Kit Harington, Carice van Houten & Jeremy Podeswa on the making of Jon Snow’s resurrection

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The resurrection of Jon Snow is the focus of Entertainment Weekly‘s cover story this week, and the magazine is doling out tidbits from the story every day on the website. Here are some of the highlights, focusing on Kit Harington’s luscious locks (#Never4GetHairWatch), Melisandre’s careful cleansing of Jon’s corpse, and Harington’s attempts to say goodbye to his cast members after season 5.

Fans kept an eye on Kit’s long hair throughout the fall as filming resumed for Game of Thrones season 6. The actor was spotted several times with his usual lengthy, curly hair (peruse our Kit Harington tag), and was even photographed on set in costume with a bun.

Apparently, the actor did cut his hair…a little. Not that anyone noticed. He tells Entertainment Weekly, “We cut it much shorter for this season, and do a different hairstyle this season and put it up in a bun.” Harington explains:

I wanted to sell [the story that he was leaving the series] a bit more […] I know this hairstyle this hair cut is very synonymous with the show. I know in the past I’d said I’d cut it off when I can. I wanted to appear with shorter hair straight away so it would sell the lie.

Yeah, that didn’t work so much. Sorry, Kit!

Also a mixed bag for him in terms of success was convincing his own co-stars that Jon Snow had been well and truly killed off for good. Harington said his farewells to other Game of Thrones stars, but not all of them bought it.

According to Harington, Liam Cunningham “told me to f— off from the start.”

Sophie Turner was more easily convinced. “Sophie Turner, bless her, wrote me a really long letter about how much she loved working with me – and I still got it,” Harington tells EW. “That made me chuckle.”

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The show’s red priestess, Carice van Houten, recalls shooting the resurrection scene with EW in the new story, as well.

“It took forever to resurrect him, forever!” van Houten tells EW. “It was such an important scene, we shot it from so many angles. I think I washed his body 50 times. There would be a lot of people who would be very jealous, including my mother and sister. I was joking about that with him – ‘if only my mother could see this’ – and he loved that.”

Van Houten is another cast member who wasn’t sure of Jon Snow’s fate after season 5.

“I had thought for a long time he was just going to die,” she explains. “Then we got wind he was probably going to come back but nobody was sure about it. It’s funny because on Twitter when he died a lot of people who wanted to kill me in episode 9 came back and said, ‘We’ll forgive you if you resurrect Jon Snow.’”

I don’t know if everyone forgives Melisandre altogether,  but they certainly are happier with her now!


One of the men behind the major scene, director Jeremy Podeswa, speaks to the Hollywood Reporter this week about his role in bringing Jon Snow back to life.

As for what his biggest challenge was in making the moment, the director says:

I think just establishing the right amount of tension through the scene, so you really didn’t know up until the last second which way it was going to go. That was the biggest thing, creating a sense of mystery and magic around the whole thing. We really wanted that scene to be very beautiful, but also fraught with tension. That’s the main thing we were looking for.

For those who noted artistic references in the staging of the scene, well spotted! Podeswa explains their influences:

We were basing a lot of the visuals on Rembrandt paintings, specifically The Anatomy Lesson. It had a very rich, textual, moody, atmospheric quality. I think we were all in that space for a long time for this scene — while we were shooting all the scenes involving Jon Snow’s body, really, but particularly the one where he’s resurrected.

When asked about Ghost turning his attention to Jon right before he wakes up, Podeswa declines to give more information, but says, “I would say if you keep watching, all will be revealed.”

There’s more interesting info from the director so check out the complete interview at the Hollywood Reporter!

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

188 Comments

  1. “It was such an important scene, we shot it from so many angles. I think I washed his body 50 times.”

    ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    Lucky her!

  2. What does everyone think on what Jon’s arc will be this season? Obv that battle at winterfell but then what? Back to the wall to fight against the white walkers? I’m guessing no chance he heads to Kings Landing or the Riverlands….

  3. Podeswa makes me wonder… Maybe Jon did warg into Ghost afterall? Though D&D said Ghost had a sixth sense of Jon coming back in the Inside the Episode, so idk.

  4. Luca Dailly,
    Finally :D.

    about ghost,

    for me at least, Jon mind was in him, I guess he’s gonna give us an explanation in the next episode (I hope)

    * I added the translated Melisandre prayer in English & High Valyrian in CC if interested. Thanks to David J. Peterson for the translation.

  5. I think it’s pretty damn cool of Jeremy Podeswa to use Rembrandt’s ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ as inspiration for the scene, especially when Rembrandt also has artworks called ‘The Night Watch’ and ‘The Return of The Prodigal Son’. 😉

  6. When asked about Ghost turning his attention to Jon right before he wakes up, Podeswa declines to give more information, but says, “I would say if you keep watching, all will be revealed.”

    Ha!!! Warging practically effing confirmed!!!!

  7. The short hair and half man bun makes sense, and his reminiscent of Ned’s hair and Jory’s hair, as well.

    Poor Kit! What a fun thing to be in on, but what a day to day pain in the ass!

  8. Off topic guys.
    I’m obsessed with this dilema right now.
    Could anyone tell which dragon was which when Tyrion went to speak to them??

  9. Lucky Carice
    And lucky her mom for knowing for a while about the res? Lol

    I love them all and great work to Jeremy. Simply stunning

  10. Flayed Potatoes:
    “It was such an important scene, we shot it from so many angles. I think I washed his body 50 times.”

    ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    Lucky her!

    IKR… I would have used my tongue…. lol… 😉

  11. I demand a whole post devoted to the “new hair” when it officially debuts on screen ..with in depth discussion on the symbolism of The Bun 🙂

  12. Ginevra: Ha!!!Warging practically effing confirmed!!!!

    So bleeping excited for the next show.. lets get our Skype call set up!! 😉

  13. Flayed Potatoes:
    “It was such an important scene, we shot it from so many angles. I think I washed his body 50 times.”

    ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    Lucky her!

    Ice Spider: IKR… I would have used my tongue…. lol… ?

    Rose Leslie (Ygritte) is luckiest of all since they are dating IRL. lol

  14. Ice Spider,

    That sounds great! Is anyone else interested in Skyping? Which episode should we do? Oathbreaker? The Door?

    I got excited by the Northern Ireland door article thinking there really was a set of mysterious doors we do not yet know about.

  15. Ginevra: Warging practically effing confirmed!!!!

    Well, if Jon is ever going to start warging, then it is going to be now. Ditto that for Arya. One thing that they did do was have Jon’s reawakening visually harken back to Bran’s: and that “shock” was what got Bran started warging, too.

  16. Ginevra:
    Ice Spider,

    That sounds great!Is anyone else interested in Skyping?Which episode should we do?Oathbreaker?The Door?

    I got excited by the Northern Ireland door article thinking there really was a set of mysterious doors we do not yet know about.

    Can we try for NEXT week? It’s Mother’s Day Sunday and it’s a bad day for me to try and set that up for this week….. ;(

  17. Joffrey’s Cunt: Could anyone tell which dragon was which when Tyrion went to speak to them??

    No, I could not. I was wondering if depression was causing the dragons to lose their color as well as their fire. Alternatively, they might have been going for a lighting effect: I don’t recall if they were easily distinguished in the cavern before.

  18. April May:
    Rose Leslie (Ygritte) is luckiest of all since they are dating IRL. lol

    Lol.. yes she is luckiest of all… she gets the real goods… so to speak! Jelly!!

  19. Wimsey,

    I’ll help you out. Actually, the HBO viewer’s guide synopsis will:

    “Once in the dragons’ keep, Tyrion recounts his fascination with the beasts as a boy. He slowly removes the collar on Rhaegal, and is shocked as Viserion turns his head to request the same.”

    So there’s your answer.

  20. What is it with the site??? I have to keep refreshing and writing my name and mail??? 🙁

  21. Joffrey’s Cunt,

    Tyrion frees Rhaegal first, then Viserion second.

    If you watch the clip of Dany initially chaining her dragons, you can see that when you’re facing the staircase leading to the exit, the green dragon is on the left side of the frame and the golden-white dragon is on the right (approaching from the opposite angle as you descend in to the pit, Viserion’s on the left and Rhaegal’s on the right). That’s the positioning they stay in until Tyrion releases them.

    Tyrion’s scene, for comparison. Descending into the pit, he goes right first to free Rhaegal, then turns around to free Viserion.

  22. AlexG:
    What is it with the site??? I have to keep refreshing and writing my name and mail??? ?

    IDK.. that is a mod question. It’s been going on since beginning of season.. a minor inconvenience I have learned to deal with … ;(

  23. Ice Spider: Can we try for NEXT week? It’s Mother’s Day Sunday and it’s a bad day for me to try and set that up for this week….. ;(

    Oh! I totally forgot about that. We should definitely skip this week, then, and go for The Door or later. The Door may be huge – at least I’m hoping it will be.

  24. Dutch Maester: So there’s your answer.

    Ah, thanks! Still, why did they look the same? I am sure that it is not an important question – I am happy with “lighting” – but I did wonder as I watched.

    EDIT: looking at the clip above, I am going with “lighting.” And, no, this will have no effect on my sleep tonight…. 😀

  25. Ginevra: Oh!I totally forgot about that.We should definitely skip this week, then, and go for The Door or later.The Door may be huge – at least I’m hoping it will be.

    Okie.. we have each other’s email.. any other takers out there … let us know.. you may have to email me on direction for getting multiple ppl on at once… it’s been years since I’ve used Skype.

  26. Cutty from the Cut,

    I think so too, when he first walks in and the light hits them it seems Viserion (whose green) is on the left and Rhagear (whose reddish) is on the right. You have to look close in the torch light to see the colors.

  27. AlexG:
    What is it with the site??? I have to keep refreshing and writing my name and mail???

    Cookie problems. I imagine that it’s related to the problems we were having earlier that involved refreshing every page, every time. That issue has been fixed, perhaps by not storing any cookies, and so the site cannot remember our names now.

    Darn that Cookie Monster….

  28. Wimsey,

    It’s lightning. If it’ll help you sleep, you can see it (or I’m imagining it…) by the color of their noses when they turn their heads towards the exit. Both dragons have a similar moment where they do so. If you compare, the first nose is most definitely greenish. The second goldish. But it’s really hard, yeah.

  29. Dutch Maester,

    Yeah, I can buy that. I know that the effects of lighting are one of the toughest things to get right with CGI effects. A big part of the reason is that we often don’t know what is “right” until we see it.

    (But, no: whatever else affects my sleep at night, a TV show will not be it!)

    Along these lines, one of the dragons starts to light up when Tyrion appears. I was wondering if that dragons had lost their flame due to their melancholy. Loss of appetite and loss of figurative fire are signs of depression in people: I am wondering if they gave the dragons loss of appetite and loss of literal fire to signify depression!

    Oh: and where can I sign up for a cat-sized dragon?!?

  30. SerDuncanTheTall:
    Jared,

    I don’t know if it’s just me, but they are exactly the same, I don’t see a green or gold.

    In which video? In the Season 4 clip you can definitely tell the color difference, but in Season 6 you can’t.

  31. Wimsey:
    Dutch Maester,

    Along these lines, one of the dragons starts to light up when Tyrion appears.I was wondering if that dragons had lost their flame due to their melancholy.Loss of appetite and loss of figurative fire are signs of depression in people: I am wondering if they gave the dragons loss of appetite and loss of literal fire to signify depression!

    Oh: and where can I sign up for a cat-sized dragon?!?

    In Chinese medicine and acupuncture, fire is one of the five elements that definitely gives one joy, spirit, energy, and whatnot, so you could be onto something. However, I thought that the dragon was basically growling by holding the fire held within. He stopped growling as soon as Tyrion started kowtowing. He could have roasted Tyrion, or at least that was my impression.

  32. That answer about Ghost is very interesting.

    Wimsey: Well, if Jon is ever going to start warging, then it is going to be now. Ditto that for Arya. One thing that they did do was have Jon’s reawakening visually harken back to Bran’s: and that “shock” was what got Bran started warging, too.

    There is definitely a similarity between the two situations. It could work if Jon’s warging was activated by a shock, basically just like Bran.

  33. Sophie Turner is so much Sansa Stark!
    Also, she has an elder brother named Will Turner.

  34. Ginevra,

    I hope that at least now, Tyrion will reduce his drinking habits to avoid doing such suicidal acts.

    Connor,
    It’s going slow! I need ToJ now!

  35. Jacqu Snow:
    Cutty from the Cut,

    I think so too, when he first walks in and the light hits them it seems Viserion (whose green) is on the left and Rhagear (whose reddish) is on the right. You have to look close in the torch light to see the colors.

    Nope.
    Viserion is suppose to be cream with gold horns, wing bones and spine.
    Rhaegal is green

    Daenerys pov 1, 10th paragraph in ASoS:
    “Viserion’s scales were the color of fresh cream, his horns, wing bones, and spinal crest a dark gold that flashed bright as metal in the sun. Rhaegal was made of the green of summer and the bronze of fall.”

  36. It goes through my head that, if there are actual dragon riders, it will be Daeny on Drogon, Tyrion on Viserion (gold/Lanniser gold) and Bran on Rhaegal (green/greenseer)…but then I can’t place Jon…

  37. Joffrey’s Cunt,

    Assuming that the dragons stayed on the same side they were originally chained to: Tyrion unhooked Rhegal (the green dragon) first, and Viserion (the white/gold dragon) second.
    That tallys with my impression of their colors, which didn’t seem to be as vivid compared to when they were first lured in to the makeshift dragonpit.

  38. I think it’s obvious Jon warged into ghost when he died! Jon didn’t wake up until ghost(Jon) woke up from his nap and that’s when he surprisingly notice he was able to warg back to himself.

    Another thing Beric changed because he was brought back so many times and

    Lady stoneheart is way different than Cat because it was Beric who sacrificed himself to bring her back so there might be a little of him and her in stoneheart plus the fact that she had been dead and in the river so long.

    Jon is coming back from first death he should be very close to the same person. But this is all book stuff so guess it really doesn’t matter to the show writers.

  39. The visual off all these people riding dragons seems very cheesy to me. It’s one thing to describe it, but to pull it off is very different. Even seeing Dany fly off on Drogon last season was kinda silly. I hope they minimize dragon riders in the climax even if GRRM intends to have multiple riders.

  40. http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/02/game-thrones-kit-harington-lc

    From this related EW article:
    Kit Harington’s codename in the season 6 scripts was “LC”, standing for “Lord Commander”.

    The nickname inspired some ribbing among the cast. While shooting his resurrection scene, Harington had to lay naked on a table while Carice van Houten (Melisandre) washed him repeatedly. So the actress decided to give Harington a new “LC”-based nomenclature (it’s not something we can print, but feel free to guess).

    – “Long…Claw”?
    – “Large…Claw”?
    – “Limp…Claw”?

  41. Wimsey,

    I believe Jon warging is why Ghost was freaking the Hell out at the beginning of episode 1. As a first time warg-having jumped in to another species out of sheer desperation- and having experienced death… I expect it took a few hours for Jon to orient himself and control the body he was inhabiting. Notice Ghost was frantically trying to open the door he was locked behind with his teeth while screaming as best he can for help. (Rough translation of Ghosts howls would probably be something like LETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUT FUCK THIS DOOR FUCK HAVING NO THUMBS THIS IS BULLSHIT AHHHHHHHHHH)
    I also think warging would explain why Ghost was so very chill during the rez scene, perhaps getting your soul (?) conscious awareness (?) pulled back to its proper container makes your borrowed body drowsy.

  42. Dee:
    Ice Spider,

    Whaaaaaaaat

    Same! Hahahahahahaha

    Well if your of the persuasion to like fellas (and I am) — that seems to me a very yummy treat! Lol. Haha

  43. Adam:
    The visual off all these people riding dragons seems very cheesy to me. It’s one thing to describe it, but to pull it off is very different. Even seeing Dany fly off on Drogon last season was kinda silly.I hope they minimize dragon riders in the climax even if GRRM intends to have multiple riders.

    Cannot wait to see Dany/Tyrion/Jon riding off in the sunset on dragons.

  44. Wow. Podeswa’s interview is absolutely fantastic. What an articulate look into GoT from script to film.

  45. Reading

    Michelle Fairley’s interview about her play and she namedrops Lady Stoneheart!

    Doesn’t say she will be in though.

  46. Ice Spider: IDK.. that is a mod question. It’s been going on since beginning of season.. a minor inconvenience I have learned to deal with …;(

    I agree its a pain. Also having to clear the history and cache.

    I found just entering the first letter of my username ( ‘B’ in my case) restores the full name (Black Raven) greyed out below and clicking on that writes it back. The same with my email address.

    Its no big deal, but that wasn’t necessary to do before the web server changed.

  47. Regarding Jon Snow, I have been reading a few online articles by different sites. Does anybody find the almost overnight change in sentiments by critics surprising? When last season ended amost every reporter seemed worried that the show had killed off one of the biggest fan favorites of the show, and hoping that he would come back. Now suddenly, without any new Jon scenes, almost everybody suddenly seems to think that he should have never come back as he is not a very good character in terms of being interesting 🙁 . it’s been a real kill joy for me reading some of these articles.

  48. Lonely Cat,

    I’d forgotten rumors of and ice dragon! That would work.

    I am very curious as to who will be left in the show for the big finale.

  49. Flayed Potatoes,

    I’m straight and I think Carice van Houten is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen… But I even I gota admit, she was lucky! He is hot.

    (Sorry for the pointless comment)

  50. Rygritte:
    I knew Jon warged! Another scientific theory goes down in flames. BLAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!

    I’ve stirred enough shit on this issue in previous posts (with Wimsey, etal) regarding this and that Oxford Union meeting where Weiss dropped a spoiler in error and said “Two words for you – Season Six” when Harington said he would like to be a warg and put himself into a wolf. So lets wait and see perhaps in the next episode if that’s what happened? I really hope that was so, but I’m not so fanatical now about if he warged into Ghost or not.

    Its just good to see JS back in business… We all knew Harington was telling ‘Porkie Pies’ and now of course has admitted he was under obligation to the show runners and other members of the cast to keep that a secret. Some believed him and other not. Still… Kudos to him for keeping up that charade for 10 months 🙂

  51. Ida,

    Can’t these actors stay quiet for a change? It’s completely obvious Catelyn is back from that interview.

    At least Kit tried.

  52. For those who are saying D&D don’t want to taint Jon snow by making him comeback by having shireen burnt.

    Two things:

    Is it OK to taint his resurrection by having him comeback through the lady who did burn shireen. ..
    Will that not taint him ..or is that the reason why people are trying to find another way for Jon coming back and not want to believed Mel did this because they don’t want anything of Mel related with Jon .

    When did something like that ever stopped D&D ..remember the birthing of dragons it involved a witch burned alive..

  53. ghost of winterfell,

    Yeah I’ve read several articles saying he should’ve stayed dead. I think the main consesus I picked up from those articles is that it would’ve let other more interesting characters shine, and that for once a show that excelled at being unpredictable, finally became predictable.

  54. Dutch Maester,

    I was wondering this myself! Thanks!! Other than the lack of distinguishing colors I thought the effects were rather outstanding. I want a dragon too!

    The scene made me wonder how often those collars had to be upgraded though! Those were definitely bigger constraints than the ones Dany originally put on the dragons. 😀

  55. Adam,

    Need not worry there won’t be any dragon riders other than dany the last dragon ..and these three are her three heads .

  56. Ida,

    This is an interesting clue.
    In the past, she always avoided to talk about rumors of a possible return. But now she was very specific about season 6, and she mentioned “payoff”. She was more direct than Paul Kaye, or even Clive Russell.

    I guess “we’ll have to watch the darned thing, won’t we?”

  57. I would literally scream and fall off the couch if LSH shows up or is referenced this season.

  58. El-Bobbie,

    Yeah, If that was truly how they felt, this should have been their position since the end of S5. Yet the narrative at that time was how it makes absolutely no sense to keep the character dead and how his arc is nowhere near its end. And that he should come back. And now, all of a sudden, that narrative has changed. I mean, MTV has an article out which says “how to fix the Jon Snow problem” because apparently he is a boring character just because he tries to do the right thing. Yet, just 3 months back, Jon Snow had topped their list of “Best characters of 2015 in television” !! So what changed? It smacks of double standards.

  59. The authors saying that Jon Snow should have stayed dead should at least, you know, WAIT a week or two or three to see what the fallout from his rebirth is. There is clearly a reason why he died and was brought back as opposed to just having him not die.

    The

    LSH

    stuff is infuriating. Absolutely infuriating. You’d think she was the single most important character in GoT/ASOIAF.

    If Fairley is coming back,

    I hope it isn’t the way people think.

  60. And LSH would be the moment GoT jumped the shark, at this point. Too, too late. It’d be thrown in and wasted. Hate the idea.

  61. El-Bobbie,

    Even if there were (I did not see any), they were one in a hundred. Now its the in-thing to be of this opinion (among the critics) .

  62. ghost of winterfell:
    Regarding Jon Snow, I have been reading a few online articles by different sites. Does anybody find the almost overnight change in sentiments by critics surprising? When last season ended amost every reporter seemed worried that the show had killed off one of the biggest fan favorites of the show, and hoping that he would come back. Now suddenly, without any new Jon scenes, almost everybody suddenly seems to think that he should have never come back as he is not a very good character in terms of being interesting . it’s been a real kill joy for me reading some of these articles.

    At this stage, it’s a damned if they do damned if they don’t scenario. It’s especially evident with Jon Snow. First the complaint is that Jon has plot armor and cannot be killed off, then if he is killed off the complaint is that the show is killing off characters for shock value and all that build up and back story for the character was a waste of time, then they want the character to be resurrected but then if he is resurrected, it becomes predictable. Anything they do, there will be someone who is not happy about the outcome. So it’s better they just do what the story asks of them.

    And of course there are going to be complaints from critics as the show slowly veers more into fantasy and less politicking. And we will have the usual complaints from the critics and hipsters about how Jon is boring because he is the classic hero. Better to ignore them and enjoy what you enjoy. Just from lurking on some forums (Reddit and Neogaf for example) most viewers absolutely love it that Jon is back. Look at this reaction vid at the Burlington bar to his resurrection.

    Many folks mention reacting similarly to that scene. So don’t worry about what a few critics or viewers feel. I think we will see more of that criticism as the show becomes more fantastical in nature. Just wait for all that criticism, when it’s revealed that Jon is a secret Targ prince!

  63. The Jon shouldn’t have come back thing actually ticks me off. His story is… They just have no idea. Since the first book and the first episode… All of the visions Bran and Jon had that they’ll never show, all Ned’s thoughts and memories, so much has actually been leading up to this. And yes, lots of other great stories and lots of other amazing characters but the main whole defend the entire world from the Long Night thing? Is Cersei going to do it? Is LF? Sure, it would be a twist. But it would be a stupid twist. And you shouldn’t do something surprising just so people won’t say your story is cliche. You should tell a good story darn it.
    Sorry. People are messing with my resurrection buzz. They better hush about the tower.
    We’re finally getting to the top of this story mountain and everyone’s a critic. 🙂

  64. SerNoName,

    Agreed. It definitely looks like it’s going to be a “GOT hate season” among the critics. I am going to stay away from all reviews in the future, especially the episode where r+l=j is revealed, as I want to enjoy the story as it unfolds and not get caught up among the hate.

  65. ghost of winterfell,

    The only reason I could think of is that it’s the “hip” thing to do. I don’t really put much stock into what television critics are saying especially for those who didn’t even read the books. Anyone who’s read the books would say that Jon is important to the end game therefore he cannot die yet. Others are just bitter Stannis fans who felt he should have been the one who got resurrected. Lol!

  66. ghost of winterfell,

    Jon Snow is not boring. Heck I enjoy just watching him sit there doing nothing 🙂 Seriously I don’t get why being one of few characters trying to do the right thing, being a decent human being, in a world of treachery and vice is considered boring. To me, Ramsay is boring. Sure he might do more “shocking” things but he’s pretty consistent with his savagery. I mean, he can’t get any worse. I don’t know, I just feel a bit defensive when people put down Kit’s acting (not here but elsewhere I’ve seen it) because I think he really puts a lot into it and has become quite good. As for the character, to each his own but if we didn’t have a heroic leader type to balance out all the shenanigans going on in the realm that would be boring to me.

  67. SerNoName,

    That is a great vid! I hope GRRM, D&D and Kit are seeing those. It’s *exactly* how the majority of the fandom has reacted.

  68. ghost of winterfell: I am going to stay away from all reviews in the future, especially the episode where r+l=j is revealed, as I want to enjoy the story as it unfolds and not get caught up among the hate.

    That’s the sane thing to do.

    Since last year I only visit this website and watch a few reaction videos of people who love the show to get my weekly GOT fix. A GOT season is way too short to spend any time on people who think that trashing GOT is now the trendy thing to do.

    All I care about is that I still love GOT and that the numbers prove that the show is still hugely popular (meaning that the final episodes will still benefit from a big budget). The rest is just useless noise.

  69. My reaction for the last scene of “Home” was scream and then i started to laugh out so much, that my husband, who doesn’t watch the show, came from another room to check if i suddenly became insane 😉

    I put that picture of Kit on my desc top background, and now im getting weird looks from my colleagues…

    I feel lonely in my GOT obsession!

  70. iridium:
    SerNoName,

    That is a great vid! I hope GRRM, D&D and Kit are seeing those. It’s *exactly* how the majority of the fandom has reacted.

    They’re fun but since that great Red Wedding video, I just feel the people are playing it up for the camera (that was definitely the case for the Oberyn one) rather than having a genuinely unguarded moment. And how did they know this would be a big moment? It’s not in any of the books.

  71. All this Jon Snow is our hero to defend Planetos stuff…

    Maybe Planetos isn’t meant to be and doesn’t deserve to be saved. Would love to have POV chapters from the Night’s King and the Others.

    No I don’t believe that for one moment but it would be cool to see the other side of the story.

    Go Team Night’s King 😉

  72. Ravyn,

    They record an entire episode waiting for something special to happen …only post if there is something that is special like this one..

    I remember that guy put videos for all episodes in 4 the season but for season 5 he posted only dany mounting drogon daznak pit and jon getting stabbed ..
    And now he is posting episode 1 and 2 ..I guess this season he will post for all episodes ..

  73. I can’t wait to see all the critics flip tables when the ToJ twist is revealed. Their rage over fantasy tropes keeps me young. Bonus points if Jon, Dany, and Tyrion all ride dragons and if Jon and Dany hook up. Bring on all the tropes!!

  74. ghost of winterfell,

    All the reaction videos to Jon’s resurrection have been great, except for the one or two assholes out there who were hoping for something similar to TWD (which is a terrible idea). I can’t wait to see the reactions and fan recaps to the ToJ! It’s going to be epic!

  75. ghost of winterfell: Regarding Jon Snow, I have been reading a few online articles by different sites. Does anybody find the almost overnight change in sentiments by critics surprising? When last season ended amost every reporter seemed worried that the show had killed off one of the biggest fan favorites of the show, and hoping that he would come back. Now suddenly, without any new Jon scenes, almost everybody suddenly seems to think that he should have never come back as he is not a very good character in terms of being interesting . it’s been a real kill joy for me reading some of these articles.

    I haven’t really seen or read any of those articles. But in a similar vane I find it amusing how everyone just knew 100% that Jon was going coming back.
    Just a few weeks ago there a lot of people who were unsure, even with picture evidence.

  76. Writers are just trying to come up with angles and come up with something different to say about Game of Thrones. They know there’s a world of Game of Thrones addicts out there and they are trying to get our attention.

  77. Flayed Potatoes:
    I can’t wait to see all the critics flip tables when the ToJ twist is revealed. Their rage over fantasy tropes keeps me young. Bonus points if Jon, Dany, and Tyrion all ride dragons and if Jon and Dany hook up. Bring on all the tropes!!

    Haha! Yes! As a hard core fantasy fan I am all for it.

    I think we just need to accept that GOT will never get rave reviews from the critics. It’s a high fantasy show and high fantasy/Sci-fi is a genre that is usually shunned by critics in the US. Fantasy/Scifi TV shows get cancelled before we know such shows even exist unlike Drama/Soap or the tenth version of CSI. GOT is the rare fantasy show that’s managed to get viewers interested in it because it’s got the Game and Politics in KL etc. and hence managed to get some good reviews in the early seasons. Now that most of the interesting characters in KL are either dead and gone and the show is shifting towards White Walkers and Dragons, critics are starting to lose interest. A critic like Sepinwall is not going to be interested in Jon Snow battling wights north of the wall.

  78. Why are people obsessing over the colour of the dragons? I think the lighting in that scene is very accurate, since the flame gives off a yellow light, both the dragons’ colour is realistically going to appear very similar in this low light.

  79. Wimsey: (But, no: whatever else affects my sleep at night, a TV show will not be it!)

    Do crustaceans affect your sleep at night? Molluscs? Thought I’d ask. 😉

  80. Yet more websites claiming The Wind of Winter will be published this month. Yeah, sure right – not holding my breath!

    Can’t give links as they get marked as spam and disappear but just google George RR Martin Winds of Winter

  81. Flayed Potatoes,

    I would love to see some unsullied reactions when r+l=j is revealed. If there are any unsullied out there who are unaware of this theory 🙂 .

    SerNoName,

    A critic genuinely not liking a character or a storyline is fine I guess. Its their opinion. While Sepinwall never liked Jon as a character, he acknowledges his importance to the story. On the other hand, when people like Joanna Robinson who has obsessed over Jon’s fate all through the off season, then writes an article after his resurrection, that he should have stayed dead, it is laughable. Or MTV, after declaring him the best character in television in 2015, then bring out an article complaining how boring he is. LOL…
    Apart from Jon, all critics seem to be unduly negative towards the show as a whole. It just does not feel like constructive criticism.

  82. ghost of winterfell,

    The media has always been fickle, and I think its gotten worse in the last few years. I take it all with a grain of salt. Besides, its not like their views are going in influence the amount of people who watch the show.

    Pigeon,

    Totally agree. There are better story lines to focus on Leave the poor woman be.

    Ravyn,

    Ah, yes they are (unless I misunderstood your comment. Its 2 in the morning so my brain may not be firing all cylinders yet.)

  83. dwm:
    Ser Not Appearing in this Series,

    The two I saw were YIBADA and Christian Post, neither of which are anything close to reputable.It would be nice though.

    Yes, they are taking comments elsewhere out of context – that’s all. Can’t really see it happening before 2017 now.

  84. ghost of winterfell,

    Yeah those articles were the minority, but they were from pretty big sites/publications. Vanity Fair, Forbes, MTV – all had recent articles on why Jon should’ve stayed dead.

  85. Dominika:
    My reaction for the last scene of“Home” was scream and then i started to laugh out so much, that my husband, who doesn’t watch the show, came from another room to checkif i suddenly became insane ?

    I put that picture of Kit on my desc top background, and now im getting weird looks from my colleagues…

    I feel lonely in my GOT obsession!

    That’s funny, My other half thought my obsession was strange at first, now he just chuckles to himself when he hears my reactions to things that are going on as I watch by myself in the dark. I think he appreciates it’s a well made show but doesn’t like the ‘fantasy’ element and is now far too behind to know what’s going on. I know other people that watch but haven’t caught up, so I can’t talk about it with them. So don’t feel alone, everyone here is as obsessed too!

    As for episode 2; i had felt a little disapointed with how he came back to life and thought there was something missing, like how it felt from his perspective…now we might see it and it involves ghost, I’m excited. Could it be that Mel’s spell didn’t actually work and he was coming back anyway? Also I seem to remember someone saying the ‘manbun’ in those leaked set photos couldn’t actually be in the show because Jon Snow doesn’t have a manbun….but now the manbun is confirmed, the man bun lives!

  86. The media has always been fickle, and I think its gotten worse in the last few years. I take it all with a grain of salt. Besides, its not like their views are going in influence the amount of people who watch the show.

  87. I think season 5 disappointed a lot of critics and it means they are wary about season 6 but S6 has been better at this early stage than the first two episodes of S5. Early days but S6 has a good feeling about it.

  88. dragonbringer,

    It’s more like they don’t want people to remember that Jon came back and little girl died because of it. Our precious hero can’t be tainted with it. It’s more controversial than just bringing him back, thanks to a woman who burnt Shireen alive.

    Mel, Selyse, Jon and Shireen are at Castle Black in the books and George confirmed she’ll burn too. Which will bring back guess who Jon. Stannis can’t do it as he is currently elsewhere and honstly doubt he’l be the one to command it. More likely that pscyho Mel and Selyse will do it. I didn’t mean it to threaten Daeny or copy her. Just tired of them having Jon comeback not tainted by this controversial fact. or once they could do something highly controversial with him.

    Three headed dragon. I wouldn’t be so sure about Daeny being only one right now on the show or in the books. Tyrion might not be Targaryen, but he’ll ride one of them, when the right time comes. Not really looking forward to it, but it certainly looks more and more likely.

  89. Geralt of Rivia: It’s more like they don’t want people to remember that Jon came back and little girl died because of it. Our precious hero can’t be tainted with it. It’s more controversial than just bringing him back, thanks to a woman who burnt Shireen alive.

    Three headed dragon. I wouldn’t be so sure about Daeny being only one right now on the show or in the books. Tyrion might not be Targaryen, but he’ll ride one of them, when the right time comes. Not really looking forward to it, but it certainly looks more and more likely.

    I dont really see how it would taint Jon directly. It was not him who sacrificed someone or who made the decision to do it. Jon would not condone such actions.

    They have established a connection between Tyrion and the dragons quite quickly, but I am still not sure we will see other dragonriders besides Dany.

  90. The way it was shot it was obvious that both interpretations could be right, either was Mel that brought Jon back or he warged. As I said, if they didn’t want both options to be possible they would’ve just brought Jon back with Mel on the room. It was shot ambiguously on purpose

    I still think it can go both ways, which is great. Even a mix of the 2 is possible. But just reading that Podeswa was aware of warging and that discussion was on the table is a vindication of the “wargist” theoreticians 😉

  91. Boudica,

    Was the price linked to Shireen or to Balon Greyjoy eventually dying? He was the 3rd on her hit-list with Rob & joffrey.

  92. Geralt of Rivia,

    Well sure it is what I believed and theorized will happen in books…
    But after the show I guess it will be like this.:

    On hearing the news of stannis demise Mel and selyse burn shireen and selyse kills herself due to the guilt and Mel loses faith and then prays to bring Jon back .
    It will be like how some people connect balon’s death to jon simialrly they will vonnect shireen death to jon ..

    I didn’t get what you are saying when you said not threatening or copying dany ..

    If it is supposed to be shireen death which brought Jon back then they will do that exactly …these are some major plot points and iam sure D&D will keep it straight from the books ..
    And again they have had dany do lots of stuffs things she didn’t even do in the books and arya murder many brutally and sansa getting raped and tortured ..they will not worry about tainting Jon..

    Don’t get me wrong i like what you say and I hope GRRm and D&D do something that makes Jon as controversial as other main characters are ..but I somehow doubt GRRm is going for it after what show is done ..we still have to see how changed Jon is after coming back .but based on the interview of Owen it looks like he will not even kill mutineers..

    And this is not especially directed at you but I saw those who come up with this topic on westeros.org ..it all comes down to this that people think they know things and trying to make that true while disregarding the show all the while forgetting that these guys know the story whereas we only have theories ..
    It applies to me as well if tyrion rides a dragon it will never change a thing for me regarding dany as three headed dragon but I will accept that there will be other riders ..after all my first reaction after my first read was that Jon and tyrion will ride the other two ..so i wouldn’t be shocked.

    Guess we will see I just hope GRRm could release the book before Christmas ..TWOW alone is enough for us to get most of the answers ..

  93. Boudica,

    Exactly …

    I am hoping that tyrion will be getting the news that dragons have left the city ..and we I’ll not be sure where it went and we see them appeae at vaes dothrak .

  94. Redxgod,

    If it was it would have been mentioned at least in the inside of the episodes videos or in these interviews ..

    I would like to know how people will connect balon’s death to jon concidering that balon died in 3 rd book .

  95. dragonbringer,

    I like this version to. Kinda like the idea of the Dothraki treating Dany with contempt when its just Drogon kinda “We can handle one lousy dragon, we are tough guys”…and then the other 2 appear!

  96. Redxgod,

    Yeah ..I dont know you have heard what’s to come for dany …but i think its mostly predictable ..

    So if that is supposed to happen it would be nice call back to season one ending with all the dragons grown and dany more experienced and hardened .

    Regards to tyrion. Yes they made him connect with dragons but at the same time they also established they dont attack the friends of their mommy and how they are longing for theie mother to come back ..
    So it could go either ways .

  97. ghost of winterfell,

    “I would love to see some unsullied reactions when r+l=j is revealed. If there are any unsullied out there who are unaware of this theory” .

    Well, maybe you should have used spoiler tags here my friend… You are limiting the number of those unsullied that will eventually react!

  98. ghost of winterfell,

    I’m pretty sure there might be on YouTube (some reaction channels). My Unsullied friend figured out half of the theory (the L bit) and she forgot who R was, but she got the family name right. It took me completely by surprise and I couldn’t even keep my poker face on.

  99. Sou,

    The issue for me is ‘how will Jon find out or will he ever?’ It is not as if Bran is just around the corner.

  100. DireWolfHeart,

    Hmmm I think he was going crazy because he has a connection with Jon and Jon was hurt. They sense danger to their counterparts. For example Summer protecting bran multiple times.
    Nymeria protecting Arya in season 1.

  101. Off-topic.

    I’m curious, when does the ”beautiful death” poster usually drop?

  102. Sou,

    Woops, ha ha okay my bad. I have yet to see anybody cover that equation in spoiler tags!!

    Flayed Potatoes,

    In my country, I have even seen it mentioned in newspapers 🙂 . After Jon’s death last season, there was atleast one full page article in the entertainment section of a newspaper listing all theories ralated to Jon, as evidence for why he should be back. That’s how my boyfriend got spoiled 🙂

  103. Dee,

    They are riding the hype. When it was popular to like the show they praised it.

    Now when the ”new trend” is to nitpick the show, they criticize it, in some instances the same things they praised in earlier seasons.

  104. Sou,

    Iam not sure there is any fan who frequent forums or internet either a book reader or show watcher never heard of this theory ..

    By this point unsullied have predicted the theory themselves like cenk from what the flick and that guy from blindwave ( I dont remember his name ) .

  105. Dee,

    Well even in the books I don’t think Mel will burn shireen for bringing Jon back ..that is something selyse will not agree and if they burn her it will be for stannis not Jon ..
    And I don’t think it will taint Jon at all.
    If anything he can shift blame at Mel for doing it ..

    Dee,

    I thought you didn’t like lannisters .

  106. Mihnea:
    Off-topic.

    I’m curious, when does the ”beautiful death” poster usually drop?

    That’s a good question, looking forward to that.
    Another thing… I just saw an awesome hd picture of the new child of the forest, Leaf, on facebook. Where are people getting these pictures anyway???

  107. ghost of winterfell,

    I am unsullied, but managed to figure it out simply by episode 4 last season.

    I have an unsullied cousin who thinks Jon is Ned’s son with a Targaryen…. he is close LOL

  108. Dee,

    You said fuck everyone right …line used by lannisters .

    If its OK for you I will tell the situation at the wall last we saw them..
    Mel and selyse hear that stannis is dead and Jon is getting stabbed ..
    So if they both are trying to burn shireen then it would be for shireen.

    I too believed it will make Jon come back but after watching the show iam not sure .

  109. dragonbringer,

    I am thinking GRRM told them he was going to do it that way… but the show change it

    I thought that

    Stannis was alive in the books?

    What was all the outrage for after last season?

  110. Dee:
    ghost of winterfell,

    I am unsullied, but managed to figure it out simply by episode 4 last season.

    I have an unsullied cousin who thinks Jon is Ned’s son with a Targaryen…. he is close LOL

    Yeah, I know, from your comments during the GOT recap!

    dragonbringer,

    IIRC what the writers hinted in the “inside the episode” clip from last season was that Stannis would burn Shireen in the books too? At least that was my interpretation. If that is the case, Shireen’s burning might not have anything to do with rezzing Jon. For me, what made Shireen’s burning on the show even more tragic was that it was all for nothing, that a man ended up destroying his own family in pursuit of a prophecy. That’s more thematically powerful than her being a sacrifice to bring someone else back.

  111. How long are the episodes this season? I saw someone had a full schedule of episode lengths up to episode 9, but I can’t find it anywhere.

    What is Oathbreaker’s length?

  112. Dee,

    We have to take into account that time and chapters are not chronological in the books.

    Dany was married even before Jon arryn died …but the way it was presented it will make you think that dany married after Jon arryn died ..

    Jon receives a letter telling stannis is dead written by ramsey demanding reek and arya back …and at the end of that chapter jon gets stabbed ..

    But we never get stannis dying chapter because its moved to TWOW ..

    And apparently there exists many theories that the letter was written by stannis himself or mance rayder and not by Ramsey ..
    So you can imagine all the backlash from his fans when the their theories proved wrong ..and no kne expected him to burn shireen either .

    ghost of winterfell,

    Yeah that’s why I like that scene too …its clearly parallel to Agamemnon .

  113. Regarding the negative publicity, as any series progresses, we naturally try to predict what is going to happen next. I am particularly guilty of this. When what happens next isn’t what we predicted (e.g., Jon dying or Jon being resurrected or resurrected too soon), it is natural to be disappointed. Some will mistakenly blame that disappointment on the series itself rather than accept that their own incorrect guesses were the cause.

  114. Pau: ghost of winterfell

    Pau:
    The way it was shot it was obvious that both interpretations could be right, either was Mel that brought Jon back or he warged. As I said, if they didn’t want both options to be possible they would’ve just brought Jon back with Mel on the room. It was shot ambiguously on purpose

    I still think it can go both ways, which is great. Even a mix of the 2 is possible. But just reading that Podeswa was aware of warging and that discussion was on the table is a vindication of the “wargist” theoreticians ?

    Podeswa confirms Mel was ultimately successful in “The Game Revealed.” And I think he practically confirmed that warging plays a role. I don’t think that warging brought Jon back: I think it preserved Jon’s mind so that he’ll be much, much less affected by death than Beric or LSH.

  115. CC,

    Actually people did notice. I remember reading about it be the time of Testament of Youth premiere ay the begining of 2015, prior to season 5 debut. He showed up sporting a shorter do, and there were people talking about what it meant. Some people said they were afraid about Jon’s future in the show.

  116. Is it just me, or have the visual design of the dragons changed?

    At first they were more reptilian in appearance, like winged lizards, since they were just animals. But now they look like.. well, dragons, in a classical way.

    There’s also the part of them being really smart now. What do you think, is the show veering to a more classical version of dragons? Personally I liked better the “dragons are animals” version, but I don’t really complain about how they look now.

  117. Dutch Maester,

    Thanks. Yeah looks like this one will be short, but next week we get an almost hour-long one! That episode is going to be big.

    Surprised at how short 6 and 7 are, but hey, quality over quantity

  118. Disgruntled Bunting,

    My guess is that when he returns to winterfell and destroys ramsay it will unite the north and they will join forces to fight the white walkers in the end.. I think Dany and Tyrion will be along for the ride with the dragons.. Given how the two dragons seemed to take to Tyrion it might be that he has Targaryen blood afterall .. but all just guesses at this point.. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jon permanently dead in the end.. it would be too obvious for him to save the day and take the throne.. maybe we’ll see Queen Sansa Stark take the throne 🙂

  119. Daegon,

    Okay so episode 3 is 1 minute shorter than episode 2.
    I cant wait to see an almost hour long epi 🙂

    Ughhh
    Im going to be in China for work for Episode 4&5….. its going to be difficult missing two episodes and GOT will be all I will be thinking of HAHA… unless I am somehow lucky and can watch them.

    I am bringing Episodes 1&2&3 with me so I can binge watch them over and over to reduce the withdrawals.

  120. GhostCR,

    Actually people did notice. I remember reading about it be the time of Testament of Youth premiere ay the begining of 2015, prior to season 5 debut. He showed up sporting a shorter do, and there were people talking about what it meant. Some people said they were afraid about Jon’s future in the show.

    I took that as a red herring immediately .. or should I say .. a red harrington … or … red hair-ington .. eh? know what I mean? nudge nudge

  121. pintu,

    Wait, I wrote that. No big deal, don’t really care, just odd to see my words exactly as someone eles typed them!

  122. Boudica,

    Yes! Thats why I spend so much time here -no one else I know has read the books or seen the show! So its great to talk about it with so many people

    Dee,

    I dont really see how it would taint Jon directly. It was not him who sacrificed someone or who made the decision to do it. Jon would not condone such actions.

    Really. It was one person (or two counting Stannis) who did this, along with all the soldiers who refused to try and stop ot Jon had nothing to do with it. It will be interesting if Jon finds out how she died and who was responsible – this woman revived him but killed a little girl.

  123. ash,

    Sorry, didn’t finish my thought – when Jon finds out the truth about Mel and Shireen, even tho it had nothing to do with him, I wonder if he might feel very guilty that he is live and she isn’t.

  124. Ginevra: Some will mistakenly blame that disappointment on the series itself rather than accept that their own incorrect guesses were the cause.

    Ah, so you knew Harry Potter fans 10 years ago! 😀

    Seriously, though, in my experience with fandoms, a lot of the big incorrect guesses come from fans selectively disregarding details and/or imagining their own details. If we leave out our imaginations and recast the question as: “what is the author imagining?” then we are more apt to make reasonable predictions.

    Of course, there will always be the “it’s a trick question!” fans. Anyone who has taught knows this sort: they think that every question on the test is a trick question, and then they get upset when they get marked down for failing to answer the question that they were asked. There always are some fans that try to do the equivalent!

  125. Can I just say how much I loved Tyrion with the dragons. I love when the dragon laughs at Tyrion’s “don’t eat the help” joke and then when the other one smiles and sticks his neck out for Tyrion to take his chains off. So good! And we now know the dragons can understand and interact with people vs. being uncontrollable.

  126. The Sybian:
    http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/02/game-thrones-kit-harington-lc

    From this related EW article:
    Kit Harington’s codename in the season 6 scripts was “LC”, standing for “Lord Commander”.

    The nickname inspired some ribbing among the cast. While shooting his resurrection scene, Harington had to lay naked on a table while Carice van Houten (Melisandre) washed him repeatedly. So the actress decided to give Harington a new “LC”-based nomenclature (it’s not something we can print, but feel free to guess).

    – “Long…Claw”?
    – “Large…Claw”?
    – “Limp…Claw”?

    Hehe, this part made me laugh a lot… 😀 Carice must be a very funny person to spend time with… 😀

  127. Ida,

    Ida, not in any way wanting to doubt your integrity, but just to be 100% sure … do you have any way of proving that Michelle Fairley interview pic grab is genuine and from a dated, published article, thanks?

    Like a cover image or a contents page etc?

    It’s just that it’s proving impossible to find the article online, and as I’m sure you are aware there has been a spate of faked reportage, doctored Twitter pages and the like over the years re: LSH (not that yours is one of them!)

  128. Wimsey: Ah, so you knew Harry Potter fans 10 years ago!?

    Of course, there will always be the “it’s a trick question!” fans.Anyone who has taught knows this sort: they think that every question on the test is a trick question, and then they get upset when they get marked down for failing to answer the question that they were asked.There always are some fans that try to do the equivalent!

    Definitely. I still talk to many of my favorite HP fan friends.

    I had one student this term who believed every question was a deliberate conspiracy against him. The question was wrong, obviously.

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