Time goes by so fast -- in real time, and in television shows.

The last time fans of the fantasy series saw Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark, he was a young man in an awkward phase, and because nobody saw a glimpse of him last season, his new look for season six is nothing short of startling. Entertainment Weekly just released a new photo of Bran Stark, and you have to see for yourself how much he has grown over the last year (the outlet noted that he's almost six feet tall, which may not be a good thing for Hodor).

Vanity Fair noted that the heir to the Stark name started the series as a ten-year-old boy, and he is now a teenager, but while there are a lot of changes that we can expect from him (after all, he did train with the Three-Eyed Raven for the time he's missing), the most obvious change we can see thus far is his look --Lena Headey's Cersei Lannister isn't the only one who cut off long locks.

As it turns out, the decision to let the actors go through a quick aging process is part of the original material's author, George RR Martin. He previously shared that his concept for "A Song of Ice and Fire" has always been to start the story with the characters as children, and will end with them as adults. However, he found that in his writing, time was passing too slowly. He shared, "you end a book, and you've had a tremendous amount of events-but they've taken place over a short time frame, and the eight-year-old kid is still eight years old."

To solve the problem, the famed author planned on doing a time jump, but that did not bode well for characters like Jon and Cersei, who are webbed into the main plot.

However GRRM plans to solve that, though. One thing is for sure: it's a good thing that Bran looks more mature in his comeback season.

A lot of familiar characters will return for season six, including Bran, Hodor (Kristian Nairn), Meera (Ellie Kendrick), the Three-Eyed Raven (recast with Max Von Sydow) and the Children of the Forest. There are also rumors of actor Jason Momoa returning as Khal Drogo, as he was spotted on set last October, according to HNGN.

Things seem to be looking up for HBO's most pirated show. "Game of Thrones" will return for its sixth season in April 2016.