Warning this articles contains spoilers from Game of Thrones and possible leaks from cast interviews.
The fifth episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones premieres this Sunday at 9 pm EST, here are a few predictions for the next episode and the rest of the season.
1. Cersei is planning something devious for her upcoming trial with The Faith.
In an interview with a Polish publication Jonathan Pryce, the actor that plays the High Sparrow hints to how Cersei’s trial will go down. He says the High Sparrow and everyone else will be waiting in the Sept of Baelor for Cersei’s trial to start, but Cersei is nowhere to be found — then something very unpleasant will happen.
Forum goers are already speculating that this will be a Red Wedding scenario, where Cersei blows up the Sept with wildfire, taking out the Tyrells and the Faith Militant in one “Battle of Blackwater” million-dollar explosion.
2. Bran will be attacked by White Walkers and be forced to leave the cave.
The credit for this one goes to jamieandclare on the A Song of Ice and Fire subreddit.
In last week’s promos, you could see Bran spying on the Night’s King through Weirwood.net. In and earlier promo you can even see the King reach out and grab Bran by the hand. This implies that the White Walker king has the power to detect Bran when he magically travels through space and time.
This detection could lead the White Walkers to Bran’s location inside the tree. In an Inside Game of Thrones special, you can see make up artists putting on white walker prosthetics in what appears to be the tree that Bran has been hanging out in for the last few seasons.
This attack will cause Bran to flee, either back to Castle Black, or farther north in search of the dying weirwood tree from his visions. The promo photo for season 6 shows Bran on a horse, proving he will leave the cave eventually.
3. Tormund and Brienne are 100% happening.
You’d have to be blind to miss the unambiguous eyes Tormund gave Brienne all episode. Hooks up on Game of Thrones are rarely a surprise.
After striking out with Renly and Jaime, Brienne deserves a break for once and Tormund seems like one of the few GoT characters left who’s man enough to handle her.
From the Brienne-Tormund pairing we’ll not only get to see an unstoppable fighting force but hopefully at least one steamy sex scene. If not, I’m sure the folks at DeviantArt are already furiously sketching one up.
4. Meereen will fall under siege
There is no way that Tyrion made a deal with a bunch of skeevy slave masters just for everything to work out perfectly and bring peace to the land. The masters will almost certainly turn on Tyrion and attack Meereen. And honestly, it’s for the best.
What is the point of Daenerys getting a huge badass army of Dothrakis if she has nothing to use them on when she returns to her city? Meereen’s been a huge snooze for the past few seasons, it really needs to redeem itself with some kind of epic battle.
5. Littlefinger will take another jetpack ride.
In the promos for Sunday’s episode, you saw Littlefinger talking with Sansa. That means that once again Littlefinger magically traveled halfway across Westoros in the space between episodes. The Vale to Castle Black is well over 1,200 miles.
Game of Thrones forums have long suspected Littlefinger of having a jetpack or some kind of device that make his incomprehensible travel times possible. Maybe in the next episode we will finally learn the secret to Littlefinger’s trickery — or just be expected to nod along as he randomly appears in another location where he shouldn’t be.
Up-to-date on this season? Check out our predictions for episode 6 here.