Game of Thrones filming just refuses to slow down. We’re almost into December, but set reports continue to flow in from places like Banbridge, where the show has been filming scenes at Riverrun, among other places.
Now, Los Siete Reinos has info on yet more set activity (kindly turn back if you wish to avoid SPOILERS). According to its sources, there are three different scenes all being filmed in the same area of Northern Ireland. Here’s a rundown of what’s going on:
- A scene involving Bran in the cave of the Three-Eyed Crow.
- A scene involving White Walkers, which tracks with recent information about the return of everyone’s favorite genocidal ice zombies. No word on exactly where the White Walkers are going.
- Scenes at Castle Black.
It’s the stuff at Castle Black that’s the most intriguing. According to LSR, the castle is much less crowded than it’s been in the past, and Kit Harington is not there. That’s because he’s no longer the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, and has been replaced by a different character we’ve known for several seasons.
There are a few questions to consider here. First of all, who is the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch? The most obvious answer is Alliser Thorne, who ran for the job last season and lost to Jon Snow. He also (presumably) engineered the murder of Jon Snow, so it only makes sense that he would step into the role.
“Follow my orders or you will be stabbed en masse.”
There are a couple of other candidates I can see stepping in, including Denys Mallister, who also ran for Lord Commander in Season 5, or First Builder Othell Yarwyck. Still, Thorne seems like the safest bet.
Another question: if Kit Harington isn’t at Castle Black, where is Jon Snow? The easy answer is that he’s dead, but anybody who’s been paying even a little attention to the behind-the-scenes goings-on lately, or who saw the Season 6 billboard, knows that’s not true. It’s likely that Jon Snow has headed south to partake in the Battle of the Bastards, or in the lead-up to it. The note about Castle Black being sparsely populated is also interesting—did some of the Night’s Watchmen follow Jon south?
Incidentally, the reports of a new Lord Commander line up with a popular theory: that Jon Snow’s death (and resurrection) will free him from the oath he swore to the Night’s Watch: “Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death.” Well, Jon died. Watch over.
There’s one more set report worth noting: Watchers on the Wall has it that the Unsullied are filming material at Banbridge, the same area where the show has filmed scenes at Riverrun and, more recently, stuff involving Hodor and scenes involving White Walkers. It seems probable that, although being filmed the same general area, these scenes won’t have anything to do with each other. I can’t see the Unsullied confronting the White Walkers just yet.
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