In HBO's Game of Thrones, characters and events from the past are often spoken of, but never shown. That will officially change as of next year, as showrunners have confirmed that there will be at least one flashback scene in the show's upcoming fifth season.
Showrunners Dave Benioff and Dan Weiss have long avoided using flashbacks in Game of Thrones. In a show with as many characters, relationships and locations as Game of Thrones, going back in time too often would add a great deal to an already complex show structure. But this is no longer the case.
After holding off for more than four years, a flashback is happening, and will likely be at the beginning of an episode rather than in the middle of one, according to Entertainment Weekly. Benioff and Weiss spilled the beans at a Q+A session with film students in Spain, one of the locations where the show is filming for season five. The quote has been translated by EW from a Spanish website, so there might be some details lost in translation. No specific showrunner is attributed to the quote.
"By making the first season, we set a rule: No prophecies, dreams or flashbacks," says one of the showrunners. "We failed the first two and this season the third. So yes, this season will finally have flashbacks."
It's interesting to note that the translation says "flashbacks" and not "flashback," though EW has only been able to confirm the existence of one flashback scene. Flashbacks are featured heavily in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the books from which Game of Thrones is based. Characters often think back to past events in their lives in vivid detail. That's a little more difficult to do in the show.
Interestingly enough, one prominent flashback from Martin's A Feast for Crows, from which at least part of season five is based, features Cersei Lannister learning of a prophecy as a young child in Casterly Rock. Could this be one, or possibly the only, flashback to be seen in the show? We'll know more as Game of Thrones season five gets closer to its premiere in the spring of 2015.
