Season 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones took an unusual turn a couple months ago when Kristian Nairn (Hodor) unwisely dropped Game of Thrones spoilers in a tweet suggesting he would be sitting out the next season in its entirety. By association, this meant that Bran Stark would also be on the sidelines.
No one at HBO stepped in to address Nairn’s comments one way or the other so fans were left hanging in regards to the characters’ presence in the upcoming season. All doubt can be laid to rest now that showrunner David Benioff has definitely addressed the issue with an explanation behind his choice.
In speaking with EW, Benioff confirmed that both Bran and Hodor will not appear in Game of Thrones Season 5. The reason is simple: the show’s narrative for those characters has caught up to the books by George R.R. Martin, while other characters still have plenty of already-penned story left to mine.
Here’s the explanation in Benioff’s words:
“Ideally that wouldn’t have gotten [Nairn’s remarks] out and it’s unfortunate it did. The fact is, even though we’re making changes to the books and adapting as necessary, we’re trying to keep the various storylines the same as the books and trying to keep them roughly parallel. And last year we caught up to the end of Bran’s storyline. So if we pushed him forward this season, then he’s way ahead of where the other characters are.
It made sense to stop where we did. He’s now entering a training period which is going to take quite some time, much of which isn’t particularly cinematic. So rather than being stuck in a cave for a year, we figured it would be interesting to leave him out for a little bit.”
Game of Thrones Season 5 is well into production with a premiere expected in late March or early April, as per each of the previous four seasons. HBO has already ordered a sixth season of Game of Thrones, while the cast recently renewed their contracts with a substantial pay bump that will carry them through Season 7.
