Season 6: Info, Casting and Spoilers

[Lady S.]

And Sophie's back in Belfast, which could mean Sansa having scenes with the northern lords.

[SeanC]

Per some other Twitter chatter, Kit and Maisie were in Belfast yesterday.  In Maisie's case, at least, I'd have to think she was visiting, as she previously said that she'd be finished early.

[Eyes High]

Filming is barrelling to a close. Miguel Sapochnik (directing 6x09 and 6x10) tweeted that there were five days left of filming on December 12th, 2015.

 

The scene with "Boyce" (the young, callow lord speculated to be Lord Cerwyn) and "Fletcher" (the fat nobleman who makes a stirring speech and switches sides) is set to film on December 16th, 2015.

 

Extras NI posted a casting notice in November looking for a brown-eyed baby boy (under one month) with no specification as to hair colour for one day of filming on December 17th, 2015. A few weeks later (December 8th), Extras NI posted a casting notice looking for a black-haired or brown-haired baby boy (under one month) with no specification as to eye colour for one day of filming on December 17th, 2015. Not sure what's going on there. (Bear in mind that Extras NI casts for things other than GOT.)

Edited December 13, 2015 by Eyes High

[Lady S.]

Liam Cunningham confirmed he's still filming.

But this time I had about a week off, so after the Abu Dhabi weekend I went back to Dublin on Tuesday, a couple of days to prepare, rehearsing on Saturday, started filming on Monday, and I will finish on the 17th of December.

 

sauce

[Edith]

There's a new spoiler in L7R about a scene that was filmed this past days in NI. Jon convincing the Wildlings to fight with him against the Boltons.

So maybe a pink letter after all? Or what other reason could be? Rickon maybe?

Edited December 16, 2015 by Edith

[bunnyblue]

There's a new spoiler in L7R about a scene that was filmed this past days in NI. Jon convincing the Wildlings to fight with him against the Boltons.

So maybe a pink letter after all? Or what other reason could be? Rickon maybe?

 

Hmm, so he leaves the Wall specifically to fight the Boltons. I'm still unsure if he leaves because he receives the Pink Letter or because Sansa reaches CB and tells him of the horrors she suffered as Ramsay's wife. I think either scenario means that Jon 2.0 spends some episodes at CB after his resurrection; it would take time for either Ramsay to write and send the letter or  for Sansa to reach him. 

[Skeeter22]

Jon is still hanging around Castle Black with the men who murdered him? Awkward.

[Eyes High]

This spoiler seems to the final nail to the coffin of the theory that Sansa goes to Castle Black in Season 6, since if she were there, presumably she'd be right there with Jon urging the wildlings to fight, and if she were there, the spoiler sources would mention her.

 

Rough translation of the L7R spoiler:

 

"Our sources have revealed to us some of the things which were filming in Northern Ireland. It involves scenes in which a resurrected Jon Snow convinces the wildlings to fight at his side against the Boltons.

 

"We know that in the last few days Jon, Davos, Melisandre, and Tormund have been at the Castle Black set, but we don't know exactly when, or whether they were all there at the same time."

 

No mention of Sansa. I think we can officially declare the theory that Sansa heads to Castle Black in Season 6 dead.

[SeanC]

Less probable, certainly.  That said, if Sansa doesn't go there, I have a really hard time figuring out what she's going to be doing for the most of the year.  Theon is going to be needed elsewhere in short order; Brienne probably has to be headed south at least by midseason; if Baelish gets there that quickly, which is questionable based on the spoilers of them filming at Runestone, that gets you basically the same question, namely, what are they doing all season? 

 

Speaking of Sansa, per per this tweet I would guess Sophie was in Belfast at least on Tuesday night, so she's still around for the final days of filming.

 

Edit:  Okay, definitely still in Belfast today.

Edited December 17, 2015 by SeanC

[Eyes High]

Less probable, certainly.  That said, if Sansa doesn't go there, I have a really hard time figuring out what she's going to be doing for the most of the year.  Theon is going to be needed elsewhere in short order; Brienne probably has to be headed south at least by midseason; if Baelish gets there that quickly, which is questionable based on the spoilers of them filming at Runestone, that gets you basically the same question, namely, what are they doing all season? 

 

Speaking of Sansa, per per this tweet I would guess Sophie was in Belfast at least on Tuesday night, so she's still around for the final days of filming.

 

Edit:  Okay, definitely still in Belfast today.

 

I suppose it's possible that the sources are leaving out Sansa's presence at Castle Black for its inherent spoilage, since it's hardly news that Jon, Davos, Melisandre and Tormund are at Castle Black in Season 6, but I'm doubtful.

 

As for what Sansa will be up to, I guess we're back to joining up with Littlefinger to rally the northern lords. Sansa splits up with Theon and flees south, either evading Brienne or rejecting her assistance yet again (one episode), links up with Littlefinger and he apologizes for Ramsay turning out to be a psychopath (one episode), marshalls the Vale forces and starts to organize an anti-Bolton coalition (one episode), travels north and rallies the Northern lords (one episode),  possibly writes to Jon to seek his assistance, meets up with Jon and Ramsay at Winterfell at some point (one episode), witnesses Ramsay's defeat on the battlefield (one episode), settles into a Bolton-free Winterfell while Littlefinger crows about their success (one episode), and you have Sansa's arc for the season. Done.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Eyes High

[SeanC]

Why would they need to muster an anti-Bolton coalition when the Valemen should be enough, though? Baelish can't have been expecting to find Sansa, so any forces he brings with him should have been expected to defeat the Boltons on their own.

And even more to the point, if Sansa is riding around the North with Vale forces rallying Northern support, why is the big final battle seemingly starting out as Jon vs. Boltons. I know people are speculating about there being some version of the Pink Letter, but if the castle parley is pre-Snowbowl, as many think, Ramsay should know where Sansa is, and it's not with Jon. And, for that matter, if they all meet at Winterfell pre-battle, that would mean the Vale army is known to be nearby, but from the set reports of Snowbowl that place them at the battle, the Vale is the surprise cavalry.

[Edith]

Why would they need to muster an anti-Bolton coalition when the Valemen should be enough, though? Baelish can't have been expecting to find Sansa, so any forces he brings with him should have been expected to defeat the Boltons on their own.

And even more to the point, if Sansa is riding around the North with Vale forces rallying Northern support, why is the big final battle seemingly starting out as Jon vs. Boltons. I know people are speculating about there being some version of the Pink Letter, but if the castle parley is pre-Snowbowl, as many think, Ramsay should know where Sansa is, and it's not with Jon. And, for that matter, if they all meet at Winterfell pre-battle, that would mean the Vale army is known to be nearby, but from the set reports of Snowbowl that place them at the battle, the Vale is the surprise cavalry.

But the battle is in episode 9 so any parley could be in that same episode (remember about the Giant interrupting), that mean that Ramsay would only found out where Sansa is in that moment but before that he is going to think that she's with Jon.

Otherwise why Jon is convincing the wildlings to fight against the boltons? I think Sansa is going back to her book part in the Valle and Jon to his book part and that's the pink letter.

Also maybe Davos gets captured while trying to find support for Jon to save Ned Stark daughter and we have the Manderly speech with Rickon there.

[SeanC]

But the battle is in episode 9 so any parley could be in that same episode (remember about the Giant interrupting), that mean that Ramsay would only found out where Sansa is in that moment but before that he is going to think that she's with Jon.

Er, yes, but (even ignoring how nobody heard about Sansa and the Valemen riding around) then we get a Jon vs. Ramsay battle where the Valemen supposedly only appear at the very end. That doesn't make sense if they show up for the parley and Ramsay knows where Sansa is.

Also maybe Davos gets captured while trying to find support for Jon to save Ned Stark daughter and we have the Manderly speech with Rickon there.

Manderly is going to be a one-scene character, from the look of it, so I doubt that; and Rickon was headed to Last Hearth when last we saw him.

[nksarmi]

I imagine Jon won't need the pink letter to convince him to ride on the Boltons.  He has Davos and Mel there.  She will undoubtedly know who he is once she resurrects him.  But even - if for some reason - he is just resurrected without the spectacular reveal that he is AA reborn, he is still the only one in the realm with a decent understanding of the threat that is coming who also happens to have the skills needed to defend against what is coming from the other side of the wall.  Oh yea, at the ever-dwindling, useless NW just assassinated him.

 

I don't actually think it would take much to convince Jon that his best option to defend the realm is to take control of the North and setup operations at Winterfell.  Add in Mel's vision of seeing the flayed man banners fall and the fact that the Boltons betrayed the Starks at the Red Wedding and I don't think he even needs the pink letter on the show.  He's out of his NW's oath and free to avenge his family and it just might be the realm's best chance to survive The Long Night that he knows is coming. It's an easy to sale to make - he just needs to force to do it with - thus persuading the wildlings to fight for him.

 

I think Sansa's season is easy to speculate on.  She will spend one or two episodes with Theon trying to find a place of safety from Ramsey's hunting dogs.  She may (I hope or what a waste of story) or may not run into Brie and Pod.  If she does, I think Theon will break off for his own story at that point while Brie and Pod get her to a place of safety.  If she doesn't, I'm guessing Theon will get her to the nearest Northern Lord and book it so they don't kill him.  I am mostly sure that even Brie and Pod will see Sansa to a Northern Lord if they find her.  As to which one she would choose, I think that knowledge will come from Theon and him having gleamed some piece of information about who opposed the Boltons and would be the most loyal to the Starks.

 

The only way I see Sansa heading South to the Vale is if Brie takes her and given how Brie feels about Littlefinger, I'm not sure she would want to do that.  Sansa might convince her it's her only safe choice though and Brie herself needs to head South to meet up with Jamie so this story has potential. But if Sansa ends up in the North again anyway, I doubt it.

 

The other reason I can't see Sansa meeting up with Littlefinger so early in the season is that he would need one hell of a transporter to do it.  I'm not sure they would expect us to buy into the idea that he somehow made it out of KL to the Vale and to the North in the time frame from when we last saw him talking to Olenna to episode one or two of the next season.  I can buy into the idea that he has already sent word to assemble the Vale troops once he got Cersei to ok it, but for some reason, I think they will have him still in KL early next season.  That conversation with Olenna just seemed to go no where and it would be an odd choice for LF to leave KL with things so oddly up in the air for him there.  But even if I handwave that away, I still don't think LF is going to find Sansa early in the season and I don't think she will make her way back tot he Vale just to turn North again.

 

I think they could give Sansa a few episodes where she tries to pass herself off as a commoner (with Theon or Brie/Pod) until she is reunited with Rickon and reveals herself to the Northern Lords.  Then she could be instrumental in turning the Northern Lords to supporting Jon over Ramsey in the Bastard Bowl with LF's troops arriving to the decide the outcome in Jon's favor.

[WearyTraveler]

I don't see what is so complicated about Sansa.  If I were to guess I'd say she meets with a northern lord and heads to Manderly's where she'll find Rickon.  I know Manderly's time is limited, but I'm not sure it will be limited to just one scene.  A single day of filming can yield a lot of screentime, and casting calls don't always include all the work an actor will be doing.  So, it's possible he has more to do than a single scene, but even if that's not the case, Sansa can meet up with a Northern Lord and head to Manderly's which would not require the actor playing Manderly to be present.

 

I think it's likely Sansa meets up with Brienne and Pod and after they see her safely to a Northern lord or someone who can safely take her to Manderly, Sansa will ask Brienne to go back south for Arya, and this will be the plot reason why Brienne heads south again.  Theon will head to the Iron Islands either when Sansa meets Brienne or when Brienne heads back south and he will probably do so with the intention of getting the Ironborn to support the North.  He just doesn't know what hell he'll be getting into.

 

As for Jon, I think when he's resurrected, he'll be free of his NW vow and whoever ends up being the new Commander will allow him to stay in CB and execute the murderers, or at least jail them.  No issues for me there.  Jon is then freed to ask the Wildlings, who have not sworn allegiance o the Watch, for support. He'll then travel South to WF, meeting Sansa along the way. 

 

For show purposes, maybe they relocate Manderly's seat in some point midway between the Watch and WF.

 

Also, Sansa could be the one writing to Jon from wherever Northern keep she ends up in.  Ravens do travel faster than people.

Edited December 17, 2015 by WearyTraveler

[Eyes High]

Why would they need to muster an anti-Bolton coalition when the Valemen should be enough, though? Baelish can't have been expecting to find Sansa, so any forces he brings with him should have been expected to defeat the Boltons on their own.

And even more to the point, if Sansa is riding around the North with Vale forces rallying Northern support, why is the big final battle seemingly starting out as Jon vs. Boltons. I know people are speculating about there being some version of the Pink Letter, but if the castle parley is pre-Snowbowl, as many think, Ramsay should know where Sansa is, and it's not with Jon. And, for that matter, if they all meet at Winterfell pre-battle, that would mean the Vale army is known to be nearby, but from the set reports of Snowbowl that place them at the battle, the Vale is the surprise cavalry.

 

Given what happened with Stannis' forces, I doubt Sansa would be taking any chances in terms of getting as many people she can to go against Ramsay. Sansa's an idiot, but she's not so stupid as to leave that to chance.

 

We don't have any confirmation of the Vale army showing up to save Jon's forces or as the Vale army as the "surprise cavalry." That information has never been confirmed and came from some dodgy Reddit sources (say no more). All we have is a photo of a number of banners which don't show Vale houses, and the knowledge that Sansa is at the battle.

 

As for the Winterfell scene with Jon, Sansa, LF, and Ramsay, we have no knowledge of when it happens. Could be before, could be after, but it would be awfully anticlimactic for Ramsay not to die at the battlefield and for his fate to be settled at Winterfell by a surprise giant attack.

 

Apart from the battle scene, which didn't mention Littlefinger being present, all of Sansa's scenes that we know about have been with Littlefinger, including the Winterfell scene with just the two of them, which is likely from Episode 10. Moreover, when the TV show gets really "off-track" by diverging from the book material, the writers usually write things to get everything back "on track" with the books. Sansa is way off book, so she needs to get back on track. How? By reuniting with Littlefinger. How does she do that? By heading south. It's perfectly in line with the known spoilers.

 

My outline lines up with all known spoilers: Theon splitting up with Sansa, Brienne heading south, Sansa and Littlefinger having scenes together, no sign of Sansa at Castle Black, Sophie filming in December when the Northern lords scenes are shooting, etc. It is the most likely to be correct. I think you're too hung up on "why." You keep asking "why." Why this? Why that? As Season 5 showed, dismissing predictions because they seem illogical is a poor method of predicting future plot twists. Sansa willingly marrying Ramsay in Season 5 made no storyline sense. Any answers to the question "Why?" were inadequate. It still happened, and all the fans who sneered at the other fans who had correctly predicted Sansa going to Winterfell and marrying Ramsay based on known spoilers and other information wound up looking like jackasses. Don't be a prisoner of "why." Focus on the known information and work from there without worrying too much about whether or not it's logical; the writers clearly aren't.

 

I imagine Jon won't need the pink letter to convince him to ride on the Boltons.  He has Davos and Mel there.

 

Davos was urging Jon to go against the Boltons before. I can see a post-resurrection Jon being much more inclined to pay attention to Davos now, pink letter or now, although I doubt that it will be a coincidence that he happens to decide to go against the Boltons at the same time as Sansa is gathering anti-Bolton forces. You never know with these writers, though.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Eyes High

[Chris24601]

I'm going to stick with my "stalled at the closest stable point" for Sansa in s6.

 

My thinking is that D&D decided to accelerate Sansa's journey North for difference in media reasons (some things can be depicted more quickly in prose than film and visa versa) with a pit stop at Ramsey's Rape Retreat because D&D can't help themselves because they thought they had only seven seasons to work with and without the acceleration she wouldn't make it up there until late s6 at the earliest.

 

Now that they have more episodes to work with they need to stall so they'll continue with their original Sansa plan until they get her to a "stable point" where they can park her character's progress for awhile until they need to push it forward again. My belief based on the setup from last season (when filmed they still planned on seven as the last season) was that they intended Sansa to run north and intercept Jon's s6 story (and a Stark reunion that will likely not come in the books until late in book six).

 

So my hunch is that they'll still do that (get Sansa up north to Jon) and then park her there (where she's safe from Ramsey even though he's still a threat) where she'll serve more as a sounding board for other characters and/or engage in some open-ended action like recruiting individual Northern lords to the cause until the time is come to start her character arc moving forward again.

[SeanC]

We don't have any confirmation of the Vale army showing up to save Jon's forces or as the Vale army as the "surprise cavalry." That information has never been confirmed and came from some dodgy Reddit sources (say no more). All we have is a photo of a number of banners which don't show Vale houses, and the knowledge that Sansa is at the battle.

I've come around to thinking those sources are right.  I started out thinking the Vale would be fighting in this battle, then came to think otherwise, but I've gone back to my original opinion, just because it better-accords with dramatic setup (if you bring an army up north, chances are it's going to fight).

 

I'm not saying the above won't happen.  I'm just saying I find it unsatisfying and hard to make sense of, based on what we know.  That certainly won't stop them, as we have indeed seen.

[Eyes High]

I've come around to thinking those sources are right.  I started out thinking the Vale would be fighting in this battle, then came to think otherwise, but I've gone back to my original opinion, just because it better-accords with dramatic setup (if you bring an army up north, chances are it's going to fight).

 

I'm not saying the above won't happen.  I'm just saying I find it unsatisfying and hard to make sense of, based on what we know.  That certainly won't stop them, as we have indeed seen.

 

I find it hard to make sense of, as well. This business with the giant and Ramsay/Jon/Sansa/LF at Winterfell has me scratching my head. I would write it off as a ridiculous foiler if I saw it anywhere other than WOTW, which has impeccable sources. Based on past seasons, though, I don't think the writers are bringing the same level of logical rigour that you do with your posts. It's not that your questions about the sense and logic of the contours of the plot aren't valid ones. They are. It's that I don't have any reason to think that the writers are thinking as clearly and as carefully as you do.

 

There were a few unofficial sources who appeared to have inside information, but their information conflicted on several points, so it was impossible to know what to believe.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Eyes High

[SeanC]

And with that, filming is over.

 

Sophie was spotted at the airport today, so she probably finished filming yesterday.  No reports as yet on other castmembers.

 

Aidan Gillen is doing performances in London right now, so whatever she filming in the last week, he wasn't there for it.

[Edith]

And with that, filming is over.

Sophie was spotted at the airport today, so she probably finished filming yesterday. No reports as yet on other castmembers.

Aidan Gillen is doing performances in London right now, so whatever she filming in the last week, he wasn't there for it.

Actually Aidan was filming in Belfast a few days ago. He cancelled one of the performances in London because of it.

That information is on Twitter but I don't know how to put it here.

[SeanC]

I saw that cancellation on the site, but I find it bizarre that he had to cancel a show over what should have been a date set down months ago.  Did they have to do some sort of emergency reshoot?

[Edith]

I saw that cancellation on the site, but I find it bizarre that he had to cancel a show over what should have been a date set down months ago. Did they have to do some sort of emergency reshoot?

No idea! I though it was bizarre too.

I still think Sansa goes back to the Valle and then to the North. After all last season we have Littlefinger going from the Valle to the North to King's Landing in like three episodes...so everything is possible.

[Chris24601]

Possible yes, but probable? I think it more likely that any Sansa/Littlefinger interaction occurs in the North with the fact that he's been marching the Vale army North being his surprise play.

One factor to remember is that Littlefinger is nominally an ally of the Boltons so he could show up at Winterfell and interact with the Boltons, learn some

details, maybe even offer to negotiate Sansa's return to Ramsey and then go interact with Jon and Sansa and seem to be playing both sides so that his intentions remain ambiguous throughout the season until he finally drops the Vale army into the middle of Snowbowl to decide the battle.

The big thing to my mind is there's just not that many established characters in the Vale for either Sansa OR Littlefinger to interact with. If Sansa goes north she's got Jon, Davos, Mel and Tormund as main characters. If Littlefinger is acting in the North then he's got Roose and Ramsey and Walda then, depending on his plays potentially everyone Sansa could be interacting with. In the Vale they've got Robin and that's about it for main characters.

So for practical reasons I think both Sansa and Littlefinger will be in the orbit of the Northern story arc simply due to where more of the main characters are located. The show has always had a habit of merging lesser roles into the main characters and as we ger further into the parts of the story that are more GRRM's cliffnotes than finished novels I expect that trend to accelerate.

[nksarmi]

Yea unless there has been spoilers indicating that there has been filming at the "Vale" - I really doubt we will see it next season.  With them adding in Old Town and returning us to the Riverlands - and there being reports of us meeting Northern Lords.... I don't think it would make sense for anyone to be in the Vale this season.  So I suspect even when we see LF, he will be marching with a Vale army heading North or actually in the North.

 

Plus, if anything is going to be believable at all about Sansa's story next season - Ramsey will undoubtedly be hunting her and she's going to have to be in hiding again. If he caught her, he'd mutilate her so LF can't meet Sansa again while she's in Ramsey's care (unless the show is going to much darker place than I once thought).  And it's not like Sansa can go just easily travel south to the Vale to meet up with LF before he returns North (well the show could do that but it would be a total jump the shark plot).  

 

So yea it just seems very likely that Sansa will seek and get help from someone in the North before she has a chance to meet LF again.  And that they will meet up again in the North, not the Vale.

[SeanC]

Yea unless there has been spoilers indicating that there has been filming at the "Vale" - I really doubt we will see it next season.

They were rumoured to be filming at the location used for Runestone last year, so I think we will see the Vale, but probably just in the context of Baelish rallying the troops to go North.

[ElizaD]

First look at Bran

[WearyTraveler]

Well, he's definitely not a tree!

 

It certainly makes you think.  One option is that he physically disengages from the weirnet but is still connected through his third eye, and now he is able to walk and ride a donkey. Could it be that he will be going south to Jon so he can reveal all the flashbacks in person?

[SeanC]

Bloodraven explicitly said he would never walk again.  In any event, this may be part of a vision.

 

I'm glad that terrible wig is no more.

Edited December 28, 2015 by SeanC

[Avaleigh]

I don't mind the shorter hair it just seems unlikely that he'd be getting a haircut while hanging out with Bloodraven. 

[SeanC]

On closer examination, the branch behind Bran in that image appears to have leaves, which would back up the "vision" theory.

[Haleth]

Wow. That kid has grown up. I guess we have to ignore that he's a teenager now. It will be a shock to see a grown up Rickon too. :(

Edited December 28, 2015 by Haleth

[WearyTraveler]

Definitely could be a vision, as well. 

 

Did Bloodraven say that Bran wouldn't walk again on the show too?  I can't keep some of these things straight anymore.

[Constantinople]

Did Bloodraven say that Bran wouldn't walk again on the show too?  I can't keep some of these things straight anymore.

From The Children, Season 4 Episode 10

 

Bran: You're going to help me walk again?

 

You know who***: You will never walk again. But you will fly.

*** That is, the guy who looks as if his biggest decision every day is choosing between Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose.

 

ETA: And now that I think about it, from The Wolf and The Lion, Season 1, Episode 5

 

Bran: I'll never shoot another arrow.

 

Luwin: And where is that written?

 

Bran: You need legs to work a bow.

 

Luwin: hmm ... If the saddle Lord Tyrion designed actually works, you could learn to shoot a bow from horseback.

 

Bran: Really?

 

Luwin: Dothraki boys learn when they're four years old. Why shouldn't you?

 

OMG!

 

Bran is the Stallion that Mounts the World!

 

If R+L=J, then Bran is Rhaego's first cousin's first cousin.

 

Just kidding

 

Except about the first cousin first cousin bit

Edited December 28, 2015 by Constantinople

[ZoeT]

I can't keep some of these things straight anymore.

You are not the only one. I'm having problems remembering which one happened and where myself. For the life of me I cannot remember where did Osha say she'll take Rickon in the show? And did Robb ever name Jon in his testament? And many other small things like that.

[LiveenLetLive]

regarding the cast getting older, did the TV version ever make it clear that they were following the book's timeline? (I despised that the characters weren't growing older in the books especially since Jon and Rob,etc were acting like men and not little boys.)

[Happy Harpy]

I don't know who they finally cast for the actress rumored to be Lyanna for the rumored ToJ scenes in S6, but watching the miniseries And then there were none I couldn't help but think that Maeve Dermody would have been perfect; at least if they keep the Arya/Lyanna physical similarity. M.Dermody had scenes with Charles Dance and I had flashbacks of Tywin/Arya in S2.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by Happy Harpy

[Lady S.]

I don't see why they would keep the Arya/Lyanna similarity while omitting all the comments on such and having not much Arya/Jon similarity. Book Lyanna would have resembled both Arya and Jon, but without the "Stark look" on the show, Lyanna can only look like one of them.  Isn't it more important for Lyanna to look like Jon? Especially since non-readers here think Kitten's hair must mean Robert was the R in R+L=J.

Wow. That kid has grown up. I guess we have to ignore that he's a teenager now. It will be a shock to see a grown up Rickon too. :(

Isaac grew so much over the years that he's actually taller than Sophie now, which is a truly impressive feat considering most of the male cast can't say that. 

 

This was a Hibberd scoop btw, EW has a bigger version of that Bran pic and an interview with Isaac. 

We can tell you the wait for Bran’s return has paid off: This is his biggest and most crucial season yet. When I asked Hempstead-Wright for his reaction to reading the season 6 scripts, he replied, “Oh! That’s the best scene I’ve ever done! … Oh! That scene is even better!”

As usual, he cannot say much about the ultra-secret series. But this year is such a game-changer for Bran that even what little the actor can say is pretty revealing, especially for a show that’s largely avoided the use of flashbacks in prior seasons.

“Previously Bran’s seen tiny glimpses of future or past but never has he been very much in control in the situation,” he says. “Now we’re given looks into very important events in the past, present and future of this world and Bran is beginning to piece them together like a detective, almost as if he’s watching the show. Equally, he’s now discovering how crucial he could be in the Great War. It’s quite Inception-y.”

Edited January 2, 2016 by Lady S.

[SeanC]

Entertainment Weekly:  Sophie's annual "this year will be different from all the earlier ones" interviews begin.

 

Maisie, Alfie, Hannah, and Carice (at least) were also at that party so perhaps there'll be a few more vague interviews out of it in the next day or so (and, obviously, SAG tonight).

[loki567]

 

Entertainment Weekly:  Sophie's annual "this year will be different from all the earlier ones" interviews begin.

 

I know I couldn't help but chuckle at that considering she made the same points last year and we all know how that ended up. But I do think this will be a better year for Sansa. I think the backlash freaked D&D out some and they're going to more careful with gender stuff and Sansa in particular. Mainly by doing all the storylines they should have been doing in the first place! but I digress. 

[Advance35]

 

Entertainment Weekly:  Sophie's annual "this year will be different from all the earlier ones" interviews begin.

 

Oh boy.  If Sansa starts plotting circles around everyone from Littlefinger to Olenna Tyrell my interest in her story and her as a character is going to take a huge nose dive.   I'll be disappointed if D&D have joined the "nothing bad can happen to Sansa" mentality and it really will turn me against the character.

 

I bet certain factions of Hollywood truly hate fandoms. lol

[SeanC]

Oh boy.  If Sansa starts plotting circles around everyone from Littlefinger to Olenna Tyrell my interest in her story and her as a character is going to take a huge nose dive.   I'll be disappointed if D&D have joined the "nothing bad can happen to Sansa" mentality and it really will turn me against the character.

Season 6 was already written, for the most part, by the time Season 5 aired.  There's no way the plot substantially changed.

[ElizaD]

Oh boy.  If Sansa starts plotting circles around everyone from Littlefinger to Olenna Tyrell my interest in her story and her as a character is going to take a huge nose dive.   I'll be disappointed if D&D have joined the "nothing bad can happen to Sansa" mentality and it really will turn me against the character.

 

She'll never reach the heights Tyrion and Ramsay have achieved in the superhuman perfection of their heroism/villainy (in Ramsay's case with no mentorship or appropriate training). Sophie's comments probably mean that Sansa gets to make a speech to the Northern lords about how they should support the Starks, a speech about how she felt during the marriage (since IIRC the showrunners implied they'll address the topic in season 6, after not giving a damn about the emotional consequences of rape for their first five years) and a speech to Ramsay about how she's above him when he taunts her. Then she goes back to her main role of being a prop for a male character (Tyrion/Littlefinger/Ramsay/Jon). But Sansa is already beyond salvaging: no matter what she does, she'll always have spent season 5 as a pathetic failure who degraded her family by agreeing to marry a Bolton, doing nothing to avenge the Starks, trying to flee Winterfell (thus invalidating the Stark claim to it, which makes a mockery of her boast before the marriage) and meekly surrendering to capture and mutilation by Ramsay's henchwoman. Even if nothing bad ever happens to Sansa again (and I doubt that), being turned into a trash character whose offscreen fame consists solely of her stupidity and rape jokes should be enough suffering.

 

Sophie is trying to spin things, as she's always done, but even if Sansa gets a fancy speech her utterly idiotic behavior in season 5 made it clear that she's disposable compared to main characters the showrunners actually want to look awesome and successful (Tyrion/Ramsay - the first gets turned from a rapist into a man Sansa has to praise as a beacon of chivalry, the second gets to rape a Stark and defeat Stannis without ever running into the setbacks even Joffrey had to face, while Sansa is reduced to the interchangeable, ineffective victim in what the showrunners described as the Ramsay storyline they loved). Nothing in the history of this show's treatment of the character suggests there's need to fear that Sansa will develop a brain or value of her own - she'll just be less actively contemptible than before, but she'll always be a living reminder of Bolton supremacy even after Ramsay and Roose are dead, the moron who chose to turn Winterfell into the place where a Bolton kept a Stark as a sex slave when she could have just told Littlefinger no (the showrunners say he would have listened, so she has no excuse). How could Sansa starting to show above minimal signs of brain activity and initiative be pandering to fandom and less interesting than her previous status as a despised joke and passive puppet of one abusive man after another?

Edited January 31, 2016 by ElizaD

[Avaleigh]

I disagree that Sansa is beyond salvaging and I disagree even more that she was "surrendering meekly" during that moment with Myranda. I saw the strength of Sansa's character in that moment and loved that she refused to beg or plead with Myranda or anything. 

 

I also strongly disagree that Sansa will always be a living reminder of Bolton supremacy. To me the implication here is that Sansa is permanently damaged goods because she was raped and has no hope of recovering and I completely reject the idea that she's a moron without a brain or that she's a character who has degraded her family. I don't think making a mistake means that the character is past saving or that her storyline is impossible to turn around. The fact that so many viewers are looking forward to what happens to her character indicates to me that there are still people who find the character to be interesting and don't see her as this moronic loser who has permanently degraded her family.

 

Meanwhile, when Sansa does finally take action and chooses to run for the abuse she's criticized for supposedly invalidating the Stark's claim to Winterfell. I totally disagree that Sansa has invalidated the Stark claim to Winterfell just because she's fleeing from Ramsay's abuse. Who's to say she or another Stark can't go back one day? 

 

Oh boy.  If Sansa starts plotting circles around everyone from Littlefinger to Olenna Tyrell my interest in her story and her as a character is going to take a huge nose dive.   I'll be disappointed if D&D have joined the "nothing bad can happen to Sansa" mentality and it really will turn me against the character.

I feel the same way. I sometimes get the impression because there are (probably) only two books left that people think the Starks should get nothing but wins from here on out because they've suffered *so* much. Basically every family in this series is up shit creek in one way or another. They're the only family of the major houses who seems like they're on the way up. They're the only family in this series that I'm not worried about at all because it's obvious they're being set up to win on multiple levels. 

 

I'm much more interested in seeing what happens to the Tyrells, Martells, Lannisters, Arryns, Tullys, Targaryens, and even Greyjoys because I feel like anything can happen there. Does anybody really think that this series is going to end without a Stark being in Winterfell?

Edited January 31, 2016 by Avaleigh

[Advance35]

I also strongly disagree that Sansa will always be a living reminder of Bolton supremacy. To me the implication here is that Sansa is permanently damaged good because she was raped and has no hope of recovering

 

 

That was the exact implication I was given and I didn't bother reading the rest of the post afterwards.  The victim of a crime is NEVER shamed/forever tainted in my view.   Only the perpetrator.

 

 

The fact that so many viewers are looking forward to what happens to her character indicates to me that there are still people who find the character to be interesting and don't see her as this moronic loser who has permanently degraded her family.

 

This I agree with.  Despite the controversy I think the character is more popular then ever.  I had to laugh because Natalie Dormer joked that she wished Margaery had been paired with Ramsay.  

 

 

I feel the same way. I sometimes get the impression because there are (probably) only two books left that people think the Starks should get nothing but wins from here on out because they've suffered *so* much.

 

The challenges are what makes it interesting to me.   I feel like up until the finale of S5 Dany's been coasting from one victory to another and it bores the hell out of me.    I hope D&D allow Sansa's arc to remain compelling and don't just throw victories at her.

 

And like you I'm very curious about what the state of Houses Tyrell, Martell and Arryn will be at the end of the season.

Edited January 31, 2016 by Advance35

[Boundary]

Sometimes a series of victories is just as important and compelling. In most sports movies especially, a team that goes on a run usually has teething problems at the start, and some victories are mundane, others are close run encounters; some are more memorable for what happened off the pitch and yet others for sheer luck - and yet the record breaking string of results is the story. For the Starks, their upswing should seen as part of the heartbreak of earlier seasons. I can do with some wins now, they've taken a beating long enough.

 

 Even if nothing bad ever happens to Sansa again (and I doubt that), being turned into a trash character whose offscreen fame consists solely of her stupidity and rape jokes should be enough suffering.

 

 

Wanted to concur to the point often missed that even if Sansa's S5 suffering was a detour while the writers figured out what to do, the consequences in-universe should be permanent. A Stark returning to Winterfell is a major moment in this tale, even if the writers wiggle out of this one and subsequently restore the Wardens of the North/Kings In The North, Sansa's ordeal will remain a stain - on Sansa's character herself and on "the North remembers" storyline. 

Edited January 31, 2016 by Boundary

[ElizaD]

I disagree that Sansa is beyond salvaging and I disagree even more that she was "surrendering meekly" during that moment with Myranda. I saw the strength of Sansa's character in that moment and loved that she refused to beg or plead with Myranda or anything.

 

Personally, I saw that as the final insult that made me give up on the storyline which had done one thing after another to make Sansa look as incompetent and passive as possible. Sansa could have tried to reach out to Theon or attacked Myranda in an attempt to get herself killed and deny the Boltons their chance to force her to have children. Instead she made a speech implying Ramsay's unbeatability, showing she'd learned she was wrong to be proud of being a Stark and back at home in her earlier scene with Myranda, and leaves the decision to Myranda, which was just appalling. Once the showrunners' decision was made to have her marry Ramsay, the story could have been written differently. Instead it was maximized to make Sansa look useless: her absolute passivity was contrasted with Littlefinger using the talk about avenging her family to sell the plot to her. Consequently, Sansa's total disinterest in trying to find out something about the Boltons and get to know them before she was married and locked up made her look incapable of any kind of useful activity. Once she was locked up, a senseless decision that tried to be faithful to the book for maximum shock without bothering to think about whether it was good for the character or made sense in the changed circumstances, Sansa wanted to escape a situation she never needed to be in, which was the showrunners' choice but nonetheless added to the ways in which the character was trashed.

 

While Sansa could not have stopped Ramsay once she was in the room, using talk about victim-shaming to end the conversation obscures the fact that this storyline, sold to us as a hardened woman making a choice, instead presented a Sansa who agreed to avenge her family and then didn't even try: the show gave her a goal she accepted and consequently drew attention to her utter failure in a way it hadn't been required to do. Offscreen, I've heard and seen too many Sansa rape jokes to think there's anything left to salvage. That's what she is known for now, thanks to the miserable decision to place the emphasis on Ramsay's infallibility and Sansa's status as a perpetual moron bashed by the general audience, and unlike Dany or even Cersei (post-funeral or post-walk) Sansa has been given nothing to offer beyond 'victim we should feel sorry for even though the show numbs us to her misery by making it happen again and again, in different ways with different men and women'. It really doesn't matter what Sansa does because she'll always be the GOT rape controversy character.

 

Since season 6 was largely planned before the season 5 finale aired, I can believe that the showrunners had already planned a "triumph" for Sansa in the form of some speech to the Northern lords (I'm assuming that happens because cutting Manderly and bringing her North solely for the rape and rescue by Theon/Jon would be too stupid for even me to believe). But throughout this show, her stupidity and naivete have been so consistently used for onscreen jokes, without even minor victories or bright ideas to balance them, that I see no reason to believe Sansa will ever become a character the show and viewers are meant to respect to such a degree that it could even begin to lessen the damage done by the controversy.

 

I expect season 6 will end with the Starks back in Winterfell, but why should that make me happy? It won't be a victory now that the show turned it into the place where Sansa was raped. It'll still be that even after Ramsay kills Roose and gets killed by someone in the Stark camp. Even if they're dead, they were given a brand new and permanent triumph that will stay with Sansa as long as she lives. Jon killing Ramsay, or capturing him and letting Sansa order him killed, or even Sansa grabbing a dagger and making him her first kill, won't change the fact that the story as written presented us with a Sansa utterly incapable of doing anything to avenge her family and willing to give up once her attempt to abandon Winterfell had failed.

 

The only change in response to the controversy that I personally believe will be made is the addition of some kind of scene where Sansa talks about her feelings, which won't take up much screentime or change the plot. But I don't think that scene, if it does end up onscreen, was planned before the season 5 criticism finally seemed to get to the showrunners. This is the show that had zero interest in how Jaime raping Cersei might affect the relationship and kept on going for even more rape and torture of women despite the criticism it had already attracted during earlier seasons, and so I see zero reason to believe GOT will include more than a token scene about how the rape made Sansa feel or, once that is out of the way, do anything in season 7 to tell us how Sansa feels about returning to the home where she was raped. Consequently, the Boltons will never be going away: they'll always be there as triumphant ghosts. Neither will the Sansa rape jokes end. After all the time I tried to spend defending the character for having stereotypically feminine interests and not wanting to have sex with Tyrion, it is incredibly disappointing that the show went for a complete validation of the worst of the claims about her general uselessness and her "irrational" ingratitude to husband #1.

[nksarmi]

I am someone who 100% believed that once they put Sansa in Winterfell that we wouldn't get the "jump off the wall into the snow" plot at the end of the season because I firmly believed that once a Stark was back in Winterfell - it would be a permanent victory.  So I totally understand what ElizaD is saying.

 

I think the show severely underestimated the symbolism of putting a REAL Stark in Winterfell or they DID understand it (with their "this is my home" speeches from Sansa) and just completely betrayed it.  Even none book readers were upset by this development.

 

I personally could have tolerated the "marital rape" if Sansa's story had been different.  If Northern Lords had been present at the wedding and she had been making friends quietly while pretending to play Ramsey's good wife.  If people had been mysteriously dying in Winterfell so that a tension was growing between Bolton and Ramsey and it was revealed that Sansa was somehow involved in that plotting.  If they had given us something that showed that while Sansa was enduring the indignity of being Ramsey's wife - she was still getting some measure of revenge. 

 

This should have all been capped off not with Sansa running, but with Sansa killing Myranda herself and telling Theon to run.  That she - Sansa - was going to stay Lady of Winterfell until someone beat down the doors and she would be there to see the day when Ramsey died.

 

I mean - they marketing "Sansa the cold, hell bent on vengeance" and what we got was "Sansa the victim part 3."

 

I have little interest in Sansa in the books and I am only slightly interested in what befalls her next season on the show.  But even I have to admit that I don't think she can ever become a character that anyone can respect after season five.  Pities, feels bad for, wants to see good things happen to her?  Sure.  But respects?  No.

[BlackberryJam]

So many new Dothraki have been cast for S5. I am really not looking forward to Dany and her harem of hot guys.

[aslightjump]

I think I'm misunderstanding you nksarmi, but Sansa can easily be respected again, depending on what she does this season. As many people pity her, there are just as many ready to see her get her vengeance. It depends on how this next season is written. Not that I have any faith in the writers anymore but I still, for one, respect Sansa immensely. Did she do everything I would have liked? No. She didn't do the one job Littlefinger gave her last season, which was gather info on the Boltons, besides using Walda's pregnancy against Ramsay

which may end up working for her in the long term if certain theories are correct and Ramsay kills Roose and Walda for it

. That was disappointing. And her attacking Myranda would have been wildly out of character. All Sansa knows so far, since they took out her active plotting with Dontos, is how to stand there and take it and survive to the next day. She won't learn any better from Theon or Littlefinger because that's all they know too. 

 

But everything Sansa loved has died, her family, her hopes, her wolf and her dreams, and Sansa keeps on, just like her sister. I have mad respect for both Stark girls, even if I'm not overly fond of the ways they choose to survive.

 

That's why I'm so nervous about her potentially be put back with Littlefinger this year. If she is, I'm 99% sure she won't survive the show. I'd much rather see her go to a northern lord or to Jon. She'll still be controlled, but she might learn not to be so passive in that kind of environment. If Sansa is a character that will do what she must to live, and the only way she may live is to get off her ass and work for it, then I think we might have something going here.

 

I despised Sansa's storyline this season, so the writers damn well better make the best of it.