HBO CEO on the Winds of Winter delay and the Jon Snow-heavy marketing strategy for Season 6 

Season 6, we didn’t learn much new information about the show at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. The after-party, however, was a different story, as after-parties so often are. HBO president Michael Lombardo revealed that the network is in negotiations for a full eighth season of 

, and now HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler has weighed in on two bits of big recent 

news: George R.R. Martin’s announcement that 

will not be released until after Season 6, and how the Season 6 promotional materials spotlight Jon Snow.

showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss approach the show? Plepler doesn’t think so:

I always knew that given the relationship that David and Dan had with George and the closeness and respect that they have for each other that if they overtook the books or not, there would be a synchronic and organic conversation going on between them. That they would never do anything that would violate George’s sense of the integrity of the story and I think that’s absolutely true. Their relationship is such a wonderful thing to observe, the mutual respect that they have for each other that I know George would say, ‘I trust these guys moving this arc forward.’

Plepler reiterated that the show would go on with or without a book, and that this was okay. He hyped Season 6 a bit while he was at it.

I would only say that that’s going to be up to David and Dan to determine where they take the story in concert with George, but everyone is very excited about the continuum. I think when you see even the first episodes of the new season, you’ll see how much life and dynamism there is in this story.

Next: the Season 6 marketing materials. If Jon Snow is supposed to be dead, why is HBO plastering his face on billboards…

— Federico Boveda (@fboveda1981) November 23, 2015

…and including lingering shots of him in the teaser trailer?

What gives, HBO? According to Plepner, it’s all to get us talking.

I give all the credit to our marketing team. Basically of course [we’re] always looking to remind the audience of how exciting and dynamic the programming is and I think that they felt correctly that this was a great titillation for the new season and it certainly is proven so as you see by the social traffic by the social traffic on that.

As to whether Jon Snow’s presence in the promotional materials means that the Night’s Watchman isn’t actually dead, Plepner played coy, even though…well, y’know. “I think it was just titillation in the purest sense and I wouldn’t confirm or deny anything, but it worked very well.”

Well, the internet DID explode when these materials were released, so…mission accomplished, I guess.

About a week ago, George R.R. Martin announced that The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in...

The closer we get to Game of Thrones Season 6, the more interviews from cast and crew members...

Have you already read all the books and/or don\'t care about spoilers? You can reveal all the spoilers in the comments with the click of a link below.

I had to use the Google app on my phone to see all the stories from yesterday and today, they refuse to load on my WiC phone app. Is it just my phone? This hasn’t happened before. I get the notifications but when I open the app, the most recent posts are from Wednesday.

Same thing is happening to me. I can read the notifications, but the app won’t update.

Well I don’t there is anything we didn’t already know in these two announcements, but I guess it’s good that HBO did address it instead of just avoiding the topic.

One thing I was a little surprised about though was the comment that it’s “up to David and Dan to determine where they take the story in concert with George.” I thought it had been pretty well established that “the books and show are two different, separate things,” as grrm has said on many occasions when asked about discrepancies between the books vs show, evolution of plot lines, etc.

Regardless I hope he is right that D&D will be taking more direction from grrm going forward, and won’t turn it into something hardly recognizable as the ASOIAF story.

The show and the books are different entities that will arrive at the same destination…how they get there may be different.

Well I think the important thing here is that the show and book series both reach the same destination. The journey, how the players arrive is what makes the two unique from one another. This will keep the reader/viewer fan interested in both mediums.

Why no one asked him about when we will see more pictures or videos from season six. When will we see the trailer.

That’s like asking “Are we there yet?”…

OK, gonna trry this one mo time. How do you get emoticons to show up?

Basically saying the route may be different, but the destination will the same between the unpublished books and the show. So book readers will be spoiled by the show instead of the other way around.

We all knew Lord Commander will be back, because his line of story is not completed. His “death” neither advances the story nor ties up any loose ends, it’s the worst piece of writing if it ends like this.

All I know is, for me, at this stage in the game I want to start getting some answers damn it. Enough speculation already, easy on the late story plot twists. I’m a huge fan of suspense as well, but this is turning into literary blue balls. I need to blow my load soon, or I fear the whole journey will begin to lose its allure. Then I will have to go back to satisfying my geektome by immersing myself in The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s convoluted take on the Infinity War story arc. Which BTW is the equivalent of a left handed HJ from a uncoordinated jazz fusion bass player. And scene.

the equivalent of a left handed HJ from a uncoordinated jazz fusion bass player.

Don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before. Also very sexual and very weird analogies / imagery for this topic, no?

If the bass player is Ygritte then the Marvel Cinematic Universe Infinity War will be amazing!

I think it could be a hidden reference to BLOODRaven. He lost an eye in battle, was a commander of Night’s watch, and is now helping Bran become more powerful, so he might have something to do with getting Jon rez’d.

>”That they would never do anything that would violate George’s sense of the integrity of the story …”

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