‘Game of Thrones’: Complicated lives and glorious goodbyes

LONDON – It seems odd to talk about a TV show’s new season by discussing character deaths and all the things fans have lost.

LONDON – It seems odd to talk about a TV show’s new season by discussing character deaths and all the things fans have lost. It can’t be helped, though, considering “Game Of Thrones (GOT)” and its source material – George R. R. Martin’s epic series of novels “A Song Of Fire And Ice” – do not shy away from those gut-wrenching moments.

Unlike other popular shows, the deaths on “GOT,” the most important ones, don’t come off simply as shock value; they have far-reaching consequences, even the ones we can’t pinpoint yet after five books and five seasons.seasons Season 5 ended with what many felt was a cliffhanger so you could see why, at the “Game Of Thrones” media junket for Season 6 in London, character deaths were hot topic.

For a show that counts “Valar morghulis” as one of its most popular phrases, which means “All men must die,” this is hardly surprising.

“(When) people think about iconic moments from the shows so far, you don’t really remember many iconic kisses,” John Bradley-West (who plays a Night’s Watch steward, Samwell Tarly) says thoughtfully when he’s asked about happy endings for the show’s characters. “Happy endings aren’t necessarily important, it’s just a good ending we like.”

While he says itwouldit would be nice to see someone perish without any unfinished business, he believes his character would like to “die with baby Sam and Gilly next to him, knowing that they’ll be okay. That’s what really matters.”

Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy) has a much less bleak scenario for how he wishes his character would exit, seeing him possibly “covered in chocolate” or “something nice.”

Dean Charles-Chapman, who plays young king Tommen Baratheon, successor to King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), says, “I want to kill someone before I die.” Judging from the turn of events from last season, Chapman’s wish might not be too far off.

As for Isaac Wright, he envisions a “terribly gruesome” demise for his character, the crippled Brandon Stark, with “lots of prosthetics and blood spurting.” If Wright thinks that befits a Warg like Bran, his co-star Ellie Kendrick, who plays his companion Meera Reed, imagines a spectacular exit for her low-key character. She wants Meera to “maybe ride the dragon… and slowly get thrown through the air and burst into flames.”

Maisie Williams’ Arya Stark has gone through so much in five seasons already that she would hardly be a character people would just forget. Still, when it comes to an ending she wishes for Arya, the English actress laughs and says, “I get stabbed five times in the chest and maybe people will keep talking about me,” in reference to the last time we see Jon Snow (Kit Harington) in the widely debated season ender.

For season 6, which premieres in the Philippines on April 25 exclusively on HBO and HBO Go, the stakes are higher for the remaining power players in Westeros. Will Cercei regain power and avenge herself? Will Tyrion and Daenerys Targaryen ( Emilia Clarke) finally be allies? And, the recurring question, is Jon Snow still alive? What happens now that the series has gone off-book? We may get all the answers or none at all, but certainly it will be a truly compelling season for the show’s millions of followers. (