Game of Thonres Season 06 is only three episodes in, but already many intriguing things have happened. This season has already gotten off to a much different start, as it features flashbacks, something the showrunners have gone great lengths not to do. Now though, with Bran Stark and the Three-Eyed Raven story, it’s almost impossible not to have them, as they help flesh out the grander story.
Talking with the Hollywood Reporter, one of the showrunners discussed in a special “inside the episode” feature the importance of the flashbacks this season:
“The history of this world is so important to understanding the world and to understanding why the characters are motivated as they are and to where they’re headed,” said Benioff. “One of the things that we really loved about this storyline with Bran is the ability to go into the past not as a flashback but we’re seeing it from the perspective of a character that we know and we’re seeing how that character reacted to it.”
Just as important though is whether Bran understands the point of these flashbacks. At present, it doesn’t appear that he sees the whole picture:
“I don’t think Bran knows why he’s being shown this. The Three-Eyed Raven clearly has some pretty set ideas about what exactly Bran needs to know,” Hempstead-Wright told The Hollywood Reporter. “Bran’s left in the dark and is taking the visions as they come. … He has to recognize that these aren’t little trips down memory lane for him to pretend to be happy again and kind of numb himself from the reality of dismal situations facing him back in the cave. He’s being shown very specific things that are going to be key for the future. What that is exactly, Bran doesn’t know.”
Game of Thrones airs on HBO every Sunday.
