It’s a testament to the scope of George R.R. Martin‘s work that Game of Thrones that you can literally lose track of major characters. Throughout the series’ six seasons, people pop in and out of differences places and plotlines constantly. In some cases, viewers are left wondering what happened to so-and-so for seasons at a time.
Given the uncharted post-book territory that Season 6 is expected to explore, speculation is rife about who will be making a return to the show this year.
Here’s who we hope to see back in Season 6.
Gendry
It’s a bit of an understatement but Joe Dempsey‘s Gendry has been through a lot over the course of Thrones run. He’s been recruited by the Night’s Watch, hunted by the Lannisters, imprisoned by Stannis (Stephen Dillane) and used in a bizarre ritual by Melisandre (Carice Van Houten).
However, with the death of the aforementioned Stannis, he’s now the only heir to the Baratheon bloodline that we know of – and that could set him up for a big role in Season 6.
Doran Martell
Though his performance was saddled with one of Season 5’s bigger plot missteps, Alexander Siddig excelled as the patriarch of the Martell family. Last we saw him, he was begrudgingly sending Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) on their way.
Considering how things shook out there, it’ll be interesting to see if and how he plays into the coming season. People who have read the books will know there’s a lot more happening with Doran below the surface and we can not only hope Siddig returns for Season 6 but also that he gets enough screentime to do his character justice.
Rickon Stark
It’s been a long two seasons since we last laid our eyes on Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson). The young Stark and Osha (Natalia Tena) spun off to seek sanctuary with the Umbers at Last Hearth and haven’t been heard from since. Given that we’re going into Season 6 having just lost one Stark (sort-of), it feels like now’s the right time to bring back Rickon.
In the books, it’s Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) who seeks the Stark-in-hiding out but given the many changes the showrunners have made to the source material though, it’s not unthinkable that this responsibility could fall on someone else’s shoulders. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Syrio Forel
Yes, I know – Syrio Forel (Miltos Yerolemou) almost-certainly died at the end of Season 1 – but it’s the slim margin for error around Syrio’s fate that’s so exciting. While it’s true that things did not look so good for the First Sword of Braavos the last time we saw him, we never saw a body. That’s proved to be an important detail with previous fake-deaths in the series.
And even if we do write Forel off as dead, there’s always potential for Yerolemou to return to play Syrio’s playright relative Phario Forel. He’s said to have “the bloodiest quill in all of Braavos” and would be a great mechanism to bring back a fan favorite without bending reality too far. I mean let’s face it, crazier things have happened in this show.
Benjen Stark
Stretching all the way back to Season 1, the mystery of Benjen Stark’s (Joseph Mawle) disappearance has plagued viewers. A loose-end that drove some of Jon’s (Kit Harrington) early character development, Benjen’s disappearance sometimes feels like a mystery that’s intended to remain unsolved.
However, after Benjen was name-dropped in the Season 5 finale, it doesn’t seem that outlandish to think that maybe Season 6 could see him return or, at the very least, have some new context for his disappearance surface. Right?
Beric Dondarrion
The last time we saw Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) he was a literal dead man walking. After fighting a spectacular duel with Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann), he sold Gendry away to Melisandre for the gold needed to fund his rebellion against the crown.
We haven’t heard a peep about him since then, and it feels like the Brotherhood Without Banners subplot is a narrative bomb waiting to be set off. On top of this, it’s hard to ignore how relevant Beric’s ability to return from the dead is in the context of a lot of the speculation about Season 6.
Brynden Tully
Missing-in-action since a fortunately-timed bathroom break saved him from Season 3’s Red Wedding, ‘The Blackfish’ is a character screaming out for a comeback. Clive Russell absolutely nailed the part during Season 3 and we can only hope we get to see more of him at some point.
Walder Frey (David Bradley) has spent the last season’s unopposed in his occupation of the riverlands. It’s about time someone put a stop to that, and there’s nobody better suited for this job than Brynden Tully.
Game of Thrones returns on April 24th.
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