“Death, death, death” is how Sophie Turner described the scripts for the hugely anticipated sixth season of “Game Of Thrones.” Speculation has equalled the excitement around the upcoming season, particularly in regards to the “is he/isn’t he” question surrounding Jon Snow. In fact, one could easily argue the valued currency of season six at the moment is secrecy — something HBO clearly realizes, and is now taking one step further.
“We’re not sending out press copies this year, anywhere in the world,” HBO programming president Michael Lombardo revealed to EW. “There will be no copies for review.”
READ MORE: First Look: 24 Images From ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 6
While it’s not unprecedented, it’s certainly a step outside the norm for the network, but it’s easy to understand why they are so protective of what is easily their highest-profile series. Last year, the first four episodes of season five were sent to press and were pirated, and they likely don’t want a repeat of that scenario. And I would further guess that ‘GOT’ season six has some big surprises up its sleeve early on that the network wants to ensure stay that way until they air.
What does this change for fans? Not much, really. They still have to wait until the show airs to see what showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who pushed for the screener block for season six, have up their sleeves. As for critics, well, boo-hoo. We’ll just have to watch along with everyone else.
“Game Of Thrones” returns on April 24th. Check out a new featurette and posters below.
