hbo

If the last year of TV news has taught us anything, Game of Thrones actors don’t have the most trustworthy record when it comes to keeping secrets. Maisie Williams herself has “confirmed” a death or two most know to be false, though the longtime series star has something to say to the God of Death for a long-held fan theory.

We’ve just two weeks to go until Game of Thrones Season 6 finally pulls back the veil on its debut, but with some lucky folk already clued in by Sunday’s event premiere, even more footage has begun making the rounds. Check out our second official clip, as Dany makes some new friends, while another Jon Snow tidbit emerges from Castle Black!

Welp, you were already going to spend hours after Game of Thrones Season 6 episodes discussing everything in exhaustive detail, so why not official hosts? Yes, the world of Westeros will have its own HBO after-show for Season 6, as hosted by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan under HBO’s partnership with Bill Simmons.

Where yesterday’s Game of Thrones photos seemed almost deliberately to recreate Season 5 looks, a new batch expands on what we’ve seen from Season 6. There’s blind Arya, a seemingly struggling Bran, and another clue into what Daenerys will face from her new/old Dothraki friends.

More-so than ever, Game of Thrones Season 6 will take us into the Winds of Winter spoiler territory that George R.R. Martin himself has yet to schedule a date for, let alone publish. Already, the HBO drama has taken a few dark turns not yet found in Martin’s literary work, though the author admits a major Season 5 sequence will in fact unfold in one of the upcoming books.

Love HBO's Game of Thrones? Time to get pumped up! New trailer is out. You can choose to stand aside or you could chose to watch it. You should watch it.

Jon Snow is not dead. At least, he won’t technically stay that way. You know it, we know it, and Game of Thrones can withhold all the Season 6 screeners they like - we know there’s more story to tell. Poor Kit Harington has had to duck the question for months, but a new interview sees the erstwhile Jon Snow at least admit he’s shot scenes … with one small caveat.

Just a few short hours ago, HBO gave Game of Thrones fans reason to celebrate by confirming Season 6’s April premiere, but the party may not be over just yet. Sources say that HBO will soon renew Game of Thrones for both Seasons 7 and 8, potentially to close out the series.

Now that we’ve finally arrived in 2016, TV talk can safely shift to from the shows closing up shop in December, to the onslaught of premieres and returns on deck. We’ll have to wait until February the latest Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, but thankfully, the prolific host has a short segment to tide us over, and remind us it’s okay to fail New Years’ resolutions miserably.

As we ascend into 2016, anticipation only grows for the upcoming sixth season of Game of Thrones, itself the furthest beyond author George R.R. Martin’s published works yet. It had seemed increasingly unlikely Martin might publish sixth novel The Winds of Winter ahead of the HBO series, sparing literary readers some potential spoilers, though the author at least hints an update will arrive soon.

Even as Bran’s northern journey ranked among the less compelling Game of Thrones plots over the years, his Season 4 arrival at the Three-Eyed Raven signaled a much more momentous turn ahead, albeit at the cost of Isaac Hempstead Wright sitting out a season. Now, with Bran’s return confirmed, Wright teases visions of Westeros’ past, present and future, potentially some major mythology for the series.

HBO has been cranking up the Game of Thrones marketing early for Season 6, first a poster, then a trailer teasing Jon Snow’s return, and before 2015 is even out, we’ve been blessed with the first footage. See Dany’s new digs, and Cersei’s new ‘do in the first official Game of Thrones Season 6 footage!