Game of Thrones S06E04 ‘Book of the Stranger’ trailer: What you need to know

Mission: Rescue Daenerys is go

The third episode of Game of Thrones season 6 raised more questions than it answered (something the show has been doing a lot so far this season), so what kind of elucidation can we expect in the fourth?

What is probably most telling is the scenes HBO left out of the trailer, but we’ll get to that later - first, let’s break down those in the preview:

Sansa, Brienne and Podrick reach Castle Black

The opening shot of the gates parting to allow the trio entry sadly rules out a serendipitous meeting with Jon Snow on their way to the Wall.

Expecting to find her brother there as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, Sansa will have a lot to catch-up on - chiefly him dying, being brought back to life by a priestess she's never met, and renouncing his oath to head to ??? (more on that here).

Ultimately, the trio need to get the word to Jon of Ramsay's actions so he can try and take back Winterfell, but after a long journey I'd expect them to reside at Castle Black this episode instead of immediately heading back out into the snow.

Littlefinger is back!

This is brilliant news as, Machiavellian bastard though he may be, Petyr Baelish is one of the series' most interesting characters.

We see him fearing for Sansa's safety in the trailer, but why is he airing this to her creepy cousin Robin Arryn (who has aged a lot since we last saw him seasons ago and hopefully isn't still breastfeeding)? Littlefinger seems to be entirely self-interested, so any crusade to help Sansa will surely be for his own gain, and it looks like Robin will be tied up in it.

Theon returns to the Iron Islands

His sister Yara looks less than pleased to see him, but she seems a good egg and I imagine will be won over by his contrition and pity him for what he's been through.

Being a shell of a man right now, I can't see Theon trying to assert himself as Lord of the Iron Islands. More likely, the siblings will team up to deal with their uncle Euron, who killed their father Balon in episode 2.

The Lannisters 'ally' with the Tyrells

Cersei promises to help Margaery avoid a walk of atonement, but there is clearly no love lost between those two. Olenna knows this and is too smart to take up Cersei's offer at face value, but perhaps the matriarchs can find a way to bury the hatchet for the time being, as they both stand to gain from the downfall of the High Sparrow.

The way Margaery tenderly takes his hand in the trailer suggests to me she will feign remorse (potentially landing herself an opportunity to attack him?).

They seem pretty certain about where she's being held, and we see a brief glimpse of them fighter her captors.

Could dragons also be instrumental to this? Tyrion has been trying to get them under control after all (there's potential spoilers in set photos related to this here).

Whatever the case, I'm sure we'll get that obligatory shot of Jorah checking his greyscale.

Now for the things they left out

No Jon Snow

This is good news, as if he wasn't up to anything major he probably would have been included in the trailer. Where will his first port of call be? WIll Tormund and the other Wildlings follow him out the doors of Castle Black? He doesn't have an army together to siege Winterfell yet, but he might learn that Ramsay's there and start formulating a plan this episode.

No Bran Stark

In the trailer for the last episode we got a glimpse of the Tower of Joy flashback, but no such luck here. Maybe he just won't be returning there, or maybe he'll actually get inside, finding something too spoilerific for trailer inclusion...