Game of Thrones death toll reaches 150,966

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow has all the answers about season six

05 April

Kit Harington is doing his best to keep up the suspense over the future of his character Jon Snow in Game of Thrones.

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Despite being spotted numerous times in full Jon Snow garb during filming of the next series, the actor told chat show host Jonathan Ross there was a simple explanation.

"I was playing a corpse," he said. "I was there for a little bit - I was there for about a month or two months. It was spread over a bit and I was playing a corpse."

He added: "I won’t tell you how many episodes I'm lying dead, but it's enough that I was out there for quite a while. It's some of my best work."

However, the TV presenter was a little sceptical about the claims.

"You're looking at me like you don't believe me," Harington said. "It's going to be so relieving when people actually see the show and realise that I don't come back.”

Not wholly convinced, Ross then got the actor to take a homemade lie-detector test, "The Stone of Truth", but Harington maintained his resolve in the face of some hard-line interrogation.

Despite his many protestations, Harington's words will probably have little effect, says The Independent's Jack Shepherd.

"For every person hoping Jon Snow is still around, this probably won't be enough to persuade them he isn't coming back," he writes.

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow's goodbye to Sam 'felt final'

04 April

The unlikely alliance between the portly Samwell Tarly and brooding hero Jon Snow has been one of Game of Thrones's most popular relationships – and one which John Bradley says is reflected in his real-life friendship with Kit Harington, who plays the Winterfell hero.

But the British actor had sad news for fans hoping Snow's apparent death at the end of last season wasn't really the end of the line for the two pals.

"This time felt final, it felt like even if you don't know what's going to happen, you felt like this is the end for them," he said. "And then the death later on removed any glimmer of hope at all.

"It's hard to close that chapter but I knew it was going to be great telly."

When viewers last saw Sam, he had left the Night's Watch and taken refuge in Old Town to become a scholar – although this is Game of Thrones, so we can probably assume he will see the business end of a broadsword once more.

Sam's odd-one-out status as Westeros' amiable peacenik is partly based on series author George RR Martin, who was a conscientious objector in the Vietnam War, says Bradley.

"He, like Sam, rejects a lot of those macho ideas, rejects a lot of those extremes and likes to believe solutions can be found academically and peacefully," the actor told the Daily Telegraph, joking that he hoped Sam's connection to Martin might save him from the chop.

Game of Thrones has been Bradley's breakout role after a few small roles on British TV, but his newfound fame doesn't appear to have transformed his life. Asked how it has affected his public profile, his answer was modest: "I was given a free doughnut once, by a guy who worked in Krispy Kreme."

Game of Thrones: Emilila Clarke tackles sexism accusations

30 March

A month before Game of Thrones series six hits TV screens, Emilia Clarke has stepped forward to quash accusations that the show's portrayal of women is sexist.

"It pains me to hear people taking Thrones out of context with [an] anti-feminist spin," Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in the show, told EW. The variety of characters and experiences portrayed in Game of Thrones "ultimately shows women are not only equal, but have a lot of strength", she added.

"There are women depicted as sexual tools, women who have zero rights, women who are queens but only to a man, and then there are women who are literally unstoppable and as powerful as you can possibly imagine," the British actress said.

Complaints about the show's treatment of female characters have dogged Game of Thrones since its first series. Most controversial of all was the wedding night rape of the long-suffering Sansa Stark at the hands of Ramsey Bolton. Although the scene itself was not graphic, it was the last straw for some viewers and critics and sparked a heated debate about whether the show was guilty of over-using rape as a plot device.

Showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff subsequently announced they were "receptive" to the discussion surrounding the show's frequent use of sexual assault and would be changing "a couple of things" in response – although they stressed that Westeros would always be "brutal".

Game of Thrones series six: Cersei and Jaime's relationship to get 'f****** dark'

24 March

Game of Thrones series six will be Cersei Lannister's "most interesting season", according to the actress who plays her on the hit HBO show.

"She really has nothing to lose and she has everything to gain from a horrible position she finds herself in," Lena Headey told Entertainment Weekly.

Headey revealed that next season will see Cersei try to enlist her brother, Jaime, in a quest to take revenge on the Faith Militant, the sinister religious order who imprisoned her in the last series. Their punishment for Cersei - a nude walk of shame through King's Landing - was one of the most brutal moments of the series five finale.

The show's creators, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, have said series six would be the best they had done so far – and Headey appears to agree. "It's juicy and it's so f****** dark," she said.

Furthermore, audiences can expected to see more of the twisted dynamic between Cersei and her brother, with Headey teasing that their relationship reaches an "all-time weird" level.

You'd be forgiven for thinking it was already about as creepy as it gets. Most obviously, there's always going to be something a bit off about twin siblings who are also lovers (and parents) and then there's that time they had sex next to the body of their dead son, Joffrey.

So where can their thoroughly messed-up romance possibly go from here? Fans will have to wait until April, when series six of the bewitchingly gruesome epic hits screens.

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow is really dead, says Kit Harington

22 March

For months now, the fan belief that Jon Snow's shocking death in the series five Game of Thrones finale will not be permanent has almost become accepted as fact.

However, Kit Harington, who plays the popular character, appeared to blow the theory out of the water this weekend.

"I've finished Thrones," he said. "I've died."

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Harington insisted that despite his character featuring heavily in promotional material for series six, his only role in the upcoming season will be as a corpse.

"I had to be a dead body in Northern Ireland so there was a certain amount of filming that had to be done," he said, in response to leaked photos showing him on set.

"I just hope everyone keeps watching the show," Harington continued, joking: "God, now I'm gone, nobody's gonna watch it."

But his repeated insistence that Snow is really dead has had the opposite of its intended effect, with many fans believing he is protesting too much. Even the Sunday Times interviewer, Louis Wise, dismissed the actor's claim to have no idea what is in store for series six as "shockingly insincere".

"No matter how hard the cast and crew try, it seems rumours of Jon Snow's resurrection in Season Six just won't go away," notes fan site Watchers on the Wall.

Game of Thrones: Is the hit show too violent?

20 March

Ever since it began, Game of Thrones has been dogged by accusations that its scenes of up-close and personal brutality, including many instances of sexual violence, have crossed the line.

The latest voice to express concerns comes from within the show itself. Stephen Dillane, who played Stannis Baratheon, until his character became another notch on the Westeros death toll, has said the violence is too much for him to stomach.

Speaking to Radio Times, the actor said Games of Thrones was "overwhelming" and admits he rarely watches it.

"It's pretty brutal. I couldn't watch much of that anyway," he said. "It's hardcore. Too tough for me…. It's just too painful."

So why did he agree to star in a show so chock-full of grisly murders and gruesome dismemberment? "Money, dear boy," as Sir Laurence Olivier once said.

"Money is the main thing I got out of it," Dillane admitted – and gave an equally blunt answer when asked if he took a sense of satisfaction from his work as Baratheon: "Er, no."

The actor is far from the only person offended by the show's brutality. There was a storm of criticism after Sansa's wedding-night rape at the hands of Ramsay Bolton last year, with TV critics and feminists alike questioning the purpose of inflicting yet more sexual violence on Game of Thrones' long-suffering female characters.

Earlier this year, however, Natalie Dormer, who plays the show's Margaery Tyrell, defended the violence as simply reflecting "the horror of human nature", although she confessed she found some scenes hard to watch.

"I appreciate that some people want to turn on the telly for escapism," she told the Sunday Times. "But if that's what you want, don't watch Game of Thrones."

Game of Thrones: who will Ian McShane play in series six?

17 March

Avid Game of Thrones fans will remember the moment when Ian McShane sent fans into a tizz by revealing a huge plot point for series six

Last November, shortly after it was announced that he would be joining the series, the 72-year-old British actor casually unloaded a massive spoiler.

"I am responsible for bringing somebody back that you think you're never going to see again. I'll leave it at that," he said, whipping up a frenzy among avid viewers.

McShane did not appear to have learnt anything from the incident as he discussed the fallout of his comments with the Daily Telegraph this week.

“I was accused of giving the plot away," he said. "But I just think get a f****** life. It's only tits and dragons." For good measure, the former Lovejoy star threw in another huge giveaway, saying he would only star in one episode of the show, which returns in April.

So who will he play?

Some fans reckon McShane would make a good Randyll Tarly. Sam's father is described in a casting call as a tough, ruthless warrior – not unlike the actor's turn as Al Swearengen in HBO's Deadwood.

Fan site Watchers on the Wall also unearthed a casting call for a gruff ex-soldier turned priest. The character, believed to be the books' Septon Meribald, would also have a religious connection, which could explain his role in bringing someone back from the dead.

However, other theories suggest that "bringing back" could mean the actor is playing a part that has already been played by someone else, such as Blackfish.