'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Cast News: Bran Stark Not In Season 5
The filming of Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" began early this year. Since then there have been rumors that Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and Hodor (Kristian Nairn) will not be making an appearance this season. These rumors were recently confirmed by show runner David Benioff.
Benioff, speaking exclusively to Entertainment Weekly, said Bran's storyline in the show had almost reached the end of "A Dance With Dragons," which is the fifth book in "A Song Of Ice And Fire" series. This means there is no more material for the character.
If Bran had featured in the fifth season, his character's storyline would have leaped ahead of the other characters in the show.
When Bran was last seen in the "Game Of Thrones," he had reached the cave of Lord Bloodraven, also known as the Three-Eyed-Raven.
In the book "A Dance with Dragons," he then spends time in the cave developing his abilities as a warg. However, this wouldn't provide a compelling story for viewers if it was stretched to cover a whole season.
Bran's absence from the fifth season does not cause a lot of trouble for the show because there are several characters and plots surrounding them which are being followed. These characters are scattered from The Wall to King's Landing and even until Meeren. So there are numerous stories that have yet to be utilized from the books and it will be a while before the material is exhausted.
As for the show, it started to deviate from the books last year with the revelation of the Night's King. This year will see more deviations. Many have speculated that a major one would be Jaime Lannister, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, going to Dorne and fighting the Sand Snakes.
