‘Game of Thrones’ season 6: Stronger stories for Brienne, Sansa not result of criticism

Following the fifth season of “Game of Thrones,” it is perhaps an understatement to say that many fans out there were not particularly thrilled with the storylines for the female characters. Cersei was shamed, Sansa was raped, the Sand Snakes were pretty terrible all around, Brienne didn’t have very much to do other than killing Stannis, Margaery was imprisoned, and Dany was captured yet again by Dothraki at the end of the season. While we’re not one to say that Westeros and beyond is a pleasant place for almost anyone to live, it was especially brutal on the women last season.

Following this criticism, there were some comments published by director Jeremy Podeswa saying that there could be some changes or alterations made as a result of these criticisms … but it turns out that this may not be truly the case. Maybe his words were misinterpreted or taken out of context; it’s hard to say but speaking to Entertainment Weekly, both executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss denied that any changes were made as a result of comments online.

Specifically, Benioff had the following to say:

“The thing that’s slightly frustrating is the idea that we’re responding to criticism from last year, so therefore we’re going to beef up the female roles – that’s blatantly untrue … What happens this year has been planned for quite some time and is not a response. We can take criticism – and certainly we’ve gotten our share of it – but hearing people look at a middle chapter of a story and make claims about the story as a whole … it’s not in any way a response to online criticism, or any other type of criticism.”

Benioff’s argument to view the source material as a whole is certainly a valid one, but there’s also another valid counter-argument to throw out there that if someone doesn’t like the portrayal of a given set of characters, it is their prerogative to walk away. We’re going to wait to see the story through, but we understand those who felt uncomfortable regarding last season.

If you do want to get some additional news right now when it comes to “Game of Thrones,” be sure to head over to the link here right away for more on Brienne’s big year! Also, sign up over here to score some other TV news on almost everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: HBO.)