It’s hard to believe we’ve spent almost an entire year speculating over the newest season of Game of Thrones (Where does the time go?). It seems like just yesterday we were watching the happy Stark family walk through the woods and name their brand new Dire Wolf puppies, but here we are a full 5 seasons and countless heartbreaks later, 2 weeks away from the premiere of the 6th season. In the countdown to the premiere it’s only right that we take some time to remember what went down at the end of last season and add to the thousands of fan theories that have surfaced since Jon Snow fell to the ground in the epic final scene.
The 24th of April has been marked in fan’s calendars since the air date was first announced. Not only because it marks the most important 10 weeks of the year but because this is the first time book and series fans will be on the same page. After revealing in January that he missed the deadline for the latest book George R.R Martin metaphorically handed his baby over to show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Don’t fret too much though, Martin will still work as a producer on the show and the team are all on the same page in regard to how the story will end. Cast member Natalie Dormer, known for her portrayal of Margaery Tyrell and plunging neck lines revealed in a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel:
“It’s fresh clean snow for all of us. They sat down and had a big pow-wow with George in case of this eventuality. A to B may go off in different tangents but B is still B”
Thus ending the reign of book reading folk and their inclination to dangle spoilers over the heads of their less literary inclined friends. You can put away your poisoned wine, this death just worked itself out.
The season 6 trailer clued us in to the fates of the majority of characters, Sansa survived her death jump, Arya is now blind and badass, Bran aged about 10 years, Margaery is still in a dungeon and Jon Snow is dead. Super dead. Burn his body so he doesn’t become a WhiteWalker dead. Or maybe that’s what they want us to think. I’m just saying, if you have 2 minutes to promote a new season of an ensemble drama and spend that much time on one plot point, you might be trying to throw us off course. Sly foxes. In the words of that Nun who followed naked Cersei around, “SHAME”.
Just as everyone finished their speculations were ready to wait patiently for it’s return a second teaser was released, focusing solely on the ‘Hall of Faces’, moving form already deceased characters to the faces of those still alive, the minute and a half clip was as effective a a severed horse head in the bed to remind us that no one is safe. We should however bask in the uncertainty that is a character’s survival, according to 18 year old star Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) it’s what gives the show that edge. “At the end of the day, these horrible deaths make great story-lines. It makes the show what it is.”
The return of Game Of Thrones will also see the return of many social concerns. The biggest being the show’s treatment of women and their role in the universe. Viewers were particularity vocal about this issue in the latter half of the last season after the mistreatment of Sansa Stark and the seeming violence for the sake of violence. Fan Favourite Emilia Clarke who portrays Daenerys Targaryen, AKA Khaleesi, AKA Mother Of Dragons came to the show’s defence in a recent interview with Moviefone
“There’s so much controversy. Yet that’s what’s beautiful about ‘Game of Thrones’ – its depiction of women in so many different stages of development. There are women depicted as sexual tools, women who have zero rights, women who are queens but only to a man, and then there are women who are literally unstoppable and as powerful as you can possibly imagine .”
Season 6 of Game Of Thrones will be fast-tracked in Australia, premiering at 11am on the 25th of April (America’s 24th, not to worry)on Showcase and will be repeated that night for those of you who used up all their sick days at work. Until then use this time to rug up, get ready for Winter and catch up on what you’ve missed or re-watch season 1-5 just for the fun of it.