Game of Thrones Wraps Up Another Season Full of Shocking Moments

Credit: HBO

The dragons of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) have added fire and fury to Game of Thrones’ third season

With jaw-dropping surprises around every corner, Game of Thrones continues to prove that no one is safe

This season of Game of Thrones has delivered a number of jaw-dropping moments, ranging from the fiery might of Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) still-growing dragons to the sadistically shocking — and seemingly pointless — torture of turncoat Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) at the hands of an enigmatic psychopath.

(Ed’s Note: And let’s not talk about last night’s “red wedding” episode. Too soon.)

As has been the case with the past two seasons, this week’s finale promises to bring us several more, which may even come as a surprise to those who have already read the books on which the show is based and think they know what’s coming. 

Death and Game of Thrones

That’s because one of the show’s most devastating traits is its willingness to kill off key characters in service of the storyline — and not necessarily the same characters who meet their makers in the books. In fact, GoT author George R.R. Martin points out that series executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss are even more “bloodthirsty” than he is when it comes to killing characters.

“Their body count is higher than mine,” joked Martin during a recent Game of Thrones panel discussion at the Paley Center for Media. “When they say no one is safe in the series, that’s literally true. There are characters in book five, and who are going to be in book six [which Martin is currently writing], who are [already] dead on the TV show.” 

Interestingly enough, this deviation from the novels hasn’t engendered outrage from devoted fans; in fact, rather than being upset that the show isn’t slavishly adapting the books, those who’ve read them seem to be enjoying the unforeseen plot twists that take place when the story takes a turn they weren’t expecting. 

As Weiss pointed out, this “culling” of Game of Thrones’ sprawling cast has become something of a necessity. “We need to make room,” he said. “It’s a huge cast and sometimes you need to clear some people out of the way. When you have a world like the world George has built, you start to realize how quickly that story real estate gets taken up. There have been places where we did just have to clear out space to make room for all these [characters] that we love so much and are so invested in, to do them justice.”

The season finale of Game of Thrones airs Sunday, June 9th, at 8 p.m. on HBO Canada.

Originally published in TVW. For daily programming updates and on-screen Entertainment news, subscribe to the free TVW e-newsletters, or purchase a subscription to the weekly magazine.