Game of Thrones has continued to build upon a slew of story arcs during Season 6. Some of these plots have turned out well for characters, while others have not, as characters have lost their mentors or, in a worse-case scenario, gotten stabbed in the gut. This week, Game of Thrones revealed it will be giving us the scene we’ve been waiting all season for: an epic standoff between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton. Even better? The show has gone so far as to call it the “Battle of the Bastards.”
HBO has released information related to the final two episodes of Game of Thrones in Season 6. After this week’s “No One,” Episode 9 will be called “Battle of the Bastards.” Then, Episode 10 will be called “The Winds of Winter.” While the final episode’s title is a little elusive, considering George R.R. Martin has yet to release the sixth book in his popular series, “Battle of the Bastards” is pretty straightforward. A face-off is coming, and it’s likely to end badly for either the show’s staunchest hero or its most despicable villain. Certainly, there will be other casualties, besides. I really hope there's good mojo for Tormund, though.
Frequently, Game of Thrones’ penultimate episodes have been the biggest or at least among the biggest in each season. This should hold true for “Battle of the Bastards.” The show has been teasing an epic battle sequence for months now. First, there were reports from the set indicating that Kit Harington was shooting an epic battle scene with Sansa that also featured Boltons and Wildlings, which totally fits what has been happening on Game of Thrones thus far in Season 6. Then, we actually got footage from the new season which showed a portion of this epic battle, although the series purposefully made it unclear who was fighting and why at that time, probably because they hadn’t revealed Jon Snow’s fate at that point.
Closer to the start of the season, those close to the show, including the showrunners, started making promises about the epic battle to come. Benioff notably called the upcoming sequence from “Battle of the Bastards” “the biggest” thing the show has ever pulled off. To give you some idea of the scope you should expect from Episode 9, check out what else Benioff had to say about the episode:
We wondered, ‘Why don’t you see more fully fleshed-out battles in movies and TV?’ Then you get into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to actually shoot these things in a way that isn’t just helter-skelter chaos but actually gives you a sense of battle geography and the ebb and flow, and you realize why.
Go ahead and get a little excited. While we only have three more episodes of Game of Thrones left until the end of the season, there is some good news: HBO’s hit fantasy drama has already been renewed for Season 7. You can find out what else is coming up on Game of Thrones, here.
