The Tower of Joy confirmed! And mais new details about a key role involved 

Castllo de Zafra – Tower of Joy for Game of Thrones Season 6

Courtesy of Los Siete Reinos, today we have a huge update on

 season 6 shooting in Spain. We’ve also received some casting breakdown information from our own sources that involves the same site.

Using their local sources, Los Siete Reinos has been able to identify what

 locations cities will be standing in for, this year.

production has been busy this week with costume fittings for extras and as the show gets ready to film in the area, some secrets have slipped out.

Most excitingly, their sources have confirmed that, as suspected by many, the Castillo de Zafra in Campillo de Dueñas will be playing the part of the Tower of Joy.

The unique castle, built into a bed of stone, will stand as the tower in the south of Westeros where a famous fight took place, the setting for a key flashback in the books. A casting call this June provided an early hint that a flashback was coming; the description of a Legendary Fighter indicated the show might be hunting for Ser Arthur Dayne, who was present at the Tower of Joy. The fight from the books occurs outside the Tower, and so the Castillo de Zafra is an ideal setting for the tower in the books.

The casting breakdown provided to us by a source in June for a Legendary Fighter reads:

A legendary swordsman and a paragon of knighthood. He carries a hugely famous sword on his back.We are looking for the best swordsman in Europe to play this part.

Please note that this character is a fighting legend and we will need a hugely impressive display of swordplay in very spectacular fight scenes.

This week, we received from our sources a new casting breakdown for a fighter which appears to be very similar to the first one, perhaps an updated version of the first casting call. It’s unclear if it’s for the same character, but it seems likely.  The character is also listed as shooting at the end of September. The age range is narrower though and now the show is looking for an actor, not just a superior swordsman as they were in their first casting search.

This heroic handsome figure is a legendary sword fighter and we want someone who looks heroic and like a fierce and efficient experienced fighter. We need a muscular physique and heroic look. He really does have to have physical impact. The flamboyant aspects of the fighting will be taken over by a stunt fighter but we need someone who looks like they can take care of themselves.

Appears in one episode and has a couple of lines but the fight scene in which he appears is massive and memorable.

Shoot dates are week commencing 28th September in Northern Ireland

As the writeup notes, the fighting aspects of this character are being handled by a stunt fighter. Has the show found a gifted swordsman and decided they need someone with acting ability and the right look after all?

The odds of there being two “legendary” swordfighting heroes is very slim. This does appear to be the casting for a character equivalent to Arthur Dayne. It is reassuring to see a fight scene for him called “

Since the new info from Los Siete Reinos tells us that Castillo de Zafra will serve as the exterior location of the Tower of Joy, we have to ask now why this actor for the “Legendary Swordfighter” is not needed in Spain, only Northern Ireland.

 is presenting its own take on the scene, and depicting the fight taking place inside the tower. In this case, the scene would be filmed most likely in the Belfast studios, safe from prying eyes. It’s also possible that the hero encounters his opponent inside the tower, and they exchange a few lines of dialogue and tussle a bit before the fight moves outside, and the stunt fighter takes over.

Another interesting piece of information Los Siete Reinos uncovered is that Girona in Spain will be serving as two major show locations for season 6, Oldtown and Braavos.

Last year, Braavos exteriors were mostly shot in the Croatian town of Kastel Gomilica. Our sources had informed us some time ago that

was not expected to film in Croatia much year, and no extras have been scheduled for the country last we heard. It seems that the show is shifting much of the production, not just new locations, over to Spain.

Many had speculated Girona might be Oldtown, a new location for the show, and they were correct, according to Los Siete Reinos’s sources.

Oldtown is a big city in southern Westeros, home to the Citadel, the seat of the Maesters. Girona’s Old Town streets, Jewish quarter and beautiful architecture offer a wide variety of options for filming scenes related to the Oldtown story.

Head on over to Los Siete Reinos to read the complete story and for more details!

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“They were seven against three…” Can’t fucking wait!

Who’s playing Lyanna?!? Inquiring minds want to know. 😜

p.s. Is Sean Bean coming back for the flashbacks?

So… we know that the other conspiracy theory about the fight not happening can be put to rest FOR GOOD.

Does this in the bigger picture also confirm Jons return?

Can’t wait, ‘they were seven against three’ #fist pump

Coming here is not helping with my “forget GOT until April” strategy at all. How exciting!

I did not really want to get my hopes up for a sequence of the Tower of Joy, but now I might start to get excited, it is certainly one of my favorite scenes from the books. I wonder if Sean Bean will be back.

The lack of any other casting notices so far that might be related to this scene has been noticeable so far. I can’t see how the show could give us what is apparently going to be an extended fight scene at the Tower without any sort of greater narrative payoff.

the child of a certain someone… what other point does it have? That’s really the only thing that happens, is a certain promise being made.

So doesn’t that 100% confirm a certain someones return?

Cannot wait to this unfold on screen and who will be cast as Arthur Dayne. Also wondering if we’ll get Ned in this scene or if it’s been changed….

I would prefer Sean Bean, but maybe if they cast a Mid-to-late-20’s actor to play younger Ned they now need a swordsman that is a few years younger than the original broader casting notice… One that fits in with the new Ned actor’s age?

GameofHype: Well, without Tower of Joy revealing that Jon is the child of a certain someone… what other point does it have? That’s really the only thing that happens, is a certain promise being made.

So doesn’t that 100% confirm a certain someones return?

This is something you all do on other sites where you say “a certain” over and over but there please just cover your spoilers with spoiler coding.

I’d seen all the discussion of this this morning on the other thread, but as certain as it sounded, was waiting for final confirmation in the form of an article. Well, I got it, and now I’m bouncing off the walls.

I think that second casting call could be for Commander Hightower. Arthur Dayne wasn’t known for his body physique while the Bull was.

That Girona news is interesting. I thought it would be a good location for Oldtown and Braavos so the fact that it’s doing double duty is a bit validating, not going to lie. Also, all these local confirmations makes me want to look over the locations that were looked at now that we actually know what locations will be serving as the Tower of Joy and Oldtown.

This post made my day…it’ll be amazing to see this massively important event finally brought to life! Sounds like we’ll be getting some answers to some long-awaited questions 😉

Its totally gonna be they were 3 against 1 or something like that for the show. I doubt we will get a 7v3 fight

Maybe they can’t film too much fighting outside the tower because the landscape is protected or some such thing, so they film the fight in NI with partial greenscreen and then they film the tower and them riding towards it in Spain and then later put the images together digitally. Could work. And that way we could have the dialog and fighting outside and still have the tower in the background.

Maybe Bran will have the vision from Eddard’s point of view, so that leaves Sean Bean out of the picture, but we will need the other six heroes, including a young Howland Reed, yes!!

I think with a wicked figure making a return that there will be some serious payback this season…we are due it!

Season 1 – Negative – Daddy stark dies

Season 2 – Positive – No real big deaths, awesome blackwater fight

Season 3 – Negative – Whats a red wedding?

Season 4 – Positive – The nights watch battle, wraps up story, Tywin dead – Joffrey dead!

Season 5 – Negative – Snow dead, Stannis and family dead Boltons winning

Seaso 6 – Some serious Frey and Bolton payback surely!!

However this could be the most tragic season yet who knows.

Keep the secrets and spoilers piling in though WotW

I mean, how hard could it be to cast a few more extremely minor roles? I’d be pretty disappointed if they scaled it down.

Bran having the vision from Ned’s POV would make things easier in many ways… Sadly it would also mean no Mr Bean!

Maybe some Bean voiceover work in the scene… Hmm.

I don’t think the writers are overly hung up on the book physical appearance. They need a guy who instantly impresses as heroic and powerful to play Dayne. And the emphasis on the fight scene suggests it’s the same as the Dayne one.

With the possible exception of Reed, those would all just be extras/stunt men.

So awesome. This means so much…I always thought it was rather a shame that

You know what’s a bit of a shame? They are going to enhance it. I think the Castillo de Zafra is beautiful the way it is, but knowing the show people they will simply use the base and then put some extra tower on top of it so as to make it more ‘impressive’. Most times the CG is really great in GOT, but sometimes I wish they would leave things in the way they are so that they are more recognizable.

I am extremely interested in how things will build up to the actual ToJ scene. Could be exciting and very sad, a la Aemon in S5.

A Howland Reed sighting will break my internet!

SERIOUSLY! I keep trying that strategy and the shyte ain’t workin’. I am trying to buy my time by treading through the books for a third/fourth time and highlighting clues along the way.

I want to believe! But there still seems to be a lack of casting info to support this scene. How could a casting call for Lyanna not leak with the others? I can buy Arthur Dayne is the only KG present at the Tower, and that Ned would only be accompanied by 2 or 3 men, but he would need a Howland Reed to be a featured character. So where are the casting calls for Lyanna and Howland? Ahhh!

I said back in season 1 when people were complaining about Ned’s dream being cut that they were saving the TOJ for when Jon’s parentage was revealed. So I want this to be true.

to be featured, if for some reason you didn’t want to spend the money casting him. He just needs to be an extra/stunt-man. He doesn’t require dialogue at that stage. It would make more sense to, though, so the audience would recognize him when he (presumably) reappears later.

Likewise, the fact that we’ve only seen them casting Dayne so far just as likely means that the other Kingsguard don’t have any dialogue and are just extras.

Any news of potential casting of Lyanna? Omg that actually *might* break the Internet.

to be featured, if for some reason you didn’t want to spend the money casting him.

It would cost them very little to hire an actor for one scene. Actors don’t cost remotely as much as one CGI shot.

Wow just walked in from a 12 hour nightmare shift and read this!!!!!!!!! Get Orlando bloom to play Dayne. He is British in his 30s and good with a sword. All the top actors love doing telly these days and GOT is massive I bet he would jump at it. Can u imagine legolas vs boromir fooking awesome!!!!! McShane is howland reed must be!!!

I don’t think it’s a matter of casting minor characters, they would need at least 6 (or 5 depending on whether Sean Bean comes back) and those 6 would need to have some training in sword fighting AND then they would need 6 stuntmen to do the really hard stuff. On top of that they would have to coordinate a fight with 7 people…remember the Sand Snake debacle of a fight? If you get that many people swinging swords, the danger goes up exponentially so they’d most likely slow it down, which is part of what made the Sand Snake thing suck.

Also, consider this what is the purpose of having 6 other people there? Will they continue to be in the series? No. So why bother? I think if they include anyone other than Ned it will be Howland Reed, who we may not ever see again in the show. They don’t want or need to introduce any more multi-season characters and they need to keep it simple. I think we’ll end up with a three person fight: Dayne, Ned and Howland.

Like I said, “for whatever reason”. I don’t think it makes sense to be pinching pennies with a scene of this importance. Unless the show isn’t going to use Reed as a character in the present, I guess.

AHHHHHHHHFBJEKELFKFKTJRHSHSHAH CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HOLD ME! I need my spot in the bathroom for a good cry!!!! My Arthur is coming! Where the hell is Lady Dayne so she can fangirl with me over the only Dayne we have confirmation so far?!?!

I’m thinking it will be 12 to 2, too many would be pissed if Hightower was excluded, that way it will be more impressive and threatening if the two take down 10 leaving you know who. We will definitely have build-up with multiple scenes. The bad news, this will probably exclude a Robert’s sequel, if GoT has all the high points.

BTW: ToJ! ToJ! “Dancing an Irish jig.”

While this could be Bran seeing the battle… what if it’s treated like Cersei’s flashback at the beginning of season 5? And we are seeing it from the perspective of one of the survivors of the battle… and we know of only one.

I long to hear Sean Bean say the latter. There are many ways they can use him via Bran to set up the ToJ. Conceivably, he could play Ned, but age is an obstacle. (Isn’t it always?)

Anyway, well done, Sue! This is a coup. I’ve noticed in my wanderings around the web that various news aggregators are increasingl citing WotW as a source. No wonder!

Ha ha OMG that’s actually genius. 10/10, would watch!

I don’t think it makes much sense to do that, when you’ve already got Bran in the series, we know his storyline is going to have several flashbacks/visions this year, and the presumed reveal is directly relevant to Bran’s story and family. Whereas Howland Reed wouldn’t mean anything to the audience.

I think one reason the showrunners have decided to go eight seasons is because they’re gonna have to spend a LOT of time on flashbacks/exposition next season for the Big Reveal, (as well as more info about the White Walkers,) and I for one am panting at the thought!

I don’t think it makes much sense to do that, when you’ve already got Bran in the series, we know his storyline is going to have several flashbacks/visions this year, and the presumed reveal is directly relevant to Bran’s story and family.Whereas Howland Reed wouldn’t mean anything to the audience.

Well, Howland Reed as a witness and known to have been there is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than Bran as someone who sees it in a vision. So, if you are going to introduce what Howland saw and make it mean something to more than just to Bran and the audience (since his vision can’t be shared with anyone), then it would be a perfect time to introduce us to both. Perhaps Howland Reed eventually tells someone…

I call this bullshit, how can you say it is confirmed? I won’t believe it until I see it. I really don’t think jon will be resurrected so no need for tower of joy. No lady stone heart , no tower of joy people. Stop this bullshit with LS and TOJ, it’s not going to happen.

The significance of this scene will also be important to visually show Howland “High Sparrow” Reed’s motivations and especially give unsullied a perfect understanding of his actions.

Having a 56-year-old man playing a 20-year-old boy is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?

I think it will be Arthur Dayne vs Ned, Howland and maybe like martyn cassel since we had 2 cassels already. We dont need Hightower because i think he would take too much attention from Arthur Dayne. I am usually against flash backs but certain shows like the final season of boardwalk empire have handled them really well. I hope we have 1 flashback per episode. With the flashbacks slowly building one separate complete story. Im excited!

I’m curious as to which location in Spain that King’s Landing will be moved to

Sue and Los Sieto Reinos have sources involved in the production, bub.. That’s where these scoops come from. So no. Not bullshit.

Awww Mr Sprite! Never say you need a reminder on WHEN ToJ happened in the books? First book, some Ned chapter I won’t bother to look up See, Martin has already written it. No choo choo for you! I feel cheated. This was too easy.

You have seen him. His name is Jonathan Price hahaha.

Sean Bean was 50 in season 1. If Ned in the show was also 50, he was 33 in the TV version of the TOJ sequence, not 20.

What if we get Arthur Dayne to slice Howland Reed’s chest or something and cause a huge scar and then after the flashback we go to a scene of high sparrow standing in a mirror looking at his huge chest scar….fade to black que game of thrones theme.

How do you think they could be introducing Howland? Some character goes to the neck? HS theory?

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