'Game of Thrones' Season 6 News, Spoilers: New Season Not as Dark as Previous Ones, Producer Says
Jon Snow may be dead, but "Game of Thrones" producer Bryan Cogman has given fans a silver lining: season 6 will not be as dark as season 5.
According to the "Game of Thrones" boss, while the hotly anticipated season 6 will still have its fair share of darkness, it will function as more of a "next act" to season 5, the show's darkest season to date.
"Season 5 was in many ways our darkest," Cogman said in a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly. "This season is still very dark, very intense, but it's very much a next act."
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According to Cogman, season 5 "[took] characters to the brink" and, in the case of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), "destroy[ed] them altogether." It was all about seeing the show's central characters in major moments of crises and watching as they descended to their lowest points.
True enough, season 5 saw Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) facing atonement, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) marrying and being raped by Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) losing control of Meereen, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) being blinded, Myrcella Baratheon (Nell Tiger Free) being poisoned and dying, and more.
As Cogman told EW, the new season of HBO's popular fantasy drama series will feature "callbacks" to season 1 and other previous seasons, and even to events that preceded those in season 1. In addition, in season 6, worlds will collide and characters will meet in unexpected ways.
Speaking of characters meeting, some of the most eagerly awaited scenes in the upcoming season are those involving Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), Snow's paralyzed half-brother, and his interactions with the Three-Eyed Raven (Max von Sydow) and with the Night's King (Richard Brake). The character was last seen in season 4 before taking a season-long hiatus from the show. He returns in season 6, which is, as Hempstead-Wright told TVLine, his biggest season yet.
"In the previous seasons, there have been vague little glimpses of some of the powers Bran might possess," the actor said. "But this season, we see them come into their own."
According to Hempstead-Wright, viewers will find that the young Stark now has "a zen, all-knowing sense about him."
"He's kind of separated from himself," the actor explained. "He's on a higher level of consciousness."
The sixth season of "Game of Thrones" debuts Sunday, April 24, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
