Season 4: How much will be Iron Islands and Dorne?

[Basileus777]

I do think these Yara changes signal a significant restructing of the Ironborn plotline. I'd expect no Kingsmoot if she's not in the Iron Islands.

The show runners have spoken about "negative population growth" in terms of cast size, and the Iron Islands is a convenient place to cut characters and locations.

[Spidey]

Lemme guess: Yara manages to free Theon and brings him back to Pyke. However, since Theon has been brainwashed, it turns out this was Ramsay's plan all along and Theon throws Balon of a bridge.

[julyleo]

Back to Dorne,I honestly think they should wet viewers feet with Dorne next season and introduce Doran and/or Arianne because Dorne was the biggest problem I had with Feast and I think that is mainly because the Dornish are so far removed from everyone else and they were introduced so late in the game.What I would do is have a small scene with Oberyn and Doran and even Arianne discussing Elia and the desire for justice while Oberyn says that he will go to KIng's Landing in place for Doran.

[Arkash]

Something I picked up on rewatch : when Yara leaves Pyke, the camera lingers on that tall bearded man who we see quite clearly again on the ship.

Maybe it's nothing but I could see this guy becoming a little side-kick or "three-line-silhouette-character", who knows.

I'm ready to bet we will see more of Rickon through Yara.

[Lord Bored]

Back to Dorne,I honestly think they should wet viewers feet with Dorne next season and introduce Doran and/or Arianne because Dorne was the biggest problem I had with Feast and I think that is mainly because the Dornish are so far removed from everyone else and they were introduced so late in the game.What I would do is have a small scene with Oberyn and Doran and even Arianne discussing Elia and the desire for justice while Oberyn says that he will go to KIng's Landing in place for Doran.

I can see this happening. They would appear in about three episodes I imagine. The first episode would be saying goodbye and sending Oberyn and Ellaria off to KL (while getting brief glimpses at the family dynamics between him and Doran, him and the Sand Snakes, etc), then the duel between Oberyn and Gregor happens in Episode 6 or 7, and we return to Dorne with Ellaria for the final two episodes. We'd get just enough of them for the season without them overshadowing things, while at the same time being provided a perfect segue into Season 5 when their part in the story would increase.

[julyleo]

I can see this happening. They would appear in about three episodes I imagine. The first episode would be saying goodbye and sending Oberyn and Ellaria off to KL (while getting brief glimpses at the family dynamics between him and Doran, him and the Sand Snakes, etc), then the duel between Oberyn and Gregor happens in Episode 6 or 7, and we return to Dorne with Ellaria for the final two episodes. We'd get just enough of them for the season without them overshadowing things, while at the same time being provided a perfect segue into Season 5 when their part in the story would increase.

Yea but the Sand Snakes may get cut especially since they do NOTHING except bitch about Doran and wanting revenge unless the showrunners know what's what with them.

[Pinkie Baelish]

To be honest, I could see Victarion getting cut with Euron being the sole antagonist in the Iron Islands. By doing this, not only do they avoid having to cast another character, but it gives Euron extra screentime if he sails to Meereen instead of Vic. But I would prefer that they only made this change if Vic does not have a significant part to play in the future that can't be easily replicated by Euron.

Pros:

-Streamlines things

-Avoids having to introduce another character

-Avoids introducing yet another conflict between two characters(Vic vs Euron)

Cons:

-They'll be cutting out Victarion Greyjoy

-They'll be cutting out Victarion Greyjoy

-THEY'LL BE CUTTING OUT VICTARION FUCKING GREYJOY

[Queen of Whores]

They'll probably only have two or three Sandsnakes. I don't see the point in cutting all of them, just in case a couple of them are needed later on in the story.

[YouSnowNothing]

To be honest, I could see Victarion getting cut with Euron being the sole antagonist in the Iron Islands. By doing this, not only do they avoid having to cast another character, but it gives Euron extra screentime if he sails to Meereen instead of Vic. But I would prefer that they only made this change if Vic does not have a significant part to play in the future that can't be easily replicated by Euron.

Pros:

-Streamlines things

-Avoids having to introduce another character

-Avoids introducing yet another conflict between two characters(Vic vs Euron)

Cons:

-They'll be cutting out Victarion Greyjoy

-They'll be cutting out Victarion Greyjoy

-THEY'LL BE CUTTING OUT VICTARION FUCKING GREYJOY

All those cons are pros to me. Cut the dumb squid I say, cut 'em all.

[Pinkie Baelish]

All those cons are pros to me. Cut the dumb squid I say, cut 'em all.

BLASPHEMY. Victarion killing 10 men at once is too good not to put on TV. The whole character is just entertaining as hell, and I would really hate to see him get axed. We've already been denied of Vargo. I couldn't bear to lose my main man Vic :crying:

[Mark Antony]

Yeah Vic is dumb as a stump but so entertaining. His fight with Talbert Serry is so fucking awesome

[RedRum]

You could probably push Dorne back to slightly before the Golden Company lands (assuming that still happens). Use some of the Dorne plot to set up the potential Martell / Targaryen alliance and then have it immediately tie in to them having to decide whether or not to join up with "Aegon" (or even Dany if they merge the Golden Company plotline into hers).

[go joff go]

I wouldn't be shocked if they moved up Dorne. IF they are going to keep one or the other of the GReyjoys, the martells, or both they need to move at least one of their storylines into season 4. B/C of the consolidation of storylines (Jaimie reaches KL, Sam and Jon back together) or elimination of storylines (Robb) there is a window to get one of the other families stories going. Judging by the news that they are going to Iceland to shoot a new location in the summer that makes me think that its going to be Dorne. The only option is Mereen which doesn't seem likely. This would also really alleviate some of the too many storylines going on at once pressures of AFFC and ADWD.

[YouSnowNothing]

Given the current status of Theon and Yara - both perfectly poised to head into ADWD material already, I wonder if we could genuinely be getting their ADWD plot in S4. The only thing missing is Stannis, and you don't necessarily need Stannis for it. In S4 we could have:

- Ramsay and Theon head to Winterfell

- Ramsay marries fake!Arya

- Yara follows them and lays siege to Winterfell, is repelled

- Theon rescues Jeyne and escapes, reunites with Yara

Then they're lost in the snow, ready to both be captured by Stannis in early S5. Then we can head straight into Winds material, including the Battle of Winterfell.

It wouldn't be my preferred structure, as it means either accelerating the pre-Stannis Wall storyline or minimising Stannis-at-the-wall time, which I'd hate as Stannis/Jon interactions are some of my favourite. But I don't see how they're reconciling this new Yara plot with the Kingsmoot, or what they can do with Theon for another season.

BLASPHEMY. Victarion killing 10 men at once is too good not to put on TV. The whole character is just entertaining as hell, and I would really hate to see him get axed. We've already been denied of Vargo. I couldn't bear to lose my main man Vic :crying:

Is this a good time to mention that I never liked Vargo as a character either? :P

[YTDN]

Given the current status of Theon and Yara - both perfectly poised to head into ADWD material already, I wonder if we could genuinely be getting their ADWD plot in S4. The only thing missing is Stannis, and you don't necessarily need Stannis for it. In S4 we could have:

- Ramsay and Theon head to Winterfell

- Ramsay marries fake!Arya

- Yara follows them and lays siege to Winterfell, is repelled

- Theon rescues Jeyne and escapes, reunites with Yara

Then they're lost in the snow, ready to both be captured by Stannis in early S5. Then we can head straight into Winds material, including the Battle of Winterfell.

It wouldn't be my preferred structure, as it means either accelerating the pre-Stannis Wall storyline or minimising Stannis-at-the-wall time, which I'd hate as Stannis/Jon interactions are some of my favourite. But I don't see how they're reconciling this new Yara plot with the Kingsmoot, or what they can do with Theon for another season.

My thought is that we'll get the 'Reek' chapter in Season 4- Reek being released from the dungeon, Moat Cailin, meeting Jeyne and ending with the 'I'm not the turncloak, I'm Reek, it rhymes with freak' scene. I imagine with the Fake Arya plot what will happen is that after Sansa escapes, Tywin will pull Jeyne out of the 'backup plans' box and we have the scene where Jaime sends her north. I imagine Sansa's escape will be quite early this season, so Fake Arya could be sent off in episode 5 or 6, which would be a good moment to cut back up to Theon who is fully reekified. I think the scene in episode 10 is a good conclusion to Theon's 'torture' storyline, with the rest being implied, and they should have him offscreen for a few episodes until his return.

I'm not quite sure what they're planning to do with Yara, but my current theory is she does sail all around Westeros and up the Narrow Sea, but gets captured by Stannis en route, who informs her that Ramsay has left the Dreadfort anyway, and that Euron is sitting the Seastone chair. Season 5 will have Stannis marching on Winterfell with Yara in tow (it's safe to assume Deepwood Motte has been cut), and Theon's Winterfell plot and recuing Jeyne happening concurrently.

[Arkash]

BLASPHEMY. Victarion killing 10 men at once is too good not to put on TV. The whole character is just entertaining as hell, and I would really hate to see him get axed. We've already been denied of Vargo. I couldn't bear to lose my main man Vic :crying:

Vic rocks ! An exasperating human being but such a badass !

[~No One~]

They'll probably only have two or three Sandsnakes. I don't see the point in cutting all of them, just in case a couple of them are needed later on in the story.

First of all, hilarious user name :)

Secondly, I think they'll keep Sarella/Alleras as she becomes important to Sam when he's in Oldtown. Maybe they'll cut the rest.... I don't think they'd be missed.

I can also see the Kingsmoot in S4 being between Euron + Victarion only, since Asha is already off to the Dreadfort. Total streamlining there :)

[Pinkie Baelish]

I think it would be a good idea if Arianne was part of Oberyn's escort to KL. It introduces her earlier, and avoids having to cast yet another new character for season 5.

[Ignacia]

After this season finale I'm starting to doubt that we will get the kingsmoot at all. It's difficult for us to predict wich storylines will be cut, because we can´t know for sure if they are going to be important in the future, but the Ironborn might be one of them.

I'm guessing we will hear of Balon's death early in the season (before Joffrey's death). Yara may receive the news, but I don't think she will go back. It would be kind of repetitive to watch her leave the islands to search for Theon, then return so she can introduce a bunch of new characters with similar sounding names, then go back to the North so she can start her search for Theon again. And then end up captured by Stannis by the beginning of season 5.

OTOH, I think that having the kingsmoot without her would be a terrible mistake, since she is the only character present that we are familiar with. I feel that if they wanted to give us the kingsmoot it could have been really easy to end S3 with Balon's death, have the scene in the first couple of S4 episodes, and then have Yara start her search for Theon by episode 3.

So, my theory is that they have decided to start, in some way, Yara's book 5 material. Of course, it's probably going to be filler, but I'm guessing it will give Theon something to do for a while, and her storyline would end in a way that would let her be captured by Stannis early in S5. After all, she is not a main character, so she probably won't appear in too much episodes.

Now, the Victarion storyline. I believe they will cut Aeron (at least for now) and merge Euron and Victarion (mostly Euron, I think). This way, they can start with Euron in Essos, planning to return to the Iron Islands to rule them some day, and make him fill Victarion's role in giving her the horn (and whatever Victarion's is supposed to do in TWoW). If the Iron Islands storyline is not really that important and Victarion ends up dying in the books, then he can die. If the Iron Islands ends up being important (as Martin seems to hint) then he can return to Iron Islands to do whatever needs to happen (and maybe we could have Aeron, Victarion and the Kingsmoot by S6 or S7).

It's just speculation, though. I probably got it all wrong :)

[YouSnowNothing]

What if this is what they're going to be doing with Yara:

S4:

Ep 1/2: Sailing to the Dreadfort, gets news of Balon's death, hears that her Uncle Euron has become King. Decides to continue in the rescue mission.

Ep 3/4: Met by Stannis' forces. Thinking she may have the advantage on the sea, decides to meet him in battle. We don't see the outcome.

Then that's the last we see of Stannis until he turns up at the Wall, which will probably be around episode 7. This re-injects some of the tension that was lost when the S3 finale explicitly reveals his destination earlier than expected - we don't know if Stannis won that battle or not, or if he can still make it to the Wall in time.

Ep 8-10: We meet Yara again as Stannis arrives at the Wall, revealing that she was defeated and taken prisoner.

Meanwhile, Theon's arc climaxes with Ramsay's wedding to "Arya" in Winterfell.

S5:

- Instead of staying in Stannis' army as his prisoner, she is released by Melisandre and sent with Mance on his mission to rescue "Arya", early in the season, instead of his spearwives.

- They complete the rescue mission around episode 6/7 and reunite with Stannis' army.

- This sets us up for the Battle of Winterfell to climax S5.

This allows them to go ahead and put Theon in Winterfell in mid-S4 and use up some of his ADWD material instead of keeping him chained to that damn cross for another season, but Yara's arrival and the whole escape heist will keep his S5 storyline interesting. It also means no Kingsmoot. If you had asked me before 3x10, I would've told you that the Kingsmoot would've been in for sure. But I don't see why in seven hells they would have Yara leave the Iron Islands if she was just going to return in early S4. And I don't see how they can do a Kingsmoot without her, she's the only recognisable character there, not to mention the only sympathetic one. Instead, I think we're due for an off-screen Euron becoming King easily, and then taking Victarion's role in sailing directly to Daenerys. We may see him in S5, or perhaps not even until S6, when he does whatever he's going to do in TWOW.