Hello, Game of Thrones fans! This post contains some fairly substantial spoilers in regards to the penultimate episode of season six, “Battle of the Bastards.” If you consider a couple of sentences of information—and wild speculation—to be potential enjoyment-ruiners for you, we suggest you turn away from this post now. Thanks!
According to a new feature/interview in U.K. outlet TV & Satellite Week, the upcoming second-to-last episode of this season of Game of Thrones won’t necessarily be the bottle episode we were assuming it to be, what with all of David Benioff and Dan Weiss’ claims that this battle would be the biggest in the series’ history thus far. As Joanna Robinson stated over at Vanity Fair, could we also be cobbling together a Battle of the Babes in addition to the Bastards?
Huh, so it's not a full Northern episode? pic.twitter.com/96hmG8arl5
— american #1 superstar (@vigilist) June 16, 2016
According to the article, “as Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton do battle in the North, … Yara Greyjoy and her brother Theon finally make it to Meereen where the Ironborn warrior finds an admirer in Daenerys.” They even have a quote from Emilia Clarke positing “the beauty of the show” being entrenched in the fact that, “as women, we accept our femininity and take strength from it.”
Now, it’s possible that, at the time of doing the interview, this was the case. And it could still very well be what goes down. As Robinson noted in her piece, “at this point, Game of Thrones is likely too overstuffed with plot to have an episode entirely dedicated to one battle. With possibly only 15 episodes left in the entire series, there are just too many pieces to move for the show to press pause like it did in Season 2 for Blackwater and Season 4 for the Battle of Castle Black. It’s possible we might get a single-location episode again in the future, now that so many plotlines are converging—it’s understandable that there’s no room for it this season.”
It’s a strong argument, all kings considered—and Thrones frequently hides scenes in episodes it doesn’t hint at in its sparse episodic previews and descriptions. So we wouldn’t be surprised if this came into fruition. But, we also wouldn’t be all that shocked if this scene/interaction in particular was moved to the finale episode, given the recent announcement that it would be extra long. Story changes quite frequently in the editing room, after all, and with all the hype the show has given the “Battle of the Bastards” in particular, it wouldn’t surprise us if they erred on the side of big crashboom battle badassery to really make it an out of control, action-heavy episodic thriller.
But what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Image: HBO
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor, creator/co-host of Fangirling, and resident Khaleesi of House Nerdist. Find her on Twitter but like, only if that’s what you truly want in your heart.
