Game of Thrones characters ranked in order of screen time has some surprising results

Fair play to Samwell Tarly

You might have noticed that Game of Thrones is back for a seventh season that debuted simultaneously int he US and UK last night.

The premiere episode, titled 'Dragonstone,' kicked off the HBO series' penultimate season in style (here's looking at you, Euron Greyjoy) that featured the return of (almost all of) your favourite characters, Jim Broadbent - with Harry Potter reference to boot - and an Ed Sheeran cameo.

At this stage of the series, it's hard to pinpoint who exactly the show's central character could be considering Thrones boasts one of the biggest ensemble shows on television. Now, one fan has gone well out of their way to discover who the show's most important character could be, judging it by screen time.

IMDb user ninewheels0 watched every single episode and, using an iPhone stopwatch, timed every character's screen time. The results, while largely unsurprising, throw forward some shocks namely in the form of Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) who makes it into the top ten over characters such as Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen), Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) and Brianne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie).

You can see a list of the characters rated by order of screen time below (omitting those no longer in the series).

NB: this not including the season seven premiere

Tyrion Lannister (293:30 minutes)

Jon Snow (268:15 minutes)

Daenerys Targaryen (221:30 minutes)

Cersei Lannister (201:45 minutes)

Sansa Stark (199:30 minutes)

Arya Stark (189:15 minutes)

Jaime Lannister (162:30 minutes)

Theon Greyjoy (123:30 minutes)

Samwell Tarly (121:45 minutes)

Jorah Mormont (117:30 minutes)

Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (102:15 minutes)

Brienne of Tarth (89:30 minutes)

Davos Seaworth (89:30 minutes)

Bran Stark (86 minutes)

Lord Varys (81:45 minutes)

Sandor “The Hound” Clegane (72:45 minutes)

Melisandre (65:45 minutes)

Bronn (64 minutes)

Gilly (52 minutes)

Daario Naharis (46 minutes)

Missandei (45:45 minutes)

Tormund Giantsbane (41:45 minutes)

Game of Thrones airs on HBO every Sunday and is simulcast in the UK on Sky Atlantic every Monday at 2am. The episode is then repeated that night on both Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.