Before Season 6 of Game of Thrones got under way last month, we already knew a number of characters not seen in some time were making their return. The most prominent character was Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), who wasn’t seen in Season 5, along with Hodor (Kristian Nairn) and Meera (Ellie Kendrick) because their stories had already caught up with George R.R. Martin’s book series. We also learned that others like Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) and Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye) will be returning after lengthy hiatuses. Now it seems another long-missing character is coming back, Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson).
We haven’t seen Rickon since the ninth episode of Season 3, The Rains of Castamere, which is also the episode where the brutal Red Wedding massacre took place. During this episode, Bran tells Rickon and Osha (Natalia Tena) to head for The Last Hearth, where the Stark’s bannermen The Umbers will protect them, and the direwolf Shaggydog. Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams recently appeared on BBC Radio 1, where she was asked by a caller if we’ll see Rickon again this season. Here’s what she had to say below.
“Ye-es. Yes. Maybe. Yes, we will indeed…Oh no, I’m literally going to get off the air and someone’s going to email me!”
There is already speculation that we may even see Rickon as early as this Sunday’s episode, Oathbreaker. In the preview and the synopsis for this episode, it’s revealed that Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) will receive a gift of some sorts, although we don’t know what this gift may be. Some believe that this gift may actually be Rickon Stark himself, which will help Ramsay keep his contentious hold over Winterfell, especially after Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) fled with Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen). Then again, this would be a drastic change from the books, so we don’t know for sure.
In the book A Dance With Dragons, Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) sets off on a journey to track down young Rickon, and while his location isn’t given, the book implies that he’s been hiding out on an island full of cannibals known as Skagos, which lies just off the Westeros coast, east of The Wall. Since George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished his sixth and seventh books yet, we don’t know how this story will wrap up in the novels, or how it may be altered for the HBO TV series. Regardless of how he comes back, it seems we’ll be getting to see Rickon Stark once again, very soon.
Maisie Williams doesn’t make any mention of Osha returning, so we’ll have to wait and see. It’s worth noting that Theon Greyjoy once claimed that he had killed both Bran and Rickon Stark, who had been missing for some time, although he admitted to Sansa Stark this season that Bran and Rickon are still alive. While we know Bran has been training to hone his greensight with the Three-Eyed Raven (Max Von Sydow), we don’t know anything yet about where Rickon, Osha and Shaggydog have been since Season 3. Stay tuned for more details on this enthralling season of Game of Thrones.