Who is Gendry Baratheon? The Game of Thrones character set to return in season 7

He could end up being pivotal to the story

Gendry Rivers/Baratheon has been rumoured to be returning in Game of Thrones season 7 for a while now, and an IMDb credit suggests it could well happen in episode 5, 'Eastwatch'.

An update on his story is something fans have been craving for a while now, the blacksmith having not been seen since season 3 when Ser Davos smuggled him out of Dragonstone in a rowboat bound for King's Landing.

Gendry was never a major character, but he had considerable screen time, was a good friend to Arya Stark during their time with the Brotherhood without Banners and is pretty handy at blacksmithy.

The above isn't reason enough to bring his character back but his lineage is: Gendry is the only human left alive in Westeros who has Baratheon blood.

Robert died, Stannis died, Renly died and even the Lannisters posing as Baratheons - Joffrey and Tommen - are now no more.

A bastard son of a dead king and a non-existent house won't exactly have huge clout in Westeros should he return, but with Robert Baratheon having usurped Aerys II Targaryen, you could argue that Gendry has the strongest claim to the Iron Throne - even more so than Jon and Daenerys.

And it's the former of these two who might be interested in locating him; houses Baratheon and Stark have a friendly history and, presuming Jon doesn't want to rule the Seven Kingdoms himself, Gendry could be a more sensible monarch for him to help install than Daenerys or Cersei.

Game of Thrones continues on HBO, Sky Atlantic and through NOWTV on Sunday nights.