‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 6 To Feature The White Walkers At Riverrun?

Forget everything you think you know about Game of Thrones and Westeros, because it looks like Season 6 will be the game changer to end all game changers. Since Season 1, the residents of Westeros and fans of the hit HBO series have all lived with the looming threat of winter. In the last episodes Game of Thrones Season 5, winter finally descended in brutal fashion, and it’s not over yet.

When fans last saw new episodes of Game of Thrones, winter descended on the northern most areas of Westeros in the episode “Hardhome,” and brought the merciless White Walkers with it. Since then, there has been one question in the minds of Game of Thrones fans, how far south will the White Walkers get before someone stops them? The answer appears to be, all the way to Riverrun.

According to fan site Winter is Coming, there has been a flurry of activity in Corbet, Banbridge Ireland. Corbet serves as the location of Riverrun, the seat of House Tully. Since production of Game of Thrones Season 6 began in July, the siege of Riverrun has played out on the sets in Corbet, but apparently the forces of House Tully and House Lannister won’t be the only aggressors in the siege. Reportedly, extras dressed as White Walkers we spotted during filming this week.

S6 Locale Corbet, Banbridge Ireland. Kristian Nairn (Hodor) 1 of the actors on location this week along with…..WHITE WALKERS and Wildlings

— Irish Thrones (@IrishThrones) November 27, 2015

Could Hodor and the White Walkers be on a collision course with Riverrun? It would be amazing. It would be epic. But it’s unlikely. The wildlings were last seen moving south of the Wall thanks to an agreement they made with then Lord Commander Jon Snow. Details on what part the wildlings will play in Game of Thrones Season 6 have been few and far between, but there are a few possibilities. It’s possible that the surviving wildlings will be hunted down by the Night’s Watch, but battles in Seasons 3, 4, and 5 have left the numbers of the Night’s Watch low. It’s far more likely that the wildlings will join Jon Snow, at least temporarily. That puts the wildlings at the Battle of the Bastards in Season 6.

When Hodor last appeared in Game of Thrones Season 4, he, Meera Reed, and Bran Stark took refuge with the children of the forest. Sources connected to the production have confirmed that Hodor and Bran will appear in Season 6, but details of their story lines have also been few and far between. It’s possible that Bran would send Hodor south for some reason. Possibly to find Osha and Rickon, who haven’t been seen since Game of Thrones Season 3. However, with no money or resources, the trip would take a long time, even longer with winter descending.

The more likely explanation is that multiple scenes involving multiple characters in different parts of Westeros are being filmed at or near Corbet. This matches with reports from fansite Watchers on the Wall. According to Watchers on the Wall, at least three scenes were in production over the weekend, a scene in the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave, a scene involving the White Walkers, and a scene at Castle Black.

The scenes at Castle Black will reportedly involve the ascension of a new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. There haven’t been any confirmed reports on the identity of the new Lord Commander, except that it is a character fans have seen before. Watchers on the Wall thinks that points to Ser Allister Thorne, the villainous First Ranger who masterminded the attack on Jon Snow in the Season 5 finale, “Mother’s Mercy.”

Find out how far into Westeros the White Walkers go when Game of Thrones returns in April 2016.

[Image via HBO]