Fans the world over have been anxiously awaiting the return of Game of Thrones, easily making its season 6 premiere the spring’s most anticipated television event. Last season left audiences with many burning questions, and it’s almost a guarantee the premiere won’t answer any of them outright. But hopefully, Game of Thrones doesn’t intend to leave us in the dark for too long.
Theories about what will happen this season on Game of Thrones are as abundant as ever – perhaps even more so, since unlike past seasons, season 6 is delving further into material that has yet to be published in George R.R. Martin’s novels; the Song of Ice and Fire series on which Game of Thrones is based. Add to that HBO’s decision to not release press screeners (which in the past have been illegally leaked), and this season of Game of Thrones is truly unpredictable.
Still, this hasn’t stopped anyone (including Screen Rant) from cobbling together their own predictions based off what we’ve seen in trailers and clips. And now, HBO has released a new batch of images from the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere, giving fans even more material to pick apart and over analyze between now and Sunday.
Take a look through the new photos below:
For the most part, what we see in these new images aligns with what we’ve been able to glean from the trailers: Sansa and Theon are on the run from Ramsey through the northern wilderness; Jaime returns to King’s Landing from Dorne with Myrcella’s body; Cersei is clearly distraught over the loss of another child; Arya, now blind, continues her training; Daenerys is a prisoner of a massive Dothraki khalasar.
As for any new information we can learn from the images, we have confirmation that Dorne and its many characters (Prince Doran Martell, Ellaria Sand, Areo Hotah) are returning. This isn’t too surprising considering Dorne almost certainly has a role to play in war to come, not to mention the fallout surrounding Myrcella’s murder. Though we have to wonder if Dorne has been downplayed in the lead up to season 6 given the fan backlash last season? These images come from the premiere, so it’s not as if we’ll be waiting long before the southern kingdom comes back into play.
Otherwise, there are a couple interesting details in the above images. Seen with Daenerys is Khal Moro (Spartacus’ Joe Naufahu), leader of that grand khalasar and a character who in the books has been little more than a name on the page. It’s likely his relationship with Dany will be an antagonistic one, though the Dothraki have definitely surprised us before. Then there’s Ramsay – typically a very callous, unfeeling character – looking visibly shaken sitting beside Myranda’s body. Could he be genuinely mourning for Myranda? Or he is upset over losing both Sansa and Reek– err, Theon?
The Game of Thrones season 6 premiere is titled ‘The Red Woman,’ so perhaps what’s most surprising is that no red women appear in these images at all. We obviously expect Melisandre to have a significant role to play this season, whether she’s resurrecting Jon Snow or not, and there’s another red priestess joining Tyrion and Varys in Meereen.
Game of Thrones airs its season 6 premiere on Sunday, April 24 at 9pm on HBO.
Source: HBO
