There's only one question on the minds of Game of Thrones fans following the end of Season Five and it’s one that obviously was not going to get answered in Hall H today. So with no new footage to show, moderator Seth Meyers offered up fans an amusing sizzle reel of Game of Thrones' best pop culture moments—from South Park to Sesame Street to President Obama's press dinner this year. He also showed a highlight reel of audition footage from various actors, which you can watch below:
What followed was essentially an hour-long Q&A, featuring Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Carice Van Houten (Melisandre), Natalie Dormer (Marjorie), Sophie Turner (Sansa), Alfie Allen (Theon), Hannah Murray (Gilly), John Bradley-West (Samwell), Maisie Williams (Arya), Conleth Hill (Varys), Liam Cunningham (Davos), as well as finale director David Nutter and executive producer Carolyn Strauss. The majority of the questions pertained to the future of the show and characters that nobody on the panel was legally allowed to answer, but there were some intriguing or entertaining tidbits that made it through [spoilers obviously]:
- Director David Nutter recently met President Obama, who shook his hand and said, "You didn't really kill Jon Snow did you?" Obama also said his favorite episode is the Red Wedding, also directed by Nutter.
- Gwendoline Christie was the only panel member who had read any of the books. Maisie Williams didn't and fans ruined Arya's season-ending twist for her.
- Now that the show is caught up to the book series, the level of secrecy is more intense than ever and none of the actors have any idea what is going to happen to their characters. George R.R. Martin has laid out his basic plans to the showrunners, but they jumped off from there. They did say they would still blame him for character deaths even though the source material is done.
- On Sam and Gilly finally hooking up and where their characters might go from there, actor John Bradley-West said, "I think Sam would gladly accept more of the same. I don't think Sam needs to introduce more exotica in to his sex life." He also added that even less people are likely to believe he lost his virginity than those that believe he actually killed a white walker.
- Carice Van Houten has been friends with Seth Meyers for decades and she called him before she auditioned for Melisandre since she knew he had read the books.
- After a little girls said she's glad Arya finally turned in to a "badass" at the season's end, Maisie Williams said she was also tired of sweeping floors and selling oysters, clams, and cockles and hopes that next season sees more action for Arya.
- What can we expect from Marjorie since we last saw her in the cell? Natalie Dormer said, "I don’t have an effing clue what's going to happen to Marjorie. All I can say is that Grandma isn't around to look after her anymore."
- On how audience opinion seemed to feel Season 5 was rougher and crueler to the characters, producer Strauss said "Just because it's painful, doesn’t mean it's not a good point in the story. Everything was not done because of the pain; it was done in spite of the pain."
- Similarly, Sophie Turner said that Sansa is still a strong character despite of what happened to her this season. She also lamented that the camera focused on Theon for that infamous sequence, because "I thought I was giving a great performance."
- Even though episodes from Season 4 were very successfully showcased in IMAX, do not expect that the same big screen is guaranteed for this or future seasons. Strauss said the episode would have to be suited for the formatted to make it worth it. (Hardhome anyone?)
- Conleth Hill (Varys) was the star of the panel, constantly cracking wise and telling funny stories, including one about a fan who tried to grab his crotch once to see if he really was a eunuch.