Filming for Game of Thrones Season 6 may be practically wrapped up, but spoilers continue to leak from the set. This one involves a scene that will take place at Winterfell. Those who do not wish to be spoilers would do well to turn back now.
Don’t let spoilers happen to you.
Okay, the report: according to Watchers on the Wall, the production is rehearsing a scene involving four major players: Jon Snow, Sansa, Ramsay Bolton, and Littlefinger. They’re interacting in Winterfell’s courtyard, and there’s a great deal of tension, as well there might be. Then, to make matters worse, a giant turns up and tries to force its way inside Winterfell’s gates, and the people inside have to fight it off.
There’s no information on when in the season this scene will fall, but we can make guesses. Shifting into speculation mode…now.
To start, this is yet more evidence that Jon Snow will come back. I know that’s more or less a foregone conclusion by this point, but until HBO just breaks down and announces it officially, it bears repeating.
Next: the interesting company he’s keeping. We’ve been hoping that Sansa Stark would meet up with her half-brother in Season 6, and this seems proof that it will happen. My question is: under what circumstances are they reuniting? Does Sansa join up with Jon at the Wall, and then come south with him to confront Ramsay? Or does Ramsay kidnap Sansa before she can make an escape, and Jon meets her when he comes to Winterfell to treat with the Bastard of Bolton?
However Sansa plays into it, I’m guessing that’s what’s going on here: enemies treating with each other before and/or during a battle, probably the Battle of the Bastards, the massive fight that will take up Episode 9. Littlefinger’s presence seems to confirm that he’ll make good on the suggestion he made to Cersei in Season 5: he wanted to lead the knights of the Vale into the North, where he would rout the winner of the Bolton-Stannis smackdown and install himself as Warden of the North.
I’m not sure if that will happen, but if Littlefinger does indeed have a Vale army at his back, he could be a big player in the battle. Another question: would he be on Ramsay’s side or Jon’s side (or option number three: Littlefinger’s side)? It’s hard to tell with that guy.
Then there’s the giant at the gate, who I’m guessing is the same one we’ve heard will be present during the Battle of the Bastards. Going further back, he’s probably the same giant who accompanied Jon back from Hardhome (known to book-readers as Wun Wun), so he’s likely on Team Jon.
So why is he battering down the gate? Maybe he’s impatient—you can’t stop a giant from doing something he wants to do. The final possibility I’ll suggest is that Jon, Ramsay, and company aren’t treating with each other at all, but are rather hiding inside Winterfell after a new enemy turns up outside. There’s been speculation that the Battle of the Bastards may be interrupted by the untimely arrival of White Walkers, and if they get to Wun Wun, we could have a giant wight on our hands.
Finally, there’s a tiny bit of filming news turning up on Twitter. One person posted a photo of what they identified as a Game of Thrones filming crew.
Castle Ward has been used in the past to stand in for Winterfell, although Watchers reports that the scene described above is being filmed in Moneyglass, which is in the next county over.
Interesting stuff. What do you guys make of all this?