Game of Thrones: Lady Stoneheart's Absence From the Series Explained

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have opened up about their decision to leave Lady Stoneheart out of the HBO series. Entertainment Weekly reports that Benioff and Weiss shared the reasons behind the fan-favourite character's absence from the show in the upcoming book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, a definitive oral history of the blockbuster series that answers some of the biggest questions that fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga have had about the small-screen adaptation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/23/george-r-r-martin-gives-an-update-on-the-winds-of-winter"] While the Game of Thrones' duo claimed that there had never really been "much debate" about whether to include Lady Stoneheart, they both shared some very definitive reasons for her exclusion from the show, as they admitted that their insider knowledge of Martin's pre-planned storylines played a role in their decision to cut the character from the series. "Part of the reason we didn't want to put it in had to do with things coming up in George's books that we don't want to spoil [by discussing them]," Benioff explained, without divulging any details about the events that may have halted her appearance. On the subject of storylines, Benioff and Weiss explained how upcoming events in the show's scripts also had an impact on which direction to take with individual characters, as they had already established ahead of time what was coming up in the later seasons and wanted to ensure that other events didn't weaken future storylines. "We knew we had Jon Snow's resurrection coming up," Benioff said, speaking about the show's various character arcs. "Too many resurrections start to diminish the impact of characters' dying. We wanted to keep our powder dry for that." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-game-of-thrones-review-so-far&captions=true"] In their final reason for omitting Lady Stoneheart, the Game of Thrones showrunners referenced the traumatic Red Wedding scene, as they explained how the moments that played out in that episode provided the most powerful ending for Catelyn, so to then "bring her back as a zombie who doesn't speak felt like diminishing returns." Of course, fans of the books had expected to see the character appear in Game of Thrones' Season 4 finale but instead, the top-rated episode delivered a ton of other violent twists and turns. For more about the show's dragons, duels, and dads, take a look back at the 11 best moments from Season 4 or watch our five-minute roundup of all the action. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

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