The Season 5 finale of HBO’s Game of Thrones was constantly discussed by fans in the months that followed, leading up to the Season 6 premiere that aired last week. The season ended with the death of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) by several of his own Night’s Watch brothers, but one of his closest allies wasn’t there to stop it, Samwell Tarly (John Bradley). In the season’s penultimate episode, Samwell and his beloved Gilly (Hannah Murray) were granted permission to leave Castle Black by Jon Snow, so Sam could head to Oldtown and study to become a maester. Both Sam and Gilly weren’t seen in the Season 6 premiere, and we don’t know for sure when they’ll make their Season 6 debut yet, but today we have more details about what’s in store for both of these characters.
Samwell and Gilly first met in Season 2, during an expedition to Craster’s Keep. Gilly is one of Craster’s numerous daughters, and we learned that Craster would keep impregnating all of his daughters, only to bear more daughters, with the sons being offered as sacrifices to the White Walkers. Sam ended up saving Gilly and her newborn son from Craster, taking her to Castle Black, where, slowly but surely, a romantic relationship eventually unfolded. Entertainment Weekly caught up with John Bradley, who revealed that both Sam and Gilly don’t know about Jon Snow’s death quite yet, and offered insight about why he chose to leave Castle Black.
“They don’t know about Jon’s death. That’s quite a pivotal point in the relationship between Sam and Jon. Jon let Sam go when he still needed him. The fact is Sam doesn’t feel that he needs Jon anymore in the way that he used to. Jon healed Sam very quickly, in terms of protecting him physically from all the hardships at Castle Black. But as soon as Sam met Gilly, it was like Jon had fulfilled his purpose. Now I’m ready to go on and save somebody. I’d like to make Gilly feel the way that Jon made Sam feel. I think Jon knows that he, in a strange way, needs Sam more than the other way around, so he’s letting him go. It’s a moment of huge self sacrifice with Jon because he senses that his work is done. The only two people that matter to Sam now are Gilly and Baby Sam, so he’s ready to devote his life to them. What I found about that whole sequence of the attempted rape of Gilly, the assault on Sam, and then their love scene was that last moment where Sam thinks to himself, pardon my French, ‘F- these guys! They’ve never liked me from the second I got here. I’m following these stupid rules that tell me I can’t be with the girl that I love. I bring her back here, and they try to rape her, and then they beat me up. I refuse to give you guys any respect that you don’t deserve. My priorities have been narrowed down to two people and they’re all I need. I don’t need the Night’s Watch as a crutch to hold myself up. I’m not loyal to you anymore. You’ve never been loyal to me. We’re not a band of brothers. You just tried to cave my head in.’ That was the moment that he felt he can finally break free, and he breaks free from Jon. He knows what his priorities are and he knows it’s just two people and everything else doesn’t matter anymore.”
Since there is no instant communication like email or social media in Westeros, news doesn’t travel as quickly in this mystical land as it does here, so it isn’t known when exactly Sam and Gilly will find out about Jon Snow’s death. Given how close Sam and Jon were, some have wondered if Sam would travel back to Castle Black after hearing about his friend’s demise, but Hannah Murray revealed that there is no turning back for this couple. Here’s what she had to say below.
“I think it’s interesting about them not knowing about Jon’s death because it’s all been a bubble this year to a certain extent, but actually what it really shows is that these two characters, they’ve broken out on their own, they’ve broken away from Castle Black. There have been moments in the series where Sam is a supporting character in Jon’s storyline and there have been moments in the series where Sam is the lead of his own story. It proves how separate we are from the Jon storyline in season 6. They don’t even know what’s happened, and there’s no turning back for them. They really are setting out on their own path and not looking back.”
With Sam and Gilly finally moving on, there will be many changes in store for this couple, specifically new costumes. We don’t have any exact details about how their costumes, though Hannah Murray revealed she’s never been more excited than when she learned Gilly was getting a new costume, at the Season 5 premiere last year. Here’s what she had to say below.
“When we were at the premiere in San Francisco last year, Dan Weiss came up to me and said, ‘Two words, new costume,’ and I’ve never been so excited in my life. I had one costume the whole way through the show. I had the worst costume, categorically the worst. I was having adjustments done or something on set and Kit looks at me and he’s like, ‘Your costume is so awful, so awful.’ It’s like a variety of sacks layered over each other. In season 4, I got really excited because they gave me an apron. I was so jealous of those King’s Landing girls, different outfit every f-ing scene. I can’t say anymore about what it might be, but it was a real treat. It was so much fun.”
Earlier this week, HBO released episode details for the second and third episodes, Home, airing on May 1, and Oathbreaker, debuting on May 8. Neither of these synopses revealed that Sam and Gilly will be featured, but there’s still a chance we could see them surface in these episodes. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on Sam and Gilly’s plight as Season 6 of Game of Thrones continues.