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Game of Thrones is an 8-season HBO series based on George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which Martin began publishing in 1996. It premiered in April 2011 and concluded in May 2019; it was also aired as a Sunday Evening Drama Series during its run.
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A page for describing Recap: Game of Thrones S6E2: "Home". After a season's absence, we return to the Cave of the Three-Eyed Raven located Beyond the Wall.
Warning: the night is dark and full of (uncensored) spoilers. Game of Thrones episode recaps. Official policy states that no spoiler tags should exist on recap pages. Read at your own risk.
The sixth season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on April 24, 2016, and concluded on June 26. It consists of 10 episodes, each of approximately 50–60 minutes long.
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: Season 6 is the sixth season of Game of Thrones. It consists of ten episodes. It premiered with "The Red Woman" on April 24, 2016 on HBO, and concluded with "The Winds of Winter" on June 26, 2016. It is based on A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, and The Winds of Winter, the fourth, fifth, and forthcoming sixth novels of A Song of Ice and F...
Starring
•Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (8 episodes) •Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister (8 episodes) •Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister (8 episodes) •Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen (8 episodes) •Kit Harington as Jon Snow (8 episodes) •Aidan Gillen as Petyr Baelish (4 episodes) •Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell (5 episodes) •Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth (8 episodes) •Carice van Houten as Melisandre (7 episodes) •Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand (2 episodes) •Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark (7 episodes) •Maisie Williams as Arya Stark (8 episodes) •Conleth Hill as Varys (7 episodes) •Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei (7 episodes) •Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy (7 episodes) •John Bradley as Samwell Tarly (3 episodes) •Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane (2 episodes) •Dean-Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon (6 episodes) •Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth (5 episodes) •Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark (5 episodes) •Kristofer Hivju as Tormund (7 episodes) •Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis (6 episodes) •Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow (7 episodes) •Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton (5 episodes) •Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton (2 episodes) •Jerome Flynn as Bronn (3 episodes) •Hannah Murray as Gilly (3 episodes) •Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H'ghar (5 episodes) •with Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont (3 episodes)
Guest starring
•Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm (7 episodes) •Faye Marsay as the Waif (7 episodes) •Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Gregor Clegane (6 episodes) •Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy (6 episodes) •Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett (5 episodes) •Ian Gelder as Kevan Lannister (5 episodes) •Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne (5 episodes) •Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell (5 episodes) •Hannah Waddingham as Unella (5 episodes) •Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Mace Tyrell (4 episodes) •Julian Glover as Pycelle (4 episodes) •Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed (4 episodes) •Tim Plester as Walder Rivers (4 episodes) •Kae Alexander as Leaf (3 episodes) •Robert Aramayo as Eddard Stark (young) (3 episodes) •Essie Davis as Lady Crane (3 episodes) •Richard E. Grant as Izembaro (3 episodes) •Anton Lesser as Qyburn (3 episodes) •Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully (3 episodes) •Joe Naufahu as Moro (3 episodes) •Brenock O'Connor as Olly (3 episodes) •Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont (3 episodes) •Eugene Simon as Lancel (3 episodes) •Max von Sydow as the Three-Eyed Raven (3 episodes) •Owen Teale as Alliser Thorne (3 episodes) •Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy (2 episodes) •David Bradley as Walder Frey (2 episodes) •Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand (2 episodes) •Michael Feast as Aeron Greyjoy (2 episodes) •Vladimír Furdík as Night King (2 episodes) •Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand (2 episodes) •Finn Jones as Loras Tyrell (2 episodes) •Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark (2 episodes) •Tim McInnerny as Robett Glover (2 episodes) •Kristian Nairn as Hodor (2 episodes) •Art Parkinson as Rickon Stark (2 episodes) •Clive Russell as Brynden Tully (2 episodes) •Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand (2 episodes) •Natalia Tena as Osha (2 episodes) •Rupert Vansittart as Yohn Royce (2 episodes) •Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion ("No One") •Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn ("Book of the Stranger") •James Faulkner as Randyll Tarly ("Blood of My Blood") •Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr ("No One") •Patrick Malahide as Balon Greyjoy ("Home") •Ian McShane as Ray ("The Broken Man") •DeObia Oparei as Areo Hotah ("The Red Woman") •Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell ("The Red Woman") •Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell ("The Red Woman")
On March 27 2015, author George R.R. Martin said he would again not write a script for Season 6, as he wished to concentrate on finishing The Winds of Winter as soon as possible. On June 4, Miguel Sapochnik indicated he was already preparing to direct next season. Jeremy Podeswa made similar statements in June 12. On June 19, the showrunners confir...
Adaptation
While prior seasons followed a format of adapting roughly one book's worth of material per year (or one large book across two seasons, in the case of Season 3 and most of Season 4), Season 5 heavily condensed together most of the fourth and fifth novels in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. The fourth and fifth novels did occur simultaneously, and were originally intended to be one massive novel (the fourth novel focuses on events in the Seven Kingdoms and the Free Cities, and the fifth on events at the Wall, in the North and in Slaver's Bay, with the last third outpacing the fourth novel). The result is that by the end of Season 5 most - though not all - storylines in the TV series caught up with the current novels, including: •Jon Snow and the Night's Watch •Daenerys Targaryen and Meereen, including Tyrion Lannister •King's Landing, including Cersei Lannister and Margaery Tyrell (except for one additional Small Council chapter) •Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish and the Vale •Sansa Stark's storyline in the Vale was merged with Jeyne Poole's from the fifth novel, who is forced to marry Ramsay; Sansa's Vale storylines have now been diverted while she has reached the end of Jeyne Poole's material from the most recent novel. •Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre •Davos Seaworth was involved in other subplots in the North which were cut, but with Stannis's defeat now it is unknown if these will be drawn on later. •Roose Bolton and Ramsay Bolton •Bran Stark, Hodor, and Meera Reed - already caught up at the end of Season 4, except for one chapter. •Theon Greyjoy, except for his experiences after escaping Winterfell. Season 5 was heavily condensed, however, and two entire books worth of storylines simply could not fit into a single season. Therefore, several subplots were pushed back until Season 6, including: •Almost the entire House Greyjoy subplot since the second novel. The Greyjoys barely appear in the third novel (corresponding to Seasons 3 and 4), but then the narrative shifts to put a major focus on them in the fourth and fifth novels. Yara Greyjoy (called Asha Greyjoy in the books) even becomes a POV narrator. In contrast, the Greyjoys (as a faction, not including Theon) did not appear at all in Season 5. •Though the Dorne subplot was introduced in Season 5, it was extremely condensed, to the point that Doran Martell only briefly appeared in Season 5, and many other members of House Martell didn't appear at all. Two of Doran's children were omitted from the TV series and may not appear at all in the TV continuity - particularly including Doran's eldest child and heir, Arianne Martell, who is actually the POV narrator for much of the Dorne subplot. Similar to the Greyjoys, the narrative widens to give focus on the Martells in the fourth and fifth novels, but ultimately very little of the Martell storyline appeared in Season 5. •Arya Stark in Braavos - two more chapters after she goes blind at the end of the fourth novel. Another Arya chapter from the upcoming sixth novel was released as a preview before Season 5: the second half of it involved Arya killing a Lannister guard on her kill list who came to Braavos, and this was already adapted in Season 5; the first half of the chapter involved a lengthy scene at a stage play in Braavos, and screenshots confirm this will appear in Season 6. •Samwell Tarly and Gilly's long sea voyage to Oldtown, on the exact opposite side of Westeros, which takes them through Braavos and the Free Cities, and having to face the Ironborn who are now ravaging the southwestern coasts. •The subplots in the Riverlands, centering around the Frey siege of the Tullys at Riverrun, the garrison commanded by Catelyn's uncle Brynden Tully. The Riverrun subplot involved Jaime Lannister in the novels, as he tries to negotiate with Brynden. •Also, Brienne of Tarth's wanderings in the Riverlands were omitted from Season 5. Much of this material wasn't directly relevant to overall plot threads, and several characters who were important to other plotlines now appear to have been reshuffled into other subplots in Season 6. Given how much Jaime and Brienne's subplots were changed in Season 5, it is unclear how these will play out in Season 6. •Bran Stark has only one more chapter, in the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven, but as it plays out in live action it may stretch across a significant amount of time: training in his magical powers, Bran experiences several visions of the past. When Bran returns in Season 6, the TV show will use this as a framing device to show various flashbacks from the novels, such as actually showing Bran's father Ned during Robert's Rebellion, and certain other key events, such as the Raid on the Tower of Joy. Some of these flashbacks appeared in one form or another in prior novels, when other characters recounted them through vivid narration, but the TV series only started depicting flashback scenes in Season 5 (the Prologue scene when Cersei has a flashback to her youth when she was given a prophecy about her downfall). •Tyrion's storyline as he was heading east to Meereen introduced a major new subplot involving a major political shakeup in the Free Cities. This was cut completely from Tyrion's storyline in Season 5, but after he leaves for Meereen it subsequently intersects with several other subplots (not Arya's). This will probably be cut entirely from the TV series continuity.
Filming
In Northern Ireland, production ran from late July to late December 2015. Interior shooting returned to the show's headquarters, the Paint Hall Studios in Belfast. Meanwhile, location shooting took place at the following locations: Garron Point (previously Runestone), the Winterfell set in Moneyglass, Magilligan (reprising its part as the Dothraki Sea), the Castle Black set at the Magheramorne quarry, Ballintoy (returning as Pyke), a rural sept set in Larne, Glenarm (previously the Vale), Carnlough Harbour (as a Braavosi canal), Shane's Castle (once more as the foundations of the Great Sept of Baelor), Carncastle (previously the fields around Winterfell), Aghanloo Wood, Saintfield (as the site for "The Battle of the Bastards", a climactic Northern battle, which demanded the show's lengthiest shoot for a battle scene), the Riverrun set in Corbet (newly built, since in the third season the castle was realized only with Gosford Castle's gardens, an interior hall set and a distant matte painting), the Knocklayd Mountain quarry, Ballycastle in County Antrim, and Murlough Bay. Ever since Croatia was introduced into the production for the second season, it has been the main source of locations outside of Northern Ireland, yet this season only returned to the country for a brief shoot in Dubrovnik, which reappears as King's Landing. Previously, Dubrovnik had been both King's Landing and Qarth, while Klis, Split and Šibenik depicted Meereen and Braavos. This season turned to new Spanish locations instead. In Spain, filming took place between late August and late October. In Girona, the locations were the Sant Pere de Galligants abbey's exterior (as a Braavosi bridge), the Plaça dels Jurats (as a Braavosi theater stage), the streets of Ferran el Catòlic, Sant Martí and l’Escola Pia (as Braavosi street markets), another local street (as an alley in Oldtown), and the Girona Cathedral's exterior (as the Great Sept in King's Landing). Still in Catalonia, they filmed in the Santa Florentina Castle (as Horn Hill), Montgrí Castle and Besalú. Later locations where the Bardenas natural park in Navarre (as the Dothraki Sea) and the Zafra Castle in Guadalajara (as the Tower of Joy). In Peñíscola, all filming spots posed as Meereen: the Portal Fosc (as a dilapidated street), the Plaza de Santa María (as a granary), the Parque de la Artillería (as a garden) and the Plaza de Armas. In Almería, filming took place at a new Vaes Dothrak set in Pechina, on the Tabernas Desert (as the Dothraki Sea), on the Gypsum Karst of Sorbas, at the Mesa Roldán Tower (as Meereen), and at the Alcazaba (as Sunspear). Finally, filming without any of the cast briefly took place at the Alcázar of Seville (returning as the Water Gardens) and at the Roman bridge of Córdoba (once more as the Long Bridge of Volantis). When the TV series began in Season 1, there were two simultaneous filming units - which is unusual for most TV shows, which have only one filming unit - called Wolf Unit and Dragon Unit. In Season 3, production expanded to include three filming units, with the new third one called Raven Unit. Season 4, however, switched back to using only two filming units, and Raven Unit was disbanded. Wolf Unit and Dragon Unit continued to film through Seasons 4 and 5. For Season 6, however, the TV series once again expanded to employ three simultaneous filming units: the new third filming unit was now called "White Walker Unit". According to David Benioff, speaking at the red carpet advanced screening of the Season 6 premiere two weeks before its broadcast: "This season was a beast to make. We shot 680 hours of dailies, which translates to 3.7 million feet of film. We shot in five different countries – Northern Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Iceland, and Canada. We employed 900 crewmembers in Belfast; 400 in Spain. We issued 140 script revisions. We two shot units a day for 22 weeks straight, three units a day for 10 weeks straight, four units for two weeks straight. And none of that would be possible without the greatest producing team on the planet. Thus they briefly switched to using four filming units for two weeks (it isn't clear if the fourth unit had a name), and apparently returned to film some scenes in Canada (possibly on a sound stage again as in Season 5, due to working with the actor-wolves). In the ending credits for Season 6 episodes as they aired, the filming units were listed as "Wolf Unit", "Dragon Unit", "White Walker Unit", and the fourth one named simply "Spain Unit". It is unclear whether White Walker Unit or Spain Unit was the fourth one, which briefly filmed for two weeks - though it was probably White Walker Unit, if the name implies that it dealt with Bran Stark's scenes in the frozen north, while filming in Spain was drastically expanded in Season 6 to take over most of the southern-unit filming that used to be done in Croatia (for King's Landing, Braavos, Oldtown, and more). The budget for the TV series was drastically increased yet again for Season 6, to about $10 million per episode (ten episodes, for a total of $100 million). Back in Season 2, the show averaged only about $6 million per episode. Benioff and Weiss even infamously had to beg HBO in an "awkward" conversation for an additional $2 million to film the climactic Battle of the Blackwater at the end of Season 2 (and thus episode 2.9 "Blackwater" totaled $8 million).
Prior seasons of the TV series released their Blu-ray sets around February to March, to build promotion up for the new season's premiere a month or two after that. Season 7, however, pushed back the filming schedule - given that winter has finally come to Westeros, they need to film later in the colder months of the year for on-location shoots. With Season 7 delayed and set for a mid-to-late summer 2017 release, HBO apparently decided that it was better not to make viewers wait that long for any new material, and it also no longer justified missing the Christmas 2016 shopping season. Thus, the Season 6 Blu-ray set was released early, on November 15, 2016 (in time for Black Friday shopping).
In prior seasons, each episode was followed by an "Inside the Episode" video featurette also posted on HBO's website, in which the showrunners discuss story elements and the filming crew discusses the practical challenges of actually filming it. In Season 6 this was split into two separate featurette series: the "Inside the Episode" featurettes are now much shorter, primarily consisting of the parts with the showrunners discussing the story; meanwhile, the much longer sections focusing on set production, stuntwork, and on-location filming are now a separate featurette series called "The Game Revealed" - a five-part docuseries. "The Game Revealed" is split up into five installments, each covering two episodes of Season 6 in order. The new slimmed-down "Inside the Episode" featurettes only featuring the showrunners (and some cast members) discussing the story are now integrated into the HBO Now online player, so they play immediately after the main episode's credits end. Meanwhile, "The Game Revealed" featuretttes are also on the HBO Now player but as separate video files. Taken together, both featurette series give as much information as the old "Inside the Episode" featurettes, the new version simply splits up the content: the first focuses on story ideas, the second on how the filming crew realized it.
Three other Blu-ray/DVD exclusive featurettes were also included in the home video release:
•"18 Hours At The Paint Hall": Following all three shooting units as they converge in a behind-the-scenes snapshot of a day in the life of the largest show on television.
•"The Battle of the Bastards: An In-Depth Look" – Behind-the-scenes piece examining the production challenges of creating this epic event, including explorations of VFX, stunts, and interviews with key cast and crew.
•"Recreating The Dothraki World": Behind-the-scenes piece looking at the creation of Vaes Dothrak and its importance to Daenerys's evolution.
Although several plotlines of this season are ahead of the point the novels reached, large parts of it are based on the fourth and fifth novels A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons; it also consists of a few scenes based on the first and third novels A Game of Thrones and A Storm of Swords, and scenes based on sample chapters of the upcoming ...
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Season 6 of Game of Thrones is the sixth season of the series. The season consists of ten episodes and first aired from April 24 to June 16, 2016. Season 6 is closely based on parts of the novels in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.
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Apr 25, 2016 · Game Of Thrones season 6 episode 1 review: The Red Woman. The Game Of Thrones season 6 premiere is emotional, funny, tense and wildly entertaining, only hinting at the madness...
