Lino Facioli (Robin Arryn) returning for Season 6

Months and months ago, we reported that Rupert Vansittart, the actor who plays Lord Yohn Royce, will be returning for Game of Thrones Season 6. Last we saw Royce in the Season 5 premiere, Littlefinger and Sansa were leaving him in the Vale, where he was charged with looking after Robin Arryn. Now, Watchers on the Wall has it that Lino Facioli, the actor behind Robin, will also return, per his CV on the United Agents talent agency website.

This isn’t an enormous surprise, given that young, sickly Robin is nominally the heir to the Lord Protectorship of the Vale, although one imagines Littlefinger may have some designs on that. In any case, he’s a player, whether he wants to be or not. How might he reenter the narrative? Let’s speculate.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT

“Spoiler time!”

A couple weeks back, we learned that Littlefinger, Sansa, Jon Snow, and Ramsay Bolton will share a scene inside Winterfell, very likely towards the end of the season. If Littlefinger is there, he probably carried out the plan he described to Cersei in “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” and led the knights of the Vale to Winterfell. Might Robin have come with him, and if so, to what end?

While we ponder that question, another actor is also teasing his return. Tim Plester, who played Black Walder Rivers in Season 3, talked to Your Letterbox magazine about several of his current projects, and couldn’t help dropping a few hints about Game of Thrones while he was at it. You may remember that Black Walder was a son of Walder Frey, specifically the one who did this:

If Black Walder does return, we probably won’t be happy to see him. Here’s what Plester said on the topic:

"As you’d expect on such a phenomenally popular TV show, there’s a complicated veil of secrecy that surrounds any future storylines, and as an actor you’re never shown full shooting scripts – only the scenes which refer specifically to your role. And even then, some of the character names are occasionally changed on the scripts in order to try and further limit the chances of any leaks. So yes, when people ask me if Black Walder and his trusty blade will ever be making a re-appearance in the fictional realm of Westeros, all I’m (contractually) allowed to say is that he’s not dead yet, and so there’s always a chance… Although I think it’s fairly safe to assume that I won’t be getting invited to anymore weddings!"

We know we’ll be returning to the Riverlands for Season 6, and David Bradley, who plays Walder Frey, has been spotted around Game of Thrones filming locations during the off-season—if Walder Frey is coming back, it’s not a stretch to guess that a couple of his sons might, too. Stay tuned.

Also, I love how politely Plester describes the Red Wedding in his interview.

"Without giving too much away for people who may still be playing catch-up, there was a lavish wedding ceremony at which my character became embroiled in some particularly ill-mannered behavior."

You don’t say.