We’re done with Westeros for another year, and all that’s left is to pick over the bones of the season that was. Mostly this means trying to figure out what Jon Snow’s Targaryen name is—Lyanna Stark definitely said it to Young Ned, but it’s impossible to hear clearly—and taking odds on who will kill Cersei first: The Tyrell/Targaryen/Sand alliance, a popular revolt led by the people of King’s Landing, or, in a surprise twist, Jaime! He’s sworn her loyalty above all others, but all their children are dead and I don’t think even Jaime’s love blinkers are strong enough to overlook Cersei blowing up a significant chunk of the city. He killed a king to prevent that from happening in the first place!
Deadline has an interview with Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, breaking down season six and touching on the possibilities of season seven. Obviously Weiss and Benioff aren’t going to give anything away about what’s next, but they do confirm there are thirteen episodes of Thrones left, which means we’re in for two shortened seasons before it’s over. (TV shows splitting up the final season is the new movies splitting up the franchise finale.) Narratively, I get it. All that’s left to do is dispose of Cersei and then fight ice zombies, but emotionally THIS IS NOT ENOUGH PLEASE MAKE THIS SHOW FOREVER.
One of the interesting tidbits dropped is that Iwan Rheon, who made such a deliciously despicable villain as Ramsay Bolton, was in the running to play Jon Snow. Just based on the acting observed on Thrones, I do not understand how you cast Kit Harington over Iwan Rheon for ANYTHING, but then, even Kit Harington thinks he got the job because of a black eye. Maybe it helped put him over the top, made it easier for everyone to see him as the battle-weary Jon Snow of these later seasons. To me it says that they 100% cast Harington because of that dumb know-nothing face he always makes.
With only thirteen hours of Thrones left, the story is “contracting”, as Weiss says. The long-running plots about Arya’s assassin training, Sansa’s struggle to return to Winterfell, Daenerys getting her goddamned ships, and Cersei’s self-fulfilling prophecy about her children are paying off. The board is clear for a whole new phase of conflict. We’re almost at the end, and it feels like we’re just getting started.
Attached - Sophie Turner at the Game of Thrones season finale premiere and photocall yesterday in Madrid.
