It's a fact that a lot of Game of Thrones fans who have also read George R.R. Martin's novels were disappointed when Lady Stoneheart did not appear on the HBO drama a few seasons ago. In the time since, fans have expectantly waited for actress Michelle Fairley to return to the drama in a big way. While recent events during Season 6 have set up her potential to return, recently director Mark Mylod may have shut down fans' hopes that the amazing character would show up. Here's what he had to say:
I'm not in the writers' room, and I can honestly say, hand over heart, that I have not had one discussion about Lady Stoneheart. I've genuinely had no discussions about Lady Stoneheart, so I genuinely couldn't comment about whether that might or might not be in their minds for the future.
Mark Mylod's comments to IGN indicate that we are unlikely to see Lady Stoneheart appear on Game of Thrones. While the director was responsible for the last two installations of the HBO series and wasn't around when Episodes 9 and 10 were shot, he was responsible for all of those big scenes between The Hound and the Brotherhood Without Banners. Those scenes, along with a homemade video from the actor who played Lem Lemoncloak, were the ones that seemed to indicate we might get Lady Stoneheart, after all. However, if Mylod hasn't heard even a hint about the character's return, it's highly unlikely that it's happening.
After all, there are only two more episodes left in the season. We know that this weekend's big episode is going to be heavily focused on The Battle of the Bastards, aka the big battle sequence between Jon Snow and Sansa Stark's men and Ramsay Bolton's men. It would be a little off topic to throw in a reveal as big as Lady Stoneheart this weekend. Technically it's possible that the show could include the character during next week's big finale, but there are other reasons the introduction of the character is unlikely.
First and foremost, the show reintroduced us to Beric Dondarrion, who dies for good bringing Lady Stoneheart back to life in the books. Again, it's technically possible the show brought him back so that he can resurrect Michelle Fairley's character, but since that particular plotline is so different than George R.R. Martin's books at this point and Brienne and Pod are totally on a different journey, it would almost seem moot at this point to introduce the character this late when Dondarrion is an interesting character himself. Then, Michelle Fairley has been stating since her character died that "she's dead," going so far as to say it's unlikely she'll be back.
You respect the writers' decision. I knew the arc, and that was it. They can't stick to the books 100 percent. It's impossible---they only have 10 hours per season. They have got to keep it dramatic and exciting, and extraneous stuff along the way gets lost in order to maintain the quality of brilliant show.
People lied about the Jon Snow reveal this season and it's possible Mark Mylod is lying about Lady Stoneheart, too, but Michelle Fairley is busy as an actress and we're getting into crunch time for the show to be introducing characters as big as Lady Stoneheart. After all, we're only expecting 13 or so additional episodes after this season ends. Regardless, if I were Dan Weiss and David Benioff, I'd know that Lady Stoneheart would be one hell of a cliffhanger...
New episodes of Game of Thrones air Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET. Find our more about next season, here.
