Like so many before it, Season 6 of Game of Thrones killed off a lot of people, introduced a few more, and left a lot of questions unanswered. And, like many before it, the Comic-Con International panel for Game of Thrones managed to dodge most of those questions with aplomb. (In other words, don't expect any answers about the inevitable Daenerys/Cersei face-off.) But that doesn’t mean nothing valuable came out of the HBO show’s big Hall H panel. Here’s what we learned. (Spoilers ahead, obviously.)
As you might have heard, the next season of Game of Thrones won’t arrive until summer 2017. According to showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, that’s due to the arrival of winter. Like, literally. They can’t start filming until the leaves are off trees and everything looks a little more winter-y. ““We’re actually just waiting to shoot until later in the year,” Benioff said.
It wouldn’t be a Game of Thrones panel if there wasn’t a lot of talk about death. And one that came up early on was the burning death of young Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram). It was, surprisingly, a passing that even Davos himself, Liam Cunningham, didn’t know about. “[If you were there] when I got the script you would’ve heard the sound of my jaw clanging on the ground when I read that,” he said.
Speaking of dying, John Bradley, who plays Samwell Tarly, has a funny scenario he’s imagined for how his character could die. The short version? Sam, how in possession of a massive library, climbs up to a high shelf to pull down a volume, doesn’t realize his own weight, and falls and gets crushed. “It wasn’t battle that killed him; it was books that killed him,” Bradley said.
Yes, in addition to thinking Dany should have the Iron Throne, Nathalie Emmanuel, who plays Missandei, believes that her character should stick by Daenerys until the end. “I hope that Missandei continues to support Daenerys in ... this sort of girl-power couple,” she said.
One of the biggest surprises in the Battle of the Bastards was Sansa Stark showing up with the Knights of the Vale to save Jon Snow’s ass. A lot of people have wondered why she didn’t tell Jon ahead of time that she’d called them in. According to Sophie Turner, Sansa did that because “she wanted all the credit ... and it makes for really good television.” It was also a razor-smart tactical move. Does Turner think her character should actually rule in Jon’s place? “I’m not sure she believes Jon is capable of running Winterfell in the North,” she said. “He doesn’t have the intellect, the knowledge, the experience that she has. I concur.”
As we discovered last season from Bran Stark’s vision, Jon Snow’s parentage might not be what he thinks it is—meaning he’s also not Sansa’s brother. So, could they, you know…? (Yes, someone in the audience actually asked this.) According to Turner, the answer is no. “Dan and David,” she said to her show runners, “if you make anything happen, I will kill you.”
