Sean Bean has thoughts about Jon Snow's real parents

Jon Snow’s true lineage has a long-running mystery for both Game of Thrones viewers and A Song of Ice and Fire readers. As far as Jon knows, he’s the bastard son of Eddard Stark and a lowborn woman—whose identity has been the trigger for much speculation. Someone related to the franchise thinks he has a good idea about who isn’t a Snow parent, though—and that person is Ned Stark himself.

Speaking to Vulture, Sean Bean (who played Ned on the first season of Thrones) addressed the idea of whether Snow is actually Ned Stark’s son. His words were pretty blunt: “He’s not my child. He isn’t. That’s what I suspected all along,” Bean said, reitering a previous interview with Vulture in which he said that he believed Ned was simply an adoptive father to the young Snow.

A few weeks ago, EW’s Hillary Busis and Darren Franich discussed whether this season’s “Sons of the Harpy” confirmed a fan theory about Snow’s parents—one that, if true, would certainly indicate that Bean has been correct from the start.

Bean would like to see the show explore that storyline, according to his interview with Vulture—and hopefully not just for his own sense of closure. “I think that’s probably an interesting journey for Jon Snow as a character and for [Kit Harington] as the actor,” Bean said.

And he certainly wouldn’t mind being around for such an important moment.

“I’ve definitely got some unfinished business that needs to be resolved there,” Bean said, after also telling EW that he would be open to returning for season 6. Here’s to hoping Ned Stark knows a bit more than Jon Snow, who knows… well, you can probably guess.