HBO is set to bring ‘Game of Thrones’ to the San Diego Comic-Con 2016.
The premium cable network released an official statement on June 29, Friday, announcing that the award-winning series is confirmed to appear in a panel as well as an autograph session at this year’s event.
The fantasy drama installment, based on the epic fantasy novel series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ by George R.R. Martin, will have its own panel scheduled on July 22, Friday at 2:15 p.m. at the San Diego Convention Center’s Hall.
Cast members who are expected to show up at the event include Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Conleth Hill (Varys), Kristian Nairn (Hodor), and Faye Marsay (The Waif).
Aside from showrunners/executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss, director Michael Sapochnik will also join the panel, which will be moderated by Rob McElhenney (‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’). Sapochnik is known for helming the last two episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’ season 6.
The autograph signing with the cast members will begin at 4:15 p.m. in the Warner Bros. booth #4545.
The final episode for the sixth season of ‘Game of Thrones’ aired last Sunday night. If the showrunners’ decision is followed, the fantasy drama series will only have two seasons left to tell the story.
"It's two more seasons we're talking about," Benioff said in an interview with Deadline. "From pretty close to the beginning, we talked about doing this in 70-75 hours, and that's what we'll end up with. Call it 73 for now."
He added: "We're trying to tell one cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end. ... We've known the end for quite some time and we're hurtling towards it. ... The thing that has excited us from the beginning, back to the way we pitched it to HBO is, it's not supposed to be an ongoing show, where every season it's trying to figure out new story lines.”
As such, the showrunners aim for the series to become “one giant story” without having to come up with unnecessary episodes just because fans are still watching, thus a continuous and consistent plot.
Series star Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, opened up to Entertainment Weekly about Weiss and Benioff’s approach to decision-making in terms of the characters’ survival.
“As with ‘Game of Thrones,’ you know when your character is looking good, that’s when you know you’re not safe. Because [the writers are] all, “Oh, do you like her? We’ll kill her!” she shared.
However, co-star Lena Headey, who plays the vicious Cersei Lannister, believes that her character is also not safe despite ascending into the throne after the unexpected circumstances in the final episode of the sixth season.
“Not a chance in hell. It’s a moment of punctuation in the madness,” the actress said when asked whether she thinks her character will last long as reigning queen.
The ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 premiere date and other details are yet to be announced.
