Kristofer Hivju teases what's ahead for Tormund Giantsbane and the Wildlings. 

Game of Thrones\' Kristofer Hivju on the Wildlings\' Role and Tormund\'s Loyalty to Jon Snow

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Game of Thrones Actor on the Wildlings\' Role in Season 6

Kristofer Hivju teases what\'s ahead for Tormund Giantsbane and the Wildlings.

Full spoilers for Game of Thrones through its Season 6 premiere, "The Red Woman," continue below.

Where do the Wildlings stand in Westeros now that Jon Snow is dead? With the majority of the Night\'s Watch out for Wildling blood and the Wildlings newly south of the Wall, Tormund Giantsbane is aware that his people don\'t have many allies.

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"His objective has always been to find safety for his people," Kristofer Hivju told me during a recent interview. "In the beginning, the White Walkers were the biggest threat, but now the threat is from all sides. They\'ve never been very popular anywhere. You have the Night\'s Watch, and then you have things happening in the north. Nobody --

-- has any affection for us. So we came from one place to another horrible place."

Expect to see Tormund step up in Season 6 to do right by his people. "He will get more involved politically, because he has to," Hivju said. "He has to step up and keep on doing what Mance Rayder had to do."

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In the Season 6 premiere, Davos Seaworth sends Edd to go find allies of Jon Snow to help support their cause at the Night\'s Watch. Is Tormund going to be one of them -- and is he still loyal to Jon Snow even though the Lord Commander is dead?

Hivju hedged his answer, cautioning that he couldn\'t give any specific details away. He did tease of Tormund\'s decisionmaking, "Well, you can\'t just think about yourself anymore, because we are now in the middle of it. Of course, with Tormund, Tormund is a bit more ahead than the rest of his people, because the only thing they want is to settle down and to be safe for once, and have some barbecue."

Game of Thrones: Season 6 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.

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