When HBO's "Game of Thrones" ended its fourth season, Bran Stark, together with Meera and Hodor, discovered a cave where he met the Three-Eyed Raven wizard. Everyone thought, finally, Bran's storyline will be picking up as it looks like he is headed for something big. However, that is not the case.
A couple of months back, Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor, said something he wasn't supposed to. He said that Hodor and Bran will have the season 5 off. "Game of Thrones" showrunner David Benioff had no choice but to confirm what Nairn said and explain why they decided to do this.
"Ideally that wouldn't have gotten out and it's unfortunate it did," Benioff explained to Entertainment Weekly. "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."
Additionally, "Game of Thrones" could've continued with Bran's story but Benioff believes that making Bran stuck in a cave is not good TV. Plus, the showrunners are still waiting for word on what will happen to Bran in the next books.
Nevertheless, it's not like the loss of Bran in season 5 will be a huge downer for the new season. There's tons more characters to focus on like Daenerys, Tyrion, Arya, Jon Snow, Sansa and Cersei. Come to think of it, "A Feast of Crows" actually had more than half of the major characters absent in the novel. This decision by Benioff pales in comparison with what George R.R. Martin did in the book.
"Game of Thrones" season 5 returns to HBO next spring. Watch out for the new addition in Westeros — Dorne — in the new season.
