What We Can Expect from Game of Thrones Season 6

A handy guide to which characters are all caught up with the books.

By Joana Robinson

For five long seasons now, Game of Thrones book readers have been able to lord their superior knowledge over their show-watcher friends. But as last night’s finale came to a close, the Game of Thrones fandom found themselves, for the first time, on the same page. What happens next? Well, in a lot of cases, nobody knows except D.B. Weiss, David Benioff, and George R.R. Martin. Here’s a guide to which characters have finally caught up to the books, who’s lagging a little behind, and who’s wandered completely off the map. Careful, here be dragons and mildest of spoilers.

Jon Snow: With one slight but possibly significant alteration to his final words, the show has caught up to the book when it comes to the late Commander Snow. You can read some elaborate theories on why this mutiny might not be the end of Jon’s story here, but his last chapter finishes with: “When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold . . .”

Cersei Lannister: Cersei makes a brief book cameo after this scene, but for the most part you are all caught up with the adventures of the older queen. In her last point of view chapter, Queen Cersei is scooped up by Ser Robert Strong (a.k.a. a zombie version of The Mountain), and after Qyburn says his bit about Ser Robert taking a vow of silence until “all of His Grace’s enemies are dead and evil is driven from the realm” the chapter concludes, “Yes, thought Cersei Lannister, oh yes.” So has she learned anything from all this? Mmmmm, don’t bet on it. The show seems to have abandoned Margaery and Loras in prison and those schemers Lady Olenna and Littlefinger in the shadows. But don’t count House Tyrell out just yet. As for King Tommen, well, did you ever think you could care so little about the royal butt sitting on the Iron Throne?

Daenerys and Her Dragon : The last we see of Daenerys Targaryen in the books, she and Drogon encounter a new khalasar led by Khal Jhaqo—who has ties to her late husband, Khal Drogo, but doesn’t necessarily lead any men who would acknowledge Daenerys as their leader. Jhaqo’s khalasar finds Daenerys and Drogon hunched over feasting on the charred meat of one of their horses. That would have been one way to end the season. The Season 6 casting call has a “mixed ethnicity” part for a “Fierce Warrior,” which would fit the bill for Khal Jhaqo quite nicely. In the books, Dany says here, “To go forward, I must go back.” So expect to see the return of the Khaleesi before you see a return to Mereen. In the show, Jorah and Daario are hot on her trail. Creators Weiss and Benioff say the ring Dany dropped in this final scene was a breadcrumb so anyone following could track her. This is surely an improvement over the books, where both men are embroiled in the gnarly conflict known as the Siege of Mereen.

A LITTLE BEHIND THE BOOKS

Sansa and Theon: Though it’s not Sansa but another girl (Jeyne Pool) in the books, Theon does leap with her from the high walls of Winterfell. That chapter ends, “If they take us alive, they will deliver us to Ramsay. Theon grabbed Jeyne about the waist and jumped.” The pair survive the fall and make it to Stannis’s camp (he’s still alive!), where they encounter Theon’s sister Yara Greyjoy (named Asha in the books). The Greyjoy siblings become Stannis’s prisoners. Even if Stannis is maybe alive in the show (yes, really! We’ll get there), he certainly doesn’t have a camp and is in no position to hold prisoners. But the Season 6 casting call includes some members of the Greyjoy family. The Greyjoy family plot (Theon has some cool uncles!) was cut out of this season, so possibly Theon and Sansa will hook into the Iron Islands story line next year. Sansa, in the books, is still chilling in disguise at the Vale so we’re in uncharted territory for her here.

Arya: About three-quarters of the way through the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, Arya’s last chapter, ends, “When she woke the next morning, she was blind.” It’s not until two-thirds of the way through the next very thick book (which came out six years after “Feast”) that we pick up Arya’s story with a chapter called “The Blind Girl.” So we’ll learn even more about Arya next year, and, if the Season 6 casting call is any indication, her assassin’s adventures will take on a theatrical bent.

Sam and Gilly: Gilly and Sam are headed to Oldtown. This is something that happened quite a while ago in the books. Long before Jon Snow gets stabbed. But a good portion of the Season 6 casting call and newly scouted locations seem to have to do with House Tarly and Oldtown, so look for Sam to take an even bigger role next season as he tries to crack the mystery of how to defeat the White Walkers while fending off his overbearing father, Randyll Tarly. I wouldn’t mind Sam taking a lead role;John Bradley is a very endearing performer.

COMPLETELY OFF BOOK

Brienne, Pod, and Stannis: If you think the cliff-hangers in the HBO series finale were bad, you should have seen where George R.R. Martin left Brienne and Pod at the end of the fourth book. But suffice it to say that all the characters they interact with in the books are either too far away or possibly never coming, so we can consider the lady knight and her squire truly off-book. Brienne never encounters Stannis in the books and she certainly never swings her sword at him. The Stannis status is uncertain; Jon receives a taunting letter purportedly from Ramsay that claims Stannis is dead. But, the timeline in the book doesn’t quite line up, and it’s unclear whether Ramsay is telling the truth. For that matter, given how the camera cut away from Brienne’s swing, it’s unclear whether Stannis is really dead in the show. But let’s save our resurrection wishesfor more deserving characters, shall we?

Mereen: In the books, when Dany flies off on her dragons, Ser Barristan Selmy is left to hold down the fort and keep control of the chaotic city. With all due respect to actor Ian McElhinney, the show made the wise decision to bump Barristan the Bold off and replace him with the dynamic ruling duo of Varys and Tyrion. In the book Tyrion—like Jorah and Daario—is embroiled in the siege of Mereen. Varys, well, he disappears for awhile. We’ll leave it at that. This is a much better place for him. With sidekicks like Missandei and Grey Worm, Mereen actually has a shot of being much more interesting next year. (Who isn’t shipping Missandei and Tyrion at this point? Grey Worm, I guess.) I’d still like to see Dany hustle back to Mereen soon, because Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke make wonderful scene partners, and it would be a tragedy to unite them so briefly.

Dorne: Man, what a mess this show has made of the Dornish book plot. Jaime and Bronn never go to Dorne in the books, so a lot of the region’s story was completely show-invented. But while Myrcella gets seriously maimed in the books, she does not get poisoned and die. She stays in Dorne, and her betrothed, Trystane, is also safely still in Dorne and not the captive of a grief-stricken Jaime. In the books, Dorne is much more connected to the larger plot of the series, which involves both an alliance with Daenerys and a tentative association with her long-lost relative Aegon Targaryen. But with no efforts to show Prince Doran as anything more than a pacifist, Aegon Targaryen presumably written out of the show, and the cartoonish villainy of Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, I think many viewers would be O.K. if Dorne was one and done this season. No such luck, probably. Killing Myrcella is effectively an act of war on the Lannisters, and Game of Thrones will be filming on location in Spain again next year. So while the books give us no guidance here, we could be in for another round of sumptuous robes and dubious accents in Season 6.

Melisandre and Davos: In the books, Davos is caught up in a complicated side plot that has effectively been cut from the show. So his future at the Wall is unclear. Melisandre, on the other hand, is right where she needs to be in the show, a.k.a. back at the Wall and in prime position to help revive the dead Lord Commander.

The Boltons: In the show (as in the books), Ramsay has lost his wife and his plaything, Theon. This makes Ramsay very angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. In the books, Ramsay fires off a letter to Jon Snow demanding the return of Theon, his wife, Queen Selyse, Shireen, and several more characters who were never in the show. But with Jon Snow dead and the Baratheon family extinguished, Ramsay’s future is unclear. But if I were Sansa and Theon, I would run as fast as my possibly sprained ankles might carry me.

Miscellaneous Starks: In case you forgot, there are a couple of spare Stark heirs still hanging out there in the great wild North. Because the show had mostly caught up with their book plot last year, Bran, Hodor, and Meera took the season off to hang out with the Children of the Forest, but they’ll be back next year. As for Rickon (last seen all the way back in Season 3), I expect that if and when he comes back, he’ll be recast as much older. As for that other missing Stark male, uncle Benjen, well, dammit, Olly, book readers have no idea where he is either.

Gendry: Still rowing.