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!”

[From Vulture]

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.