What Big Reveals Did 'Game of Thrones'' Director Jeremy Podeswa Just Make About Season Six?

By Cindy Davis | Game of Thrones | August 19, 2015 |

By Cindy Davis | Game of Thrones | August 19, 2015 |

***Spoiler Warning! This post contains information on Game of Thrones Season 5 and 6. Read at your own risk!***

Gold Derby did a great interview with Game of Thrones’ Emmy nominated director Jeremy Podeswa (“Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”), which included more than a few interesting responses about both Season 5 and Season 6. I highly recommend watching the entire Q & A when you have a spare half-hour — especially to see how squirmy Podeswa gets near the end, when asked about Jon Snow’s death. In his amusing attempts to give no answer, the director actually may have revealed a little something something, as do a few of his other responses.

Jon Snow’s “Death” Is a Huge Cliffhanger.

When asked about fan reaction to Snow’s apparent demise, and whether or not Snow would appear in the first two Season 6 episodes, Podeswa can barely contain himself.

“I have no comment whatsoever. I got nothing. I got nothing. Watch the show, it’s gonna be great. That’s all I can tell you … I think it’s the definition of a cliffhanger, you know, I think it’s — where does the story go from here? I think the audience is dying to know, and uh, I think that’s great. If there’s — there will be a huge anticipation for the beginning of Season 6, so that makes me very excited. I think it was kind of brilliant….but I got nothing to say about it.”

By its very definition, doesn’t “cliffhanger” imply an uncertain fate? If you watch the director as he hems and haws through his no-commenting comments, it’s clear he does know something, and that “kind of brilliant” business leads me to believe we’re definitely going to see Jon resurrected or rebirthed. MTV seems to think ***Spoilerish Season 6 set photos mean that Snow is definitely dead, but it could mean the opposite. Swipe ahead to read possibly Spoilerish speculation on that Spoilery photo if you’d like: WotW has photos of what appears to be fire at Castle Black, which could mean Snow is being cremated. It could also mean we’ll get a reveal that Snow really is a Targaryen, rising from the fire just as Daenerys did — whether or not Melisandre is involved remains to be seen. End speculation.

Reactions to That Sansa Scene Matters.

“I think it created a very interesting and a very valid discussion…but I think we all stand by the show, and un, you know, I think it’s great to have a dialogue, and it’s very important to get the fan reaction and critical reaction…um, you know, and everybody takes it all very seriously. So yeah, and it was interesting to kind of just follow all that. But, I think we’re all just trying to make a great show, and be as sensitive as we can to it and, you know, I definitely think the dialogue is heard.”

Well, at least we know they really do pay attention? Podeswa said what he tried to do filming that scene was to be sensitive to everyone — about Sansa (and Sophie Turner) having grown up on the show, and how viewers would receive the scene.

Season 6 Is Off-Book.

“Right now…what we’re shooting currently, it’s not based on anything in the book. It’s only based on discussions that the writers have had with George Martin, because…the series has now surpassed the books in terms of what’s available…I think this is going to be a very interesting season, because Season 6, the audience knows is the first time that there is no book that it’s based upon…it’ll be a sort of moot point in terms of divergences, because the entire thing is new. And I think the audience is going to be very curious and very excited to see where the writers go, and in my opinion, they’ve done a brilliant job of extending the storyline, and taking it somewhere really exciting. Season 6 is really, really strong; the fans are going to love it. Um, but there is certainly going to be a huge amount of anticipation and question about what that’s going to mean.”

The Logistics of Shooting Are Even More Insane Than You Imagined.

“Right now, all five directors are in Belfast now working. We’re all doing parts of the show. And you know, I’ll do like a few scenes with one character, and then other directors will do their scenes with that character, and then another director will do their scenes with that character, and then I go to Spain and I’ll do my bits with those characters, and they’ll come to Spain and do their bits with those characters — so, it’s — I’m doing the first two episodes of the new season, so I’m the most concentrated of all the directors this season. But, I’m still spread out between, you know, it’s probably almost four months of shooting this two episodes…there are two crews shooting at all times.”

Podeswa Has No Idea Who’ll End Up on the Iron Throne.

“One great thing about Season 6 and what, I’m sure, what is going to happen after is that these — and what started in the last season is that these characters who were never together are now coming together, and this kind of sense of you know, the world’s just kind of col- not collapsing, but kind of converging on each other, is very interesting from a narrative point of view. And, you know, it’s really anybody’s game at this point. Like you, in all the strategic maneuvering that’s happening, for power, it could really go anywhere, and I don’t have any more intel than you do, to be completely honest, in terms of where it’s heading…we all have our theories, but I can’t possibly share them with you.”

Here’s the full interview (Jon Snow referenced around the 33:30 mark):

Cindy Davis, (Twitter)