Game of Thrones will finally be returning to HBO in just a few weeks, and fans are eager to see how the denizens of Westeros continue to battle for power. Season 6 will be especially unique because it is the first season that won’t have a novel to base the story from. Additionally, HBO has hinted that Game will end after Season 8, adding the pressure of adequately finishing the myriad of stories that have been introduced. Maisie Williams, who plays badass mercenary in training Arya Stark, recently spoke to how Season 6 will help set up the final few seasons of Game of Thrones, saying:
This year is so great because we’ve whittled it down. You can see the final storylines forming. We lost a lot of people last year and that makes it really exciting. There are fewer people on Arya’s list. But there’s also fewer people to fight for the throne.
Maisie Williams makes some great points here, and it sounds like Game of Thrones is going to be pretty unbelievable going forward. Let’s break down her statement, which comes to us from EW, a little more closely.
Regarding Arya’s journey, her death list is getting increasingly short. Arya began repeating the names of those she’d like to personally kill as a coping mechanism when she began her life as a refugee. Specifically, it was during her imprisonment in Harrenhal where she would imagine taking the lives of both her captors as well as those responsible for beheading her father Ned.
She has personally seen to the death of Polliver, Rorge, Meryn Trant, and (presumably) the Hound. Additionally, a series of outside events took a few of her other enemies, leaving the list down to three: Cersei Lannister, Walder Frey, and The Mountain (who was likely revived last season). With only a few seasons left, Arya will have to pull a Daredevil and find strength in her newfound blindness before traveling back to get her revenge on those in King’s Landing and The Twins.
While Arya’s story is intriguing enough, Maisie Williams also referenced that there are fewer and fewer people trying to fight for the Iron Throne. Starting with Season 2, there have been a handful of potential kings trying to gain power and win the kingdom. Additionally, we followed Daenarys’ journey from across the narrow sea. After 5 Seasons and a ton of death is appears that the only big power players are The Lannisters, The Boltons (who are just trying to keep Winterfell at this point), and Dany herself.
Although she’s in a precarious position at the moment, I look forward to Daenarys finally getting to Westeros and battling for the Iron Throne. We’ve been watching her grow and mature for years now, and the time has finally come for her to interact with the rest of the ensemble.
What do you think of Maisie Williams’ statement? Are you eager to see a grand finale for Game of Thrones, or would you prefer it to keep going forever? Sound off in the comments section below.
Game of Thrones will return to HBO April 24th.
