Game of Thrones left us with quite a few upsets by Season 6 finale “The Winds of Winter,” though certain reappearances more than ever exacerbated running questions of how quickly characters traverse the map. Now, writer-producer Bryan Cogman offers a frank answer to said riddle, one which sadly never ends with Arya’s best rendition of “I’m On A Boat.”

You’re warned of full spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 6 from here on out, but an increasing majority of fans have noticed the vast time differentials between storylines; April’s premiere picking up with Jon Snow’s body barely cold on the ground, but long enough for Cersei to have regrown some of her hair. Sam and Gilly spent the entire season getting to the Citadel, where Theon managed to escape Ramsay’s clutches, return to the Iron Islands, endure the Kingsmoot, flee with Yara to Volantis, then Meereen, and finally set sail once again in the same span of time.

Even more impressive, Varys managed to make it from Dorne to Daenerys’ fleet leaving Meereen in the span of a few minutes, a point writer-producer Bryan Cogman took to Twitter to address. The timing’s admittedly hard to align, but not worth holding back major storylines for the sake of realism:

More than anything, Season 6 seemed to burn through major reveals and sweep characters off the board in anticipation of a final 13 episodes, so it follows that timing and geography would loosen their grip on advancing stories. We were willing to accept Arya’s indeterminate voyage from Westeros to Braavos between one or two episodes of Seasons 4 and 5, so why not the same amount of time between “No One” and “The Winds of Winter,” especially in service of that revenging Frey reveal?

It’s also worth wondering how long Daenerys’ voyage between Meereen and Kings’ Landing might take us in Season 7, but should Game of Thrones officially abandon any pretense of matching timelines? And for goodness’ sake, how long before Gendry manages to row anywhere?

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