“Game of Thrones”' Kristian Nairn Weighs in on Show's Controversial Ending, Says There Was No 'Better' Choice for 'King' (Exclusive)

Nairn, who played Hodor, tells PEOPLE he's asked "probably every day" for his thoughts on the finale

<p>Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic; Karwai Tang/WireImage</p> Kristian Nairn (left); Isaac Hempstead Wright

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic; Karwai Tang/WireImage

Kristian Nairn (left); Isaac Hempstead Wright

The Game of Thrones series finale might be one of the most controversial episodes in TV history.

Many fans were outraged at how the hit HBO series concluded after eight years and an explosive final season, and several members of the cast have even weighed in on their own disappointment at how the story ended. But Kristian Nairn, who played Hodor for six seasons of the show, disagrees.

"I honestly don't think you could have a better person your king," Nairn tells PEOPLE of the series ending with Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) sitting on the Iron Throne. "He can do anything, he can see everything. He's going to be wise."

Related: Kit Harington Weighs in on Game of Thrones Final Season Critiques: 'I Might Agree'

Granted, Nairn, 48, might be a bit biased given that essentially all of his scenes in the show were with Bran — who he carried around on his back for a majority of the later seasons — but the actor's reasoning holds up.

"Any problems you've got, he can go into the past and learn from the mistakes they've made," he says, referring to Bran being the Three-Eyed Raven and therefore able to travel through time in his mind. "He might be a bit emo, but that's okay with me."

<p>Macall B. Polay/HBO</p> Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Sophie Turner in Season 8 of 'Game of Thrones'.

Macall B. Polay/HBO

Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Sophie Turner in Season 8 of 'Game of Thrones'.

"I think he'd be a great king," Nairn continues. "I know people want to see their big kings — Jon Snow with a sword and everything... [But] it also shows that you can f---ing be a king and be in a wheelchair and have all these awesome powers."

"He's basically Professor X," he says, referring to Patrick Stewart's X-Men character.

Related: Kit Harington Weighs in on Game of Thrones Final Season Critiques: 'I Might Agree'

Nairn is asked about the show's final episode, which aired in April 2019, "probably every day," he says. "That's my stock reply: There is no way to wrap it up in a way that people were going to be happy. If it had been done differently, other people would've been mad."

"I think the true reason why people are upset is it's over," he adds.

<p>Alamy</p> Isaac Hempstead as Bran, Kristian Nairn as Hodor in 'Game of Thrones'

Alamy

Isaac Hempstead as Bran, Kristian Nairn as Hodor in 'Game of Thrones'

On Sept. 24, Nairn — who worked as a DJ and a drag queen before booking his first-ever acting gig on Game of Thrones — released a memoir, Beyond the Throne, in which he detailed his life leading up to getting cast as Hodor and dove into the experience of being on one of the world's most famous shows.

"I went on a deep dive really with it. I did not have a journal during the time [on the show] and I was concerned when I started to write that my memory wouldn't be good enough to remember all the things that had happened," he says.

Luckily, he remembered far more than he realized he would.

"I really did it like a domino-type effect. I would remember one thing and then that would take me off on a tangent. And you have to believe my bedroom wall looks like a serial killer [wall]. It was like literal pins trying to connect, because I tried to connect stories on Game of Thrones to stories in my life in a sort of a coherent way. So that was a big challenge."

Related: Maisie Williams Says She 'Couldn't Be Happier' with Game of Thrones' Ending: 'I Was Thrilled'

He admittedly "never thought of [himself] as the type of person who would write a book or who would even want to," but Game of Thrones alone lends itself to a deep dive.

"I definitely would've been more enthusiastic about the whole audition process if I'd known. But I don't think any of us knew," he explains.

"None of us knew what that was going to turn into," he says of the phenomenon the series became. "The first couple of years, it felt like walking the plank. It was like trepidation. And then after that, [there] was a bit of expectation. After that, we were all kind of wishing to make sure it was as good as the previous seasons."

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Game of Thrones can be streamed in full on Max, and Nairn's memoir Beyond the Throne is now available.

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