10 Questions Fans Want Answered in Game of Thrones Season Six

How much will the show spoil the books?

With the recent announcement that the next novel in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga will not be released any time soon, HBO’s flagship is heading into uncharted waters with no more published source material to guide the way. Given the widespread dissatisfaction expressed by many over some of the writing decisions made last year by show-runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, it’s understandable that lovers of the source novels, who find themselves in the unique situation of having very little idea what to expect this season, might be a bit worried.

However, perhaps readers need not get too upset. Although last year Martin ceased his usual practice of writing one episode per season so that he can concentrate on finishing “The Winds of Winter”, one would have to imagine that Benioff and Weiss are well aware of at least the broad strokes of the author’s plans for his most pivotal characters. And even if the show does diverge wildly from Martin’s material, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. When TWOW is finally published, book fans will be able to enjoy reading without having been overly spoiled, and non-readers will remain blissfully unaware of any difference.

While it’s true that much of season six will be a mystery until it airs, there is good news for book fans. We can still expect at least a couple familiar story-lines, since the show will be backtracking to Martin’s fourth book in the series, “A Feast For Crows’, to pick up a few delayed plot points. The bad news is that we’ll have to wait for “The Winds of Winter” to be released to find out just what changes the show made.