Season 6

Season 6 of Game of Thrones was formally commissioned by HBO on 8 April 2014, following a substantial increase in audience figures between the third and fourth seasons. The fifth and sixth seasons were commissioned simultaneously, the first time HBO has done so for a major drama series.

The season is expected to again consist of ten episodes and is expected to commence production in July 2015, running late into the year. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will return as executive producers and showrunners for both seasons, having signed a new two-year contract with HBO in early 2014.

The season is expected to premiere in Spring 2016.

Season 6 will be based on the hitherto unreleased sixth novel of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, The Winds of Winter, along with some material from the fourth and fifth novels, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons.

Production
On May 18, 2015, HBO confirmed that filming for Season 6 would continue in Croatia and return to the cities of Dubrovnik, Split, Klis, and Sibenik.

Spanish location scouting for Season 6 began in Girona and Peñiscola as well as Almería. On June 3, 2015, it was confirmed that filming would indeed return to Spain and that part of the season would be shot in or around Girona and Peñiscola. On June 25 and July 3 respectively, locations in Almería and Navarre were also confirmed. On July 9, some Spanish locations were officially revealed to be the Bardenas natural park in Navarre, the Santa Florentina Castle in Barcelona, the Zafra Castle in Guadalajara, and the Alcazaba of Almería.

Returning starring cast
All starring cast members whose characters survive the events of Season 5 are expected to return for the sixth season.
 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
 * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
 * Jerome Flynn as Bronn
 * Tom Wlaschiha as Jaqen H'ghar

Returning guest starring cast

 * Rupert Vansittart as Lord Yohn Royce

New cast members

 * Sam Coleman as TBA

Reported new characters
In past TV seasons, casting calls frequently gave the names of major characters who were going to be introduced. Apparently fearing that this was leading to too many spoilers, however, starting with Season 6 HBO did not actually include the names of characters in their casting calls, only aliases and descriptions - though several of these descriptions are specific enough that the identity of the character can be discerned with reasonable certainty:


 * A pirate who fits the description of Euron Greyjoy, the "Crow's Eye".
 * A father who fits the description of Lord Randyll Tarly, the Lord of Horn Hill.
 * A mother who fits the description of Lady Melessa Tarly.
 * A sister who fits the description of Talla Tarly.
 * A brother who fits the description of Dickon Tarly.
 * A priest who fits the description of Septon Meribald.
 * A leading actress with a traveling theater troupe.
 * High Priestess Kinvara.
 * A fierce warrior who fits the description of a Dothraki Khal, presumably Khal Jhaqo.
 * A large boy.
 * A 12 year old boy.
 * A 7 year old boy.
 * A Child of the Forest.
 * Qhogo, a Dothraki.
 * Akrat, a Dothraki.
 * Bower, a servant.
 * Lachlan, an outlaw leader.
 * Flynn, an outlaw.
 * Japeth, an outlaw.
 * Several members of an "outlaw band" of "broken men" raiding the people they once swore to protect - loosely matching the description of raiders and bandits in the Riverlands subplot.
 * A legendary fighter who fits the description of Ser Arthur Dayne.
 * A Lord of a Noble Northern House who fits the description of a member of House Umber.
 * A Lord of a Noble Northern Stronghold.
 * A hunter.
 * A submissive maester.
 * A green recruit.
 * A sympathiser (1).
 * A sympathiser (2).
 * A sympathiser (3).
 * A housemaid.
 * A father.

Crew
On March 27 2015, author George R.R. Martin said he would again not write a script for Season 6, as he wished to concentrate on finishing The Winds of Winter as soon as possible. On June 4, Miguel Sapochnik indicated he was already preparing to direct next season. Jeremy Podeswa made similar statements in June 12. On June 19, the showrunners confirmed that April Ferry would be the new costume designer for Season 6, replacing Michele Clapton, who decided to leave after five seasons. On June 22, newcomer Jack Bender announced he would direct two episodes for season six. The full list of directors and which episodes they would oversee was released in Entertainment Weekly on June 25. There will be five directors, each doing two back to back episodes, as in Season 5. Jack Bender and Daniel Sackheim are working on the TV series for the first time, while the other three directors previously worked on the series in Season 5; none worked on the first four seasons.

Producers

 * David Benioff: executive producer
 * D.B. Weiss: executive producer
 * April Ferry: costume designer

Writers

 * David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Directors

 * Jeremy Podeswa - episodes 1 and 2
 * Daniel Sackheim - episodes 3 and 4
 * Jack Bender - episodes 5 and 6
 * Mark Mylod - episodes 7 and 8
 * Miguel Sapochnik - episodes 9 and 10