content: 
  ===Writing===
  With the end of the fifth season, the content of the show has reached the plot of the latest novel in Martin's ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series, ''A Dance with Dragons''. Season 6 director Jeremy Podeswa said in August 2015: "Right now in season six, what we're shooting currently isn't based on anything in the book. It's fully based on discussions the writers have had with George Martin, because the series has now surpassed the books in terms of what's available." Actress Natalie Dormer, who plays Margaery Tyrell, later added that the show's writers "know where it's got to go and what George Martin's intentions for the characters are. But they are just filling in the gaps."
  The season premiere starts off right where the fifth season ended. A plot from ''The Winds of Winter'' regarding a traveling theater troupe located in Braavos that stages a play called "The Bloody Hand", about the events that have taken place in King's Landing since the beginning of the series, is included in the sixth season.