HBO CEO on the Winds of Winter delay and the Jon Snow-heavy marketing strategy for Season 6

Apart from news about a premiere date for Game of Thrones Season 6, we didn’t learn much new information about the show at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. The after-party, however, was a different story, as after-parties so often are. HBO president Michael Lombardo revealed that the network is in negotiations for a full eighth season of Game of Thrones, and now HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler has weighed in on two bits of big recent Game of Thrones news: George R.R. Martin’s announcement that The Winds of Winter will not be released until after Season 6, and how the Season 6 promotional materials spotlight Jon Snow.

First: the Winds of Winter delay. Will this effect how Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss approach the show? Plepler doesn’t think so:

"I always knew that given the relationship that David and Dan had with George and the closeness and respect that they have for each other that if they overtook the books or not, there would be a synchronic and organic conversation going on between them. That they would never do anything that would violate George’s sense of the integrity of the story and I think that’s absolutely true. Their relationship is such a wonderful thing to observe, the mutual respect that they have for each other that I know George would say, ‘I trust these guys moving this arc forward.’"

Plepler reiterated that the show would go on with or without a book, and that this was okay. He hyped Season 6 a bit while he was at it.

"I would only say that that’s going to be up to David and Dan to determine where they take the story in concert with George, but everyone is very excited about the continuum. I think when you see even the first episodes of the new season, you’ll see how much life and dynamism there is in this story."

We’ll see for ourselves come April 24.

Next: the Season 6 marketing materials. If Jon Snow is supposed to be dead, why is HBO plastering his face on billboards…

…and including lingering shots of him in the teaser trailer?

What gives, HBO? According to Plepner, it’s all to get us talking.

"I give all the credit to our marketing team. Basically of course [we’re] always looking to remind the audience of how exciting and dynamic the programming is and I think that they felt correctly that this was a great titillation for the new season and it certainly is proven so as you see by the social traffic by the social traffic on that."

As to whether Jon Snow’s presence in the promotional materials means that the Night’s Watchman isn’t actually dead, Plepner played coy, even though…well, y’know. “I think it was just titillation in the purest sense and I wouldn’t confirm or deny anything, but it worked very well.”

Well, the internet DID explode when these materials were released, so…mission accomplished, I guess.

h/t /Film