Game of Thrones cast members try to avoid spoilers while teasing Season 6

Spoiler — spoil·er /ˈspoilər/ noun — A person or thing that spoils something. Nothing elicits such a visceral response from friends, family, and complete strangers on the internet. And as far as spoilers go, there’s no bigger show than Game of Thrones.

IGN recently rounded up some cast members to talk about how they deal with spoilers from season to season. But before that, Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton) and Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) were asked if they had any sway over their characters fates now that the show has outpaced the books. Do showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss listen to them?

"McElhatton: “None whatsoever! No, I think it’s all very well planned out in advance."

"Rheon: “The thing with those two is, whatever you said, they’d probably do the opposite just to piss you off..!”"

Next, the actors were asked how the scripts for Seaosn 6 compared to their expectations. Alfie Allen, who has been giving away plenty of spoilers recently, had this to say:

"For me it was just thoroughly disappointing… [laughs]  No, I guess I don’t want to say anything, or give away any sort of tidbit about what is going to be there, because for me it could be equally as dark and horrible but still as fun to do and play. But I’m just glad to be there…. [laughs] Sorry…"

Liam Cunningham and Carice van Houten, who play newly minted odd couple Davos Seaworth and Melisandre, chimed in with their new special brand of comedy:

"Cunningham: “The first episode, the kick-off with her [points to Carice Van Houten], is astonishing.” Van Houten: “Yes…! But it’s not what you think it is, it’s something else. I knew it was coming at some point, people had talked about it before to me, but I wasn’t sure when it was going to happen… oh, this is really vague… but it should be. And it’s in Episode 1 already.”"

Naturally, IGN tried to get them to share more—that quote from van Houten is pretty interesting—and naturally, they demurred in fear for their lives.

"Cunningham: “Yeah, I’m sure you’d love that. We would be hunted down and chopped to bits!”Van HoutenT: “[Melisandre’s] whole world is shaken, she’s been on this mission and all of a sudden it makes no sense. The sacrifice of this girl didn’t work and she never allowed herself to go into the emotion of that. And that’s where we find her in Season 6, she’s just gone.”Cunningham: “There’s absolutely amazing stuff coming in, and so left-of-field. Watching your favourite characters being put in these situations, they’re so unpredictable and unexpected and it’s one of the trademarks of the show. I mean, for me, [points to Maisie Williams] your voyage this year is insane! [Maisie Williams laughs]. It is so different from what Game of Thrones has been, it’s just nuts.”"

I’m starting to get the feeling that Liam Cunningham and Carice van Houten are the new voices of Game of Thrones marketing department. I mean, they are just so cute together! And it appears that Cunningham is one of the few cast members who reads the whole scripts, not just the parts that involve his character—otherwise, how would he know what Arya’s up to in Season 6?

Dean-Charles Chapman, who plays the young King Tommen Baratheon, avoided specific spoilers, but still dropped a hint about what’s to come: “There’s a lot in Season 6 that I can’t tell you about… Uh…. I’ll say Tommen has a new objective, that’s all I could say… it’s a very good season.”

Tommen has a new objective, eh? Are we looking at Baelor the Blessed 2.0? Is he going to be the High Sparrow’s new puppet? We saw the two having a conversation in the latest promo for the show, so the producers could be setting that up.

Finally, John Bradley, who plays the lovable Samwell Tarly, had this to say on the topic of spoilers, and I think it’s worth taking to heart:

"People don’t really want to know. They don’t. They say, in a vaguely jovial way, ‘Have you got any spoilers?’ and you just think, well listen to yourself. Listen to the word you’ve used. You want me to “spoil” it! If you told them and said, “OK, I’ll save you time,” not just relating to this, but to any cliffhanger, they’ll say [disappointed voice] “Oh… You’ve ruined it now…”"

Oh Samwell, thank you for always being the voice of reason. Now go fry up some delicious potatoes and a brace of coneys, because we wouldn’t have been able to make it through the Mountains of Mordor the Game of Thrones off-season without you.