San Diego Comic Con 2016: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Panel Announced, Kit Harington Is Not Attending

Season 6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones has just concluded, however, fans can still get their fix at San Diego Comic Con 2016 later this month. The 47th annual San Diego Comic Con event is the go to place for the latest news on TV shows, movies, comics and geek culture in general and will be held July 21-24.

Season 6 of Game of Thrones managed to draw together many of the storylines that seemed disjointed for so long. As the show moves forward into Season 7, the story seems almost streamlined now. Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) has finally gathered a fleet and is crossing the sea on her way to Westeros, a place her family fled before she was born after her mad father and brother were killed and replaced on the iron throne by Jon Arryn (John Standing) and then Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy). After a horrible marriage to Ramsay Bolton, Sansa Stark has finally retaken Winterfell along with the help of her half brother, Jon Snow (Kit Harington). Except Jon is not really Sansa’s brother, but her cousin. Thanks to a secret held by Sansa’s father, Ned Stark (Sean Bean), Jon Snow is actually the offspring of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. This makes him just as much an iron throne contender as Daenerys. The other Starks, Arya (Maisie Williams) and Bran are homeward bound also. Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), however, has blown up King’s Landing and claimed the iron throne as her own. Season 7 should see many of the kingdoms of Westeros joining forces to bring her down, including the Starks and Daenerys Stormborn.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the following cast membersfrom HBO’s Game of Throneswill be attending San Diego Comic Con this year: John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Isaac Hemptstead Wright (Bran Stark), Conleth Hill (Varys), Faye Marsay (The Waif), Kristian Nairn (Hodor), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark). Joining the cast will be Game of Thronesshowrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and director Michael Sapochnik. Sapochnik is responsible for the final two episodes of Season 6, Episode 9 (entitled “Battle of the Bastards”) and Episode 10 (entitled “The Winds of Winter”), arguably the most impressive episodes to date in Game of Thronesand certainly the longest. The Game of Thronespanel will be held in Hall H at 2:15 p.m. on Friday, July 22.

Interesting to note is the fact Kit Harington will be absent from this year’s San Diego Comic Con. The Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones left his character’s life hanging in the balance. Season 6 saw Jon Snow resurrected from the dead by the red priestess, Melisandre (Carice van Houten) and by the Season 6 finale, his true identity as a Targaryen and the legitimate heir to the iron throne was revealed. Many fans will be disappointed Kit Harington will not be present this year to discuss Jon Snow’s huge story arc.

This is the 47th year San Diego Comic Con has been held, making it the longest running convention of its kind. San Diego Comic Con will run from Thursday, July 21, to Sunday, July 24, at the San Diego Convention Center with a special review night on Wednesday, July 20. Fans can already get their hands on exclusives via the Comic Con website. If you want to pre-order your SDCC 2016 T-shirt, you have until Wednesday to do so. To order a T-shirt you must be attending San Diego Comic Con and the shirt must be picked up from SDCC before the end of the event as there is no mail services available for this item. For full details, please visit the San Diego Comic Con website. For the rest of the first wave of exclusives, you can visit this page. Clicking on each company name will reveal the exclusive deals already available.

According to a recent interview with Deadline, Game of Thrones will return to HBO with a shortened Season 7 in 2017.

Are you going to San Diego Comic Con 2016? What would you like to know from the Game of Thrones panel? Let us know by commenting below!