HBO is keeping a pretty tight grip on Game of Thrones Season 6. This move involves a great level of security and secrecy and HBO finally announced that it will not release any advance episodes of Emmy-winning series to the Press.
Therefore, the press people along with Hollywood insiders won’t be getting an early view of the episodes, either through physical or digital media. They’ll have to keep waiting like the general public. “We’re not sending out press copies this year, anywhere in the world,” HBO programming President Michael Lombardo informed Entertainment Weekly. “There will be no copies for review.”
This is definitely a response by HBO against the piracy fiasco endured by the network and the show last year. The first four episodes of the fifth season appeared on the privacy networks a complete day before the first episode premiered on HBO. This finally led to the highest all-time TV piracy record for a show that was heavily pirated as well.
The episodes ended up being downloaded 3.22 million times in the 24 hours since it was made available. This move will also protect fans from potential spoilers being revealed in the first episodes, especially those involved with the highly-speculated fate of Jon Snow.
“It’s painful for Dan (Weiss) and David (Benioff) [when leaks happen],” Lombardo stated. “When you have press copies, inevitably friends ask, ‘Can I see your copy?’ There are things that happen. We talked about the upsides and downsides. Some of the press are fans who might be disappointed, but they’ll understand.”
According to the latest reports, Game of Thrones Season 6 will introduce a lot of new faces and Ian McShane will be one of them. He will be reviving a beloved fan favorite back from the dead. It seems like more than one fan favorite might be resurrected in Season 6.
The actor has remained quite tight lipped about his arrival in the HBO series but he fuelled speculation that a deceased legend from the fantasy epic will have at least one more chapter left within him. He appeared on the morning’s BBC Breakfast, where the 73-year old carefully shed light on his new venture but without spilling any kind of major clues whatsoever.
“Game of Thrones is one thing I can’t talk about, of course,” he teased to Naga Munchetty and Mike Bushell, before he decided to drop one single hint.
He further stated, “My character is an ex-warrior who’s become a peacenik. So I have this group of peaceful…it’s like a cult, peaceful tribe… who have brought back… I bring back this beloved character that everybody thinks is dead. So, I’ll leave it at that.” However, the list of beloved characters that could be resurrected sounds quite endless at the moment.
The most popular question so far has been whether Jon Snow is dead, especially after Kit Harrington was spotted on-set, with his trademark curly hair and dressed in his character’s full suit of armor. Kit remains adamant of the fact that Jon Snow, Bastard of Winterfell’s fate was decided when he was stabbed multiple times at the end of season five.
Nevertheless, his followers are pretty certain that Jon Snow will definitely return. However, one rumor that refuses to simmer is the return of the Hound. His death in the series and books hasn’t convinced fans to stop speculating about his return and keep saying that his story is far from over. Meanwhile, another candidate who could return is Lady Snowheart, who met a rather grisly end in the infamous Red Wedding.