A couple months ago actor Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor, had let it slip that his character and Isaac Hempstead Wright’s character, Bran, were going to take the bench for season 5. Now Producer David Benioff speaks out on why it was the best decision for the storyline.
“The fact is, even though we’re making changes to the books and adapting as necessary, we’re trying to keep the various storylines the same as the books and trying to keep them roughly [chronologically]parallel. And last year we caught up to the end of Bran’s storyline [in George R.R. Martin’s most recent A Song of Ice and Fire novel, A Dance with Dragons]. So if we pushed him forward this season, then he’s way ahead of where the other characters are.”
We last saw Bran in the cave that contained the Three-Eyed Raven. In which we assume, as fans that haven’t read the books, that Bran will be taught to use his new warg powers. Bran’s future didn’t seem to have much of a compelling storyline from there.
“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…” Benioff didn’t want to reveal much more beyond that.
Fans maybe sad to see Bran and Hodor absent from the upcoming season but as EW points out it allows the show to juggle the many other storylines that are active. To name a few: Dany in Meereen, Arya in Essos, Jon Snow at the Wall, and not to forget the new thread of Dorne. Even with some stories on hiatus, how can they manage to weave the story of all these characters together?!
