Well, this is a little unusual. Every once in a while, a cast member will slip up and reveal something about the upcoming season of Game of Thrones, but it’s not often that they just tell outlets what’s going to happen.
But that’s what Alfie Allen has done about the Season 6 premiere. Speaking to members of the press in Los Angeles, Allen revealed what’s going to happen to several characters, and while some of it is stuff we could have guessed, it’s still unusually frank. News X has the report.
SPOILER WARNING, OBVIOUSLY
“The spoilers! They’re blinding!”
Here’s what Allen says will happen to Theon and Sansa when we catch up with them in the premiere:
"At the beginning of (season) six, you find him running through snowy, freezing forests leading the way with Sansa. They’ve just jumped off the wall of Winterfell and now they’re on the run from Ramsay,"
Okay, we likely figured that. After describing the fake snow the production used for the occasion, Allen went on.
"And we’re running through and we come to a river and Sansa is just too scared basically to get into the river. So I get in. Don’t believe the press shots! It looks like she’s trying to get me out of the river, when I’m actually trying to be the strong one and get her in the river. Makes me look weak. Haha."
Allen is almost definitely referring to this picture:
There was some speculation that perhaps Theon’s leg was broken in this picture—that was a high fall, after all—but apparently not. I wonder what he means by getting “into the river.” Is there a boat there? Or are they trying to walk a while in the river to throw off the scent of Ramsay’s dogs, a technique Bran and Rickon used to avoid capture by none other than Theon himself back in Season 2?
The timeline gets a little muddied here, but Allen revealed more about these opening scenes when he answered a question about whether Theon would sacrifice himself for Sansa.
"He sacrifices himself, because I guess he hasn’t really got much worth or meaning for himself in the world anymore. And so he leads them away – or rather that’s what he’s trying to do."
I assume that by “them,” Allen is talking about Ramsay’s men, who likely have been sent to hunt Sansa down. Again, that might be why he’s getting in the river—he may want to throw them off the scent. Or maybe he separates from Sansa so he can lead Ramsay’s hunting party away from her?
And then Brienne and Pod come into it.
"In fact he doesn’t lead them away, because they see Sansa anyway and then Gwendoline Christie turns up as Brienne of Tarth and smashes everyone to shit. Dan Portman’s there — Pod — and then Pod ends up having a fight with this guy and then Theon stabs the guy in the back with the sword. He kills someone for the first time in ages, which must be a gratifying experience."
So Pod, Brienne, and Theon smash up Ramsay’s hunting party, presumably saving both Theon and Sansa, assuming the latter two haven’t separated by this point.
Okay, using the other spoilers we know, let’s tease out the implications of this information.
Next: What does this all mean for Sansa, Theon, and Brienne?
The big takeaway from Allen’s interview is that, after just missing Sansa’s signal at the end of Season 5, Brienne does indeed meet up with the eldest surviving Stark child (Jon is a Snow, not a Stark) again. It’s possible that Sansa and Theon separate before Brienne comes into the picture, but Allen’s line about how Ramsay’s men “see Sansa anyway” makes it sound like that’s not the case.
However, we know that, later in the season, Sansa, Brienne, and Theon are all in very different places. Spoilers put Sansa back at Winterfell by the end of the year, alongside the resurrected Jon Snow. Brienne (with Podrick in tow) heads south and reunites with Jaime Lannister at Riverrun, and Theon goes to the Iron Islands—still no clue as to how he gets there.
This means that the three must separate at some point. Why? Does Sansa reject Brienne’s help again? Based on shots like this one, from the Season 6 trailer, I’m guessing no.
The still above shows a Sansa who’s had time to freshen up a bit—she doesn’t look like a girl who’s been rushing desperately through the snow. I’m guessing she’s gotten somewhere safe, and there’s no way she could have gotten away from Ramsay’s men without help. My guess is that she shares Brienne’s horse (Theon could share Pod’s) and the foursome ride far away from Winterfell, perhaps to the home of a Northern lord who remains loyal to the Starks, or to the Wall, where Sansa still believes her half-brother Jon is in charge.
After Brienne has dropped Sansa off at this hypothetical safe space, perhaps she decides that she’s fulfilled her duty to get Sansa somewhere safe and heads back south. Frankly, that doesn’t sound like Brienne—I’d expect she’d want to protect Lady Catelyn’s daughter well into the foreseeable future—but the character has to get to Riverrun at some point. Most likely, there are circumstances we don’t know about yet. After all, there are no more books to guide us, so anything could happen.
Hell, my speculation could be way off base. Feel free to let us know what you think’ll happen, and then tune in on April 24 to find out for sure.