she was one of the many girls chasing after him when he was an eligible prince — and that one actually caught his eye. So, unless he’s playing a major round of the pronoun game — Aemon is straight on the show.
An illegitimate child typically isn’t an issue for royalty, but it his love could have been from an enemy family, a virgin priestess, the scullery maid, or someone else he wouldn’t be allowed to marry even if they had a kid. And Aemon is a super-honorable guy — I don’t see him, even as a young man, taking it lightly.
Blech. Sean Bean.
That fond of him, Bridget?
What can I say, I’m clearly a fan.
I feel like Sean should come with a free thing of baby wipes and some ibuprofen.
Maybe some Visine and a red beer. Cucumber slices, tea bags, a cheese burger…
He looks like he comes with a lot of regrets.
I’m with you. He was hot but all his domestic abuse accusations robbed him of any hotness.
Come on. He was just in his cups. 😏
I don’t know. The accusations were just with one of his wives, the other are on excellent terms with him. Seems more like a tempestuous relationship than abuse, especially considering none of the claims held up upon police scrutiny.
I’m kinda loath to write off an actor when there’s no concrete evidence of anything shady. Rumours can spiral out of control for anyone.
Always!!!!! He has some raw masculinity going on.
While i’d love to see him back on GoT – his character isn’t part of the plot now and it would only be for when Jon’s parents are finally revealed. And I will be gobsmacked if R + L are NOT his parents – Jon is a stark whoever his mother/father is.
Jeez, engaged again?! Would this be wife number 5? I can’t remember.
Yip, number 5. Didn’t even know he got divorced. FFS Sean, be in ar relationship but don’t get married! Stop being an idiot or drunk…
Every time I see Sean Bean, I think of the sites dedicated to all the times his characters die in movie/TV. a quick google search of “Sean Bean Dies” and you get an explosion of his ill fated work lol.
I wasn’t a book reader when I first got into the show, but I picked up rather early that Jon was Ned’s nephew. Only until I read some of the books did I realize how strong of a case there is that the R+L=J theory is true.
I’m not a book reader either and I figured out R+L=J pretty quick. Wish Jon Snow would figure it out already.
Seriously! lol
Doesn’t Sean have a habit of dating women who are way too young for him? If so, good for him for finally dating an age appropriate woman and she looks nice I think we all guessed that about Ned Stark and Jon at this point….
R+L=J
Robert + Lianna = Jon Snow
Not quite. Ned would have no reason to hide Robert’s child with his betrothed, Lyana. Robert would have made sure that child was raised with the best of everything. Now if Lyana’s child ended up being a child fathered by his worst enemy, and from the family line he ordered to be destroyed, then it makes more sense why Ned would risk his reputation and strain his marriage to keep the child safe.
Highly doubt it – It’s hinted at in the books that Lyana didn’t like Robert and didn’t want to marry him. He’s def Rheagars.
Ned hears repeatedly in his head “promise me Ned, promise me” from his is sister. Promise me is to keep her secret.
How many fiancees/wives has Sean had now? who cares! sign me up! imagine him in the sack! super hot! ha ha
He’s been married 4 times. It was only the last one he had accusations of abuse with. He stayed on good terms with his exes.
Sean Bean is a charmer. His old Nerdist podcast is worth a listen. I get it!
Actually, Jon Snow being the child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark is the most common and interesting theory. It is the answer to the title of the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series of books (Lyanna Stark = Ice while Rhaegar Targaryen = Fire). Rhaegar and Lyanna were most likely married after Rhaegar “kidnapped” Lyanna from the tournament in Harrenhal. 9 months later when Ned Stark and Howland Reed where the only survivors from the battle of Tower of Joy, they found Lyanna dying after giving birth to Jon Snow. Around the same time, Rhaegar is killed because he sent three members of the Kingsguard to guard Lyanna Stark and his unborn legitimate son who is now also an heir to the throne. That’s why Lyanna made her brother promise her to protect her son in any way possible and raise him as his own. This is why he took Jon to Winterfell, lied about his real mother and never disclosed his true identity fearing Robert’s wrath and hatred of Targaryens would lead him to kill her newborn along with Aegon and Rhaenys Targaryen.
The one thing we really know about Ned is that he puts a ton of stock in honor. Yet we are supposed to believe that this extremely honorable man fathered a bastard son, then brought him home to Winterfell, where the child’s presence is a constant humiliation to a wife he genuinely loves, and that he then — for no clear reason — refuses to tell Jon who his mother is.
In the books, while Robert Baratheon makes Rhaegar Targaryen out to be an evil man and a rapist, this could be because Rhaegar managed to stole away Lyanna, Robert’s true love. Clearly, no other character has this dislike for Rhaegar, and most other characters seem to respect and adore him. Lyanna most likely fell in love with Rhaegar, and went off willingly with him. This means Jon is also Daenerys’s nephew (his Stark-like appearance comes from his mother), and arguably the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne.
The Red Witch ain’t having any of that.
Even Tyrion says in the book “Ned Stark is an honest, honorable and proud man”.
I kind of wish that Ned had told Catelyn the truth, assuming the theory is true. But I suppose it would’ve been too dangerous. And would Robert have killed Jon if he knew? Absolutely!!
They say that about Ned and Rhaegar. I bet they would have been buddies under different circumstances.
The issue wasn’t *just* that he was Rhaegar’s son (though he was an awful lot safer in Robert’s kingdom being Ned’s bastard). It was the fact that it was all tied in to a larger prophecy. While Rhaegar was undoubtedly fascinated by Lyanna, he was also aware of a prophecy involving himself.
The only one people seem to hate was the Mad King.
Ah, I need to get to book 5 already (and I feel the need to reread books 1-3, I read them so fast).
I love finding GOT links to read on here – so much more fun than reading about lilo and the K krew! I always find Sean Bean appealing, even when he’s playing a jerk. A flashback would be great because we didn’t get enough of him alive!
I will never watch GOT but Bean was a great Boromir and born to play that role.
I adore Ciaran Hinds, felt he was really underused in the show. Jon Snow is so obviously the heir, even a dunce like me who hasn’t read the books, sits and watches it asking the o.h. “Who is that again?” and “I’m bored, where are the wolves/dragons?!” can tell that. (I kid, it’s really grown on me, but it took two watches of the whole thing (I’m seriously on the third because my Ma had never seen it) to begin to know what’s going on.