A scene explaining one of Game Of Thrones' most baffling twists was cut from the finale
[Note: As implied by the headline, this Newswire discusses plot points from the seventh-season finale of Game Of Thrones, “The Dragon And The Wolf.” Don’t say we didn’t warn you.]
Our editor Sean O’Neal liked it anyway, but you don’t have to be one of those people who picks apart Wile E. Coyote cartoons (or an employee of Adult Swim, for that matter) to have issues with the writing on Game Of Thrones this season. Journeys that used to take a season to complete—hell, why not two?—are now accomplished in less than a single episode, and the show seems to be inventing improbable alliances and illogical conflicts just to keep the story going.
Which brings us to Arya and Sansa Stark. Although the recently reunited siblings’ feud ended up being part of a secret scheme to bring about Littlefinger’s final reckoning, that scheme was kept secret from the audience as well. So were the showrunners just being sloppy by having Arya and Sansa fake-threaten each other alone in a locked room in a world where there is no electricity, let alone hidden cameras? Was Littlefinger listening at the door with a dragonglass goblet to his ear? And what the hell was Bran doing at the inquest? As Variety explains, Arya’s animosity towards her sister was real, and its sudden reversal was supposed to be explained away in a scene that was cut from the season-seven finale:
“We actually did a scene that clearly got cut, a short scene with Sansa where she knocks on Bran’s door and says, ‘I need your help,’ or something along those lines,” Isaac Hampstead-Wright, who plays Bran on the show, says. “So basically, as far as I know, the story was that it suddenly occurred to Sansa that she had a huge CCTV department at her discretion and it might be a good idea to check with him first before she guts her own sister. So she goes to Bran, and Bran tells her everything she needs to know, and she’s like, ‘Oh, shit.’”
So, basically, Arya really did intend to kill Sansa, but changed her mind when Sansa offered up Littlefinger’s throat for the slitting instead. And Bran knew, because he knows everything, but wasn’t going to say anything until Sansa asked. And the show meant to explain all of this, but cut it in favor of Jon Snow’s butt. Silver linings, we guess.
[via i09, which, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]