The Small Council: What are we most excited about for Season 5?

The premiere is in two days. THE PREMIERE IS IN TWO DAYS!  This week, the Small Council discusses what we’re most looking forward to this year. Katie joins the panel to provide an Unsullied perspective.

SPOILERS (and speculation that could amount to spoilers) AHOY!

DAN: Cersei, Cersei, Cersei. By the looks of it, Season 5 will cover the bulk of her story as depicted in A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. In other words, it’ll cover some really good stuff. That’s some of my favorite material from those books, at once incredibly dramatic and darkly funny, as Cersei’s great many hangups finally start to undo her. Moreover, it’ll give Lena Headey a chance to shine. She’s always done a great job with the role, but this season will put the spotlight on her on a way it hasn’t before, and it’s probably the best opportunity she’ll get to nab a few awards. As far as I’m concerned, she’s more than earned it.

I’ll also have my eye on the Wall and Meereen. I was never a huge fan of the stuff at the Wall in the earlier books, but things got interesting in A Dance with Dragons once Stannis and company arrived to mix things up. I hope the show can preserve the complexity of the situation, now that Jon and Stannis and Melisandre all have a chance to bounce off one another.

Likewise, the Meereen sections of A Dance with Dragons were rich but challenging. Fans sometimes seem to turn against Daenerys is she’s not planning to march on Westeros, and her extended stay in Meereen rubbed some the wrong way. At the same time, her attempts to win over the locals shed light on interesting ideas concerning rulers and ruling. Again, I think the key to successfully telling this story is preserving the complexity of her predicament, rather than dumbing it down so she can be on her way.

If I go on any further, I’ll just start previewing the entire season. What are you guys looking forward to, and why?

ANI: I’ll be honest, and this is unfair of me, but having followed all the Game of Thrones-related news so closely over the fall, I feel like I know what to expect when it comes to Dorne. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I appreciate the work HBO did to make the Dornish seem like they will naturally fit into the storyline. And though the show took longer to let the Hardhome cat out of the bag, I’ve seen enough and can surmise enough that I have a good idea where that’s going. Same with Meereen, in fact. Mostly with those stories, I’m looking forward to what The Atlantic’s review called a transcending of the books.

Now, what I’m looking forward to the most is what’s behind those doors in The House of Black and White. With the exception of a single prop shot out of Croatia in September, we’ve seen very little of what happens inside. We’ve seen Arya out on the streets, a ship passing in the night with other story lines. But what lies within is a mystery, a new facet of religious mysticism and magic that we have only glimpsed for a moment all the way back in Season 2. I want to see Arya become one of this order, to undergo the changes that are in store.

CAMERON: I think I’m most excited for the changes that are going to come, and the stuff we book readers won’t see coming. It’s fine to see the show eagerly adapting some of the really cool stuff still left in Feast and Dance, but I’m far more interested in what happens when there is no more book left to cover. We’re already seeing changes to the Dorne storylines, and Sansa is already well past her current place in the books. It’s going to be a very interesting season to cover.

But that being said, Dorne is my favorite location in all of Westeros, and I’m so very excited to see it come to life on-screen. It was a real treat to see the behind-the-scenes photos as they were filming; I don’t think they could have picked a better place on Earth to represent Dorne. Here’s to another season!

KATIE: This season, I’m definitely most looking forward to Sansa’s journey. While she’s picked things up from Margaery and Cersei during her extended stay in King’s Landing, she’s been pretty stagnant, never quite able to move anywhere. But this year, that all changes. Not only is she learning from Petyr Baelish, she’s learning how to manipulate him to achieve her own ends. I especially look forward to seeing what she’ll do if she ever finds out that Petyr betrayed her father.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an appearance from the Dark Sansa who’s learned exactly how to play the game she’s only been a pawn in before. It represents a real step forward for the character. As emotional as Sansa can be, she keeps her cards close to her chest. She’s capable of much more than she gets credit for, and I look forward to her proving that to both herself and those around her.

DANGER! EXPLICIT SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

DAVID: Two words: Dark Sansa. As a strong detractor of the Sansa character over the years, I was extremely happy to see her descend those Eyrie stairs, clothed in black, a sly, knowing smile on her face. Knowing that she goes home to Winterfell in Season 5 makes me simply giddy over the possibilities.  I have so many questions for her story-arc this season that I can barely contain myself.

For instance, will Theon/Reek recognize Sansa and if so, will she recognize him? Will Theon allow his old self to manifest and help Sansa in some way (hopefully delightfully satisfying revenge), or will Reek take over and rat Sansa out to the Boltons? With the nearly unacceptable exclusion of Lady Stoneheart in Season 4, will this new and improved Dark Sansa take on the Lady’s role? Or will Sansa fill the missing Lord Too-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse’s role and bake up some delicious pies?

Other than Sansa, what I’m most excited to see is the showdown in Daznak’s Pit. That scene in A Dance with Dragons is so utterly and completely spine-tingling-chills-causing good that I feel like people will be talking about it all the way until Season 6. Daznak’s Pit and “For the Watch” are my most favorite scenes from Dance, although I don’t know if Benioff and Weiss will include the latter in Season 5.

• Published on 04/10/2015 at 3:50 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT