Game of Thrones season 7
Joe Dempsie as Gendry in Game of Thrones season 7 HBO

This Sunday's episode of Game Of Thrones season 7 featured the long-awaited return of a character, who was missing in action for three seasons. [Warning Spoilers Ahead]

GOT season 7 episode 5, titled Eastwatch, saw the long-missing bastard son of Robert Baratheon - Gendry (played by Joe Dempsie). He was seen rowing away to safety from Melisandre in season 3, utilising his blacksmith skills and keeping out of trouble in King's Landing.

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Following a visit from Ser Davos, who helped Gendry escape the Red Woman's clutches, he joined Jon Snow's dangerous quest North of the Wall to capture a wight and bring it back as proof of the Army of the Dead.

Dempsie spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his return and teaming up with Jon Snow. He said, "After season 3, [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] told me Gendry is going to go off a little bit. It was always in their minds that he'd come back."

When asked what Genry has been up to all these time, the actor responded, "He'd gone back to his old life, but there's a restlessness in him. He bored of safety and wants adventure and he's itching to get involved and then an opportunity presents itself. He's got his father's blood in him and he's a natural born fighter."

Talking about his action-based storyline with Jon Snow in future episodes, the actor revealed, "That's the main thing, the selfish actor part of you reads that and goes, "That's going to be great! I'm going to look cool doing that!" Part of this feels like Avengers Assemble coming together, this ill-advised mission North of the Wall. When you imagine wanting to be an actor, these are the sort of pinch-yourself moments."

Writer David Hill also confirmed to EW that the HBO show had always planned on bringing Gendry back. Hill said, "We almost brought him back in season SIX and it didn't quite work out. We definitely wanted him here for the big mission, and we wanted Robert Baratheon's bastard son back into the show. It made sense that Davos would want to save this boy who's like a surrogate son."