Back in September, Kristian Nairn, Game Of Thrones’ Hodor, let slip a slight spoiler (as well as a debate over whether advance knowledge of something’s absence can even be considered a “spoiler,” as summarized in the philosophical exegesis, Fuck You @TheAVClub: Unfollow). As Nairn revealed, he suddenly had plenty of room this year to spend touring the globe, reveling in the ancient pastime of raves, because neither Hodor nor Hodor’s accessory Bran would be needed for season five. At the time, Nairn speculated that it was “solely because I imagine our storyline is up to the end of the books.” And now showrunner David Benioff tells Entertainment Weekly that Nairn was right, while also suggesting that maybe he should stick to saying “Hodor.”
“Ideally that wouldn’t have gotten out and it’s unfortunate it did,” Benioff says, in the traditional diplomatic response that greets all Game Of Thrones leaks. Nevertheless, he went on to explain that he and co-showrunner Dan Weiss are “trying to keep the various storylines the same as the books” (except where sexier), and that “last year we caught up to the end of Bran’s storyline. So if we pushed him forward this season, then he’s way ahead of where the other characters are.” Not to mention that doing so would require extrapolating Bran’s storyline from future George R.R. Martin books—the existence of which are, as we all know, merely a ruse.
And anyway, Benioff adds that this next chapter of Bran’s life, which he spends inside a cave, is even less interesting than the previous chapters, in which he was carried to a cave. “It made sense to stop where we did,” Benioff says. “He’s now entering a training period which is going to take quite some time, much of which isn’t particularly cinematic. So rather than being stuck in a cave for a year, we figured it would be interesting to leave him out for a little bit, so when you see him again…” It was here that Benioff trailed off, allowing fans to imagine their eventual reunion with the older, bearded, 6-foot-tall Bran strapped to a visibly straining Hodor.
In the meantime, just picture a training montage set to “Push It To The Limit,” of Bran just sort of lying there listening to an old man.