Game of Thrones: Sam reveals who should win the Iron Throne

Nevertheless, while appearing at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, actor John Bradley was pressed to name who he wants to end up on the Iron Throne.

"My favourite character changes all the time in the way that girls in the 60s used to have a different Beatle every week," he explained. "My current favourite character is Lord Varys, just because it’s nice to see a character be so powerful in his snakelike way. And I think that kind of power can be dangerous, so I wouldn’t like to see him on the throne. If I was going to see anyone on the throne I would have to toe the party line and say Stannis."

This drew loud groans from the crowd, who had expected him to name Jon Snow (Kit Harington): his character's best friend on the Night's Watch and the illegitimate son of Rob Stark. But well-read Samwell, who knows the rights and successions of Kings off by heart, was having none of it:

“No not Jon! I believe that Stannis is the person who should be rightfully on the throne, and if he should be rightfully on the throne, then he’s going on the throne.”

He also spoke about the sometimes unfortunate reactions he gets from members of the public, including fans who ask him why his character is still overweight after months of starvation ('there’s dragons, there’s White Walkers, there’s people coming back from the dead; don’t let Sam being rotund be the thing you just don’t buy') to accidentally playing Cupid:

"I met a guy once who said that my character inspired him to ask out the girl he fancied at school," (more groans from the audience, but of a loving kind) "You don’t realise when you’re doing scenes in Belfast how you’re affecting peoples lives in that way. Because it does deal in extremes of physicality: people who are very short, people who are very fat, people who are very tall, and I think that all of these characters have got to overcome these struggles. And I think that can be very inspiring."

Awww, what a perfect story for a character who isn't bloodthirsty, but has plenty of heart.