While this week’s episode of Game of Thrones may have left fans frustrated—and a little befuddled—next week’s penultimate Season 6 installment promises to be a doozy. As they do every week, HBO unveiled a trailer for the next episode, but the episode airing on June 19th appears to be aptly named. The title is “Battle of the Bastards”, and indeed this trailer showcases the epic showdown between Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon).
This battle has been building throughout the entire season, as mere moments after Snow and his sister Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) were reunited they were already planning how to take back Winterfell from the human garbage fire that is Ramsay. Snow’s arc has been on wheel-spinning duty for the majority of the season as we’ve followed him from castle to castle trying to recruit men for this battle, but it all comes to a head this week and “Battle of the Bastards” could certainly be where the majority of the Game of Thrones Season 6 budget went.
This trailer shows no footage from anything other than this titular battle, so could this mean we’re getting another “bottle episode” like Season 2’s “Blackwater”? It would certainly make sense, and it bodes well that Miguel Sapochnik, the director behind Season 5’s unforgettable “Hardhome”, directs these final two episodes of the season.
We really have yet to see a full-on, out-and-out battle between huge warring armies on Game of Thrones—“Blackwater” made excellent use of nighttime darkness and the Cersei/Sansa story to keep the episode within the show’s modest budget—but with the series headed towards its endgame, this could end up being one of its biggest episodes yet.
Take a look below, and for more on last night’s episode “No One” check out Kayti’s full recap and Allison’s explainer on the Brotherhood without Banners.
