Go no further if you haven’t read the books or don’t want to know a major spoiler for season 5 of Game of Thrones….
It’s still unclear how revealing information written in a book released a decade ago is considered a ‘spoiler’ but that’s the world we are living in as ‘Game of Thrones’ continues to trample ratings records en route to a fifth season that will debut in 2015 on HBO.
The end of season 4 left a great many questions (as season finales are supposed to do) but one major missing component that fans were desperate to see was the resurrection of Catelyn Stark as played by actress Michelle Fairley.
Now once again SPOILER ALERT because this reveals some major information from the book series…
Following her death at the Red Wedding, Cat Stark is brought back to life by the Brotherhood without Banners to serve as their new leader and she goes by the name of Lady Stoneheart. With her throat slashed as a result of Walder Frey’s treacherous actions, Cat is no longer able to speak and instead uses actions against anyone involved with the Red Wedding as revenge for the death of her son and his entire armada.
Fans of the show who have read the books were very excited about the prospect of Lady Stoneheart appearing on the show, especially considering the major impact she has on characters such as Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne. Unfortunately since she didn’t make her debut at the end of season 4 as many speculated, we started to wonder if she would be coming on the show at all.
Our greatest fears were realized during an interview Fairley did with EW this week confirming she is done with ‘Game of Thrones’ and Cat Stark won’t be coming back to life at all.
“Yeah, the character’s dead. She’s dead,” Fairley revealed.
The TV show has taken many liberties with the original source material and that’s to be expected, but the news that Lady Stoneheart won’t likely ever make an appearance is certainly a disappointment. In terms of popularity amongst readers, she ranks right up there with Oberyn Martell as far as somebody to root for in a world full of killers and turncoats. Plus let’s be honest, the Starks have to win one sometime, right?
Fairley respects the show runners decision not to bring her back because they have to make the show the best way they see fit and if her return wasn’t in the cards then so be it.
“You respect the writers’ decision. I knew the arc, and that was it,” Fairley said. “They can’t stick to the books 100-percent. It’s impossible—they only have 10 hours per season. They have got to keep it dramatic and exciting, and extraneous stuff along the way gets lost in order to maintain the quality of brilliant show.”
Now one final point on her statement — this could all be smoke and mirrors on Fairley’s part. As crazy as we think it is that anyone calls events revealed from a book already released as ‘spoilers’, this could all be Fairley’s way of throwing us off track before she reappears in season 5 of ‘Game of Thrones’. Then again based on her statement and the brief mention from show runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, it’s not likely Lady Stoneheart will be coming back to life on ‘Game of Thrones’.
Bummer.
