Jon Snow is dead.
Sorry, Game of Thrones fans, that doesn't come from me (no screeners were provided), but from the mothership itself.
In the cryptic episode logline (those synopses that run with the TV listings) HBO officially and succinctly sums up the Season 6 premiere with this: "Jon Snow is dead. Daenerys meets a strong man. Cersei sees her daughter again."
Whoa! Is that a Jon Snow spoiler? Hardly. On Game of Thrones, the dead sometimes don't stay dead. Ending what has been the most discussed hiatus since "Who shot J.R.?," we finally find out at 8 p.m. today whether the beloved Snow is not only merely dead, but really most sincerely dead.
Thrones fans have been dissecting teaser clips and new trailers on HBO's website, as well as parsing every enigmatic quote from cast and crew for months.
There have been Kit Harington sightings all over Thrones filming locations, but the actor who plays the moral center of the show has not backed off his initial statement that he is "dead, dead, dead" and was on set simply playing a corpse.
Harington recently told a British talk show, "I filmed some scenes of me being dead. It's some of my best work. It's going to be so satisfying when you see it and you realize that I was telling the truth the whole time."
The truth, perhaps, but not the whole truth. Look at all the buzz the Snow speculation has generated since last season ended. Had Harington or HBO spilled the beans, just think of all the free publicity that would have been lost.
Tonight's episode is titled "The Red Woman." That's an obvious reference to the red priestess Melisandre (Carice van Houten) who has the ability (as we've witnessed) to bring folks back from the dead.
Don't forget, we saw Melisandre ride into Castle Black shortly before Snow was skewered a la Julius Caesar a half dozen times by mutinous Night's Watch brethren, including his young steward, Olly. They were upset over his leadership decisions involving the wildlings.
According to the trailers, the 10-episode Season 6 picks up shortly after the events in the June 14 Season 5 finale.
As a reminder, in an episode seen by 8.11 million, last season ended with Snow bleeding out on the ground, his glassy eyes staring into the void.
To explain the logline's "Daenerys meets a strong man" statement, viewers will recall that when we last saw her, Daenerys had been abandoned by her wounded dragon Drogon and found herself surrounded by a host of scowling Dothraki raiders.
The trailers show her bound and being stripped. Not a good sign that the Dothraki plan to welcome her back.
As for "Cersei sees her daughter again," that would be her beloved daughter Myrcella Baratheon. Her beloved dead daughter, who was poisoned by a delayed deadly kiss from Ellaria Sand in Dorne and was being escorted home to King's Landing by Jaime Lannister, her real father.
In other cliffhangers, Sansa and Reek (the former Theon Greyjoy) leaped from the walls of Winterfell. Of course they survived, but what now?
Arya Stark used her Faceless Man skills to sneak off and dispatch the sadist Meryn Trant, a man on her hit list. However, the mentor back at the House of Black and White makes her pay the price and she's struck blind.
Back in Mereen, Jorah Mormont and the sellsword Daario decide to go searching for the missing Daenerys while Tyrion stays behind to run things with Missandei and Grey Worm.
Finally, the Season 5 finale saw Cersei's long, naked, humiliating walk of shame through King's Landing. Is she contrite? Not only no, but hell no. Her enemies should be very, very afraid.
Backing that up is the newest member of the Kingsguard, Ser Gregor Clegane (the Mountain), who has been re-animated in the Frankenstein-esque dungeon laboratories of Qyburn.
GOT CHAT
Can't get enough Thrones? Inspired, no doubt, by The Walking Dead's popular aftershow Talking Dead, HBO has teamed with sports columnist/podcaster Bill Simmons to create a weekly series to discuss Game of Thrones.
HBO says, After the Thrones will be "a lively, humorous and sophisticated look" at the series with hosts Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan from The Ringer, Simmons' new digital content site.
Simmons was the editor-in-chief of ESPN's online magazine Grantland until his contract was not renewed last fall and Grantland was shut down.
After the Thrones will be available Mondays after each Game of Thrones episode on HBOnow.com, HBOgo.com and HBO On Demand.
HBO adds, "Play dates on the main HBO channel will be announced as they are confirmed."
After the Thrones will recap the lastest episode, explaining the who, what, when and where, exploring the complicated politics and history of Thrones, and offer absurd and not-so-absurd theories about future episodes."
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 04/24/2016