'Game of Thrones' showrunners on why you haven't seen THAT character

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Where’s Coldhands? Where’s Lady Stoneheart? What about Strong Belwas?

The showrunners of Game of Thrones are aware of the characters and plotlines that some fans of George R.R. Martin’s books would also like to see in the HBO series. (Or at least vaguely aware, as they avoid reading Thrones reactions online when possible.) Now David Benioff and Dan Weiss are breaking their silence—sort of—on this sensitive issue.

First, I asked Weiss about L.S. (I’m not explaining who the character is since it’s a spoiler). I noted that after she didn’t appear in the fourth season finale, some fans expect to see her in season 5 (despite a certain actor and director saying there are no plans to include the character). So do the producers want to put an end to the speculation?

“We reached that point that commenting individually on what is or is not in the show from the books is a prospect of diminishing returns,” Weiss said. “Early on in the process, it was something we talked about a fair amount. [The change of strategy is] not out of any disrespect; the fact that people care enough about the books and the show to have arguments about it is something we have huge gratitude and respect for. I just don’t think there’s value in anything we have to say about it. It opens a Pandora’s box of questions you could spend your whole life answering, and the net result is that what you said will probably make people less happy than if you hadn’t said anything.”

At another time, during an interview with both Benioff and Weiss, the general subject of “things that are different in the show” came up again.

“People will complain about things because they don’t know what’s coming up ahead,” Benioff said. “‘Why haven’t we seen this guy?’ And I think it will be easier once everything is out and it’s 70 hours. Not that people shouldn’t complain—that’s why God invented the Internet—but I think we’d be better able to have that argument later. Sometimes we’re going in a different order or telling a different story. We think the story will all make sense at the end. Otherwise it will be eight wasted years.”

At the very least, this seems to suggest there may be elements from Martin’s saga that may yet be included in the series in some form, even though they were introduced in the books at an earlier time. Or it could simply mean, Wait until this is over, then decide if we nailed it.

“Maybe when it’s all said and done, we can take a rock-throwing tour around the world,” Weiss said. “People can throw rocks at us for everything we did ‘wrong’!”

Or stones, perhaps?

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