[BOOK SPOILERS] Predictions for TV series: Season by Season

[Janicia]

Well we will see what WoW says!

The show included Moat Cailin. They could have skipped that but did not. They also gave us Saltpans, we saw as Arya was leaving.

Moat Cailin is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about. In the books, quite a bit happened at Moat Cailin. Robb's army camped there, Victarion took it over during the Ironborn invasion of the North, trapping the Northern armies in the south, Theon keeps the Reed children as captives so that their people won't harass Victarion's troops, Robb intended to pass back through Moat Cailin after hearing that Victarion had left it upon Balon's death, the Crannogmen harass the Ironborn there, and then there is a long Theon sequence there. In the show, Moat Cailin is mentioned a few times and then Theon shows up for one scene that is far more about Theon than it is about Moat Cailin.

[Winnief]

I'm not sure they'll send Sam away at all. The show seems to want to be gathering everything together at the Wall not sending folks away, and Sam can research White Walkers using Castle Black's library. Plus there won't be any baby switching storyline.

Now, Arya's story in Braavos almost certainly will intersect with Westeros somehow, but I think that's more likely to be through the IB and delegations Cersei sends there-hell Arya could cross paths with Varys at some point.

[Ignorant Bog Woman]

I like the idea of some of the storylines appearing in only 3-5 episodes for the season. It worked really well in season 4 with Bran and Theon, so I hope they continue to implement it in season 5. They're sort of gonna have to if they're doing AFFC/ADWD in one season (that's 12-14 storylines).

King's Landing, Castle Black and Meereen can get the usual 8+ episodes, since the Cersei/Jon/Dany ruling dynamic will be the theme of the season.

Tyrion should really only be getting 6 or 7, but you just know he's getting 8+ so it's pointless to speculate.

Arya and Theon are fine with 6, I think.

Stannis, Samwell, Jaime and Davos will branch off early-to-mid season and can get 2-3 episodes for their mini-arcs. (Though Davos might just stay with Stannis.)

Yara and/or Vic, Bran, Brienne, Griffs and Dorne (w/o Jaime) don't need more than 3 episodes.

Sansa is a tricky one. She's never had less than 7 episodes in a season, but they NEED to change that for season 5, IMO. Unless they're going to accelerate into deep TWOW territory, they need to slow her the hell down. 3-4 episodes should be fine. I think it will be Sansa, Robin and LF touring the Vale castles. LF will be showing Robin how to lord, but will be secretly tutoring Sansa and will let her in on his machinations (like the Corbray thing in the book). Sansa will continue to tease and manipulate LF and become a mother figure to Robin. At the end of the season, LF will off Robin and reveal Sansa to the realm, marching the forces of the Vale out the Bloody Gate to do whatever is next for LF.

[Konradsmith]

^Yeah, they'll have to cut down on Sansa. One of the best things about s4 is how sparingly it used some storylines, instead of just checking in on them for no good reason as they'd done sometimes in the past. It ought to keep that up next year. Maybe they could have less Meereen too because they'll have to make room for a bunch of other stuff.

[Colonel Green]

The show seems to want to be gathering everything together at the Wall

Why are you assuming that? There's nobody at the Wall in the show who isn't there in the books.

Sansa is a tricky one. She's never had less than 7 episodes in a season, but they NEED to change that for season 5, IMO. Unless they're going to accelerate into deep TWOW territory, they need to slow her the hell down. 3-4 episodes should be fine. I think it will be Sansa, Robin and LF touring the Vale castles. LF will be showing Robin how to lord, but will be secretly tutoring Sansa and will let her in on his machinations (like the Corbray thing in the book). Sansa will continue to tease and manipulate LF and become a mother figure to Robin. At the end of the season, LF will off Robin and reveal Sansa to the realm, marching the forces of the Vale out the Bloody Gate to do whatever is next for LF.

Regarding the last part, that kind of assumes that Littlefinger gets that far. Though that, in turn, points to the main problem with trying to predict anything about Sansa's part of the show next season. It could be anything from some kind of largely filler arc cobbled together from the remaining pieces of her AFFC material (unlikely, to my mind; if that was the plan, they wouldn't have burned through the LD stuff the way they did) to a big piece of whatever will be happening in TWOW.

The setup for touring the Vale castles would most likely, per laws of character economy and what we know of the importance of certain characters in the books, mean visiting places like Runestone and Ironoaks, whose nobles we've already met this season. Those castles also happen to be the places where most of the known or suggested new characters in Sansa's AFFC/TWOW material would be located. If we're getting Myranda and/or Mya, I expect she'll meet them at Runestone; if Harry Hardyng is showing up (and I think he has to if the show is keeping the idea of Robin's life being in danger and posing a moral quandry), that would be at Ironoaks.

The fact that they kept Meera alive in Bran's story suggests they're likely to have some interpersonal dynamics there, apart from Bran learning stuff from Bloodraven. Isaac will be 16 by the time of filming, so they might get into Bran's crush on her a bit.

[Hath4]

Here is how the per episode count could come out. the wall - 9 episodes Tyrion - 9 episodes kings landing- 8 episodes Danny - 8 episodes theon/ boltons- 6 episodes dorne- 6 episodes arya- 5 episodes Brienne- 4 episodes iron islands- 3 episodes Sansa- 3 episodes bran - 3 episodes. That is the 11 storylines we may begin the season with. Others that develop over the year. Jamie - 4 episodes 2 in dorne 2 in River lands. stannis 3 post wall. Sam 2 post wall. Aegon 2 post Tyrion. Davos plot eliminated stays with stannis until being sent to find rickon.

[Ignorant Bog Woman]

Here is how the per episode count could come out. the wall - 9 episodes Tyrion - 9 episodes kings landing- 8 episodes Danny - 8 episodes theon/ boltons- 6 episodes dorne- 6 episodes arya- 5 episodes Brienne- 4 episodes iron islands- 3 episodes Sansa- 3 episodes bran - 3 episodes. That is the 11 storylines we may begin the season with. Others that develop over the year. Jamie - 4 episodes 2 in dorne 2 in River lands. stannis 3 post wall. Sam 2 post wall. Aegon 2 post Tyrion. Davos plot eliminated stays with stannis until being sent to find rickon.

That's almost exactly what I said.

The bold part is interesting. I assumed Jaime's Riverlands arc was done away with when the Blackfish was already on the run since episode 310 and when Brienne mentioned that the Freys already hold Riverrun in 407. But, D&D referring to "Jaime building a jetpack" lends credence to the belief that he will still get his Riverlands arc. I don't think they would use that specific phrase if it was just King's Landing -> Dorne. It must be King's Landing -> Dorne -> Riverlands. I don't like it, because it would probably mean his Dorne adventure ends up the way of Yara's visit to the Dreadfort - pointless, but there you have it.

[Konradsmith]

I don't think Jaime in Dorne will be pointless. I think he and Doran will cooperate to foil the Myrcella plot, which might make it more interesting.

[Winnief]

I don't think they would use that specific phrase if it was just King's Landing -> Dorne. It must be King's Landing -> Dorne -> Riverlands. I don't like it, because it would probably mean his Dorne adventure ends up the way of Yara's visit to the Dreadfort - pointless, but there you have it.

I actually got the impression they'll be starting next season with Jaime already in Dorne.

[King Tommen]

I don't think Jaime in Dorne will be pointless. I think he and Doran will cooperate to foil the Myrcella plot, which might make it more interesting.

I think it's strange that Jaime is apparently smuggling himself secretly into Dorne (as per the leaked audition) if he and Doran are going to be cooperating. It stands to reason that if he's trying to enter Dorne secretly, he's on a mission to get Myrcella out without anyone knowing. Otherwise, he could just arrive in a diplomatic capacity to plead his case to Doran.

My preliminary guess is that he will grab Myrcella, escape with her and be stopped by Areo and the Sandsnakes. When the jig is up and having to perhaps answer to Doran, he'll return empty-handed and then he can possibly meet up with Brienne for the end of his ADWD arc.

I would be shocked if they included any of his Riverlands stuff. It's not necessary the way they've played things on the show.

[Ignorant Bog Woman]

I don't think Jaime in Dorne will be pointless. I think he and Doran will cooperate to foil the Myrcella plot, which might make it more interesting.

I just don't have a lot of faith in D&D-invented storylines after season 4. They have a tendency to make it really hard to suspend my disbelief (why did Yara not kill Ramsay? why did Ramsay not attempt to capture Yara? why were Arya and Sandor let go at the Bloody Gate?), because they don't think things through, it seems.

I actually got the impression they'll be starting next season with Jaime already in Dorne.

Oh hell no. We need to see Jaime and Cersei break apart for the awesome moment in which a letter is thrown into a fire. I think he'll be in King's Landing for at least two episodes.

[Konradsmith]

I'm sure we'll get his reaction to his dad's death. And the Jaime in Dorne thing, I assume, will be throwing him and Bronn into a plotline from AFFC, so it won't be entirely invented.

[Colonel Green]

I would guess that Jaime will be in King's Landing for at least the first 2-3 episodes (reaction to Tywin's death and setting the scene; depending on how Jaime/Cersei is handled, probably an episode about the breakdown of trust between them, and then leaving for whatever he's going to be doing in Dorne).

[El Guapo]

I like the idea of some of the storylines appearing in only 3-5 episodes for the season. It worked really well in season 4 with Bran and Theon, so I hope they continue to implement it in season 5. They're sort of gonna have to if they're doing AFFC/ADWD in one season (that's 12-14 storylines).

King's Landing, Castle Black and Meereen can get the usual 8+ episodes, since the Cersei/Jon/Dany ruling dynamic will be the theme of the season.

Tyrion should really only be getting 6 or 7, but you just know he's getting 8+ so it's pointless to speculate.

Arya and Theon are fine with 6, I think.

Stannis, Samwell, Jaime and Davos will branch off early-to-mid season and can get 2-3 episodes for their mini-arcs. (Though Davos might just stay with Stannis.)

Yara and/or Vic, Bran, Brienne, Griffs and Dorne (w/o Jaime) don't need more than 3 episodes.

Sansa is a tricky one. She's never had less than 7 episodes in a season, but they NEED to change that for season 5, IMO. Unless they're going to accelerate into deep TWOW territory, they need to slow her the hell down. 3-4 episodes should be fine. I think it will be Sansa, Robin and LF touring the Vale castles. LF will be showing Robin how to lord, but will be secretly tutoring Sansa and will let her in on his machinations (like the Corbray thing in the book). Sansa will continue to tease and manipulate LF and become a mother figure to Robin. At the end of the season, LF will off Robin and reveal Sansa to the realm, marching the forces of the Vale out the Bloody Gate to do whatever is next for LF.

There is no way Sansa will be appearing in only 3-4 episodes. She will appear in 6-8 episodes like she does every season. If that means they go full steam ahead in to TWOW then so be it.

[Hath4]

Sansa is no more important than theon and he was only in 3 episodes last year.

[Konradsmith]

But there's still a wealth of published Theon material to adapt and a shortage of Sansa stuff. Bran's important too but we saw little of him in s4, so I wouldn't be all too surprised if they cut down on the Sansa this time around.

[King Tommen]

I would guess that Jaime will be in King's Landing for at least the first 2-3 episodes (reaction to Tywin's death and setting the scene; depending on how Jaime/Cersei is handled, probably an episode about the breakdown of trust between them, and then leaving for whatever he's going to be doing in Dorne).

I think it goes without saying that Cersei's the one that's going to order him as head of the Kingsguard (probably against his wishes) on the Myrcella mission as part of her growing paranoia.

[jaimecersei]

lol why do people think jaime burning cersei's letter is such an ~awesome~ moment? i saw it as necessary to advance the plot, because obviously jaime can't just drop everything and go back to king's landing. and i obvioulsly understand why he's tired of cersei and doesn't want to be with her anymore. i that would be bad storytelling. but people being so gleeful about it just comes across as sadistic to me. but then again i shouldn't be surprised because this is the same fandom thats filled with people "LOL IDC WHAT RAMSAY DID TO THEON, HE TOTES DESERVED ALL THE TORTURE BC HE BETRAYED ROBB!!!111" but i'm just saying.....i don't think GRRM wants us to cheer at jaime's gross madonna/whore complex and slut-shaming cersei.

ok back on topic.....

I really hope they don't overdo it with dorne next season and i could do with less sansa as well especially because show!sansa does nothing for me

[Konradsmith]

I wonder if he'll decide to go to Riverrun himself or she'll order that too.

[jaimecersei]

I wonder if he'll decide to go to Riverrun himself or she'll order that too.

i hope he just goes himself. its annoying enough that she's probably sending him to dorne anyways. both show!jaime and show!cersei are only shells of their characters from the books at this point.