Game of Thrones fans waiting for the return of Michelle Fairley as Lady Stoneheart in Season 7 of the hit fantasy drama are sure to be left disappointed. Fans of the show had always assumed that the character from the A Song of Ice and Fire book series would make it into HBO’s TV show sooner or later, however, that might not be the case. Growing evidence points towards the fact that Lady Stoneheart won’t make an appearance in Game of Thrones Season 7 or Season 8.
According to Zap2It , Lady Stoneheart is a character in the Game of Thrones universe that has remained entirely exclusive to Geroge R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series. The character is well known as the resurrected corpse of Catelyn Stark, who was believed to have died at the Red Wedding. The character is rarely seen or heard of in the book series, but she’s known to be travelling with the Brotherhood without Banners, claiming vengeance over those who have betrayed her family.
Whilst it was always assumed that Lady Stoneheart would make her way into HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series at some point or another, that might not necessarily be the case now. That’s because the need for Stoneheart’s character in the TV series has been severely diminished over the course of Season 6.
As aforementioned, Lady Stoneheart’s purpose in the books is to seek vengeance for her family, primarily against the Freys for their role in the Red Wedding. However, according to Tech Insider , Season 6 of Game of Thrones ended with Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams brutally killing Walder Frey , played by David Bradley. In fact, the show has always placed a strong emphasis on Arya’s kill list, suggesting that it was always going to be the young Stark that would seek vengeance for her family in the HBO series.
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Game of Thrones is now believed to be in its endgame, so it’d make very little sense to reintroduce Michell Fairley’s character at this late stage. With her daughter Arya appearing to claim vengeance on behalf of the Stark family, the sad truth is that Lady Stoneheart’s place in the HBO show is redundant.
New “Game of Thrones” Character Descriptions Revealed for Season 7 https://t.co/P5dATBnGVy pic.twitter.com/UxJ9IXdYjk
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What’s more, Game of Thrones Season 6 gave us the first glimpse of the Brotherhood without Banners that we’ve seen for a while. Fans will undoubtedly have noticed that the group didn’t include the presence of Lady Stoneheart, suggesting that the character simply doesn’t exist in Game of Thrones . That’s not to say that the character won’t make an appearance in the show’s remaining two seasons, however, the prospect of that happening looks increasingly less likely as the show progresses.
Game of Thrones is set to return in the summer of 2017, later than it’s usual April air date, because of changes in filming. The show’s producers want to capitalize on the winter period to film the show, in order to better match the fact that winter has now arrived in Game of Thrones . Season 7 and Season 8 will be the final seasons of Game of Thrones , with HBO confirming that each will consist of only seven episodes, in contrast to the show’s usual ten episode seasons. The show’s producers claim that this is to ensure they’re able to maintain a stringent production schedule for Game of Thrones ‘ concluding seasons.
[Image via HBO]