Isn’t it odd how little we’ve heard about Dorne during the off-season? Last year, the internet was abuzz with news about the Sand Snakes, Doran, and the splashy Spanish locations where the show would be shooting scenes in the southernmost of Westeros’ Seven Kingdoms. This year, there’s been nary a peep, outside of DeObia Oparei (Areo Hotah) dropping a couple hints a month back.
We still haven’t heard much from the Dornish crew, but Variety confirmed today that Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Tyene Sand) “will reprise role in season six” when it interviewed the actress about her transition from being a high school student in Italy to a drama student in the U.K. Sellers was mum on what Tyene would actually be doing in Season 6, but did look back fondly on Season 5.
"I bonded with the Sand Snakes on day one of stunt training, when we nearly killed each other by accident. Jess [Jessica Henwick] and Keisha [Castle-Hughes] are super fun, crazy and talented women and we had loads of fun together in Belfast, Croatia and Seville. It’s been great working with Indira Varma too; I learned a lot by watching her work."
Variety also asked the actress how she felt about Tyene’s topless scene from “The Gift,” and Sellers gave this non-answer:
"The only comment I’m going to make about that scene is that I trust my agent, Roger Charteris of The Artists Partnership in London."
Okay, then.
Considering the paucity of information, it remains difficult to ascertain what the Dornish crew will get up to next year, but what news there is makes me think they won’t play a prominent role. After all, the show is nearly finished with its on-location shooting in Spain. It’s still filming material in Peñíscola, which is standing in for Meereen, and will shortly start filming in Almería. It’s possible that Almería could stand in for parts of Dorne, but considering the sets we’ve seen getting built there, we think it’ll mostly be used for scenes involving Daenerys and her new khalasar.
Plus, Oparei said that he had a late call to the set, which he took to mean that he wouldn’t have a lot of screen time in Season 6. I’m starting to think that we’ll just quickly check in with Dorne in Season 6, not unlike how we quickly checked in with Yara Greyjoy in Season 4 before she was shuffled offscreen, along with everything else happening on the Iron Islands. After all, quite a few people considered the plotlines in Dorne to be the weakest part of Season 5, so it would make sense for the show to scale back and regroup.
Next: Things get dark in Meereen, where an actor whose character is definitely dead showed up on set