‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5: Will the Iron Islands Plot Be Omitted?

Everything we've seen and heard of 'Game of Thrones' season 5 thus far has suggested that the 2015 run of HBO's George R.R. Martin-adapted fantasy drama will be the most book-divergent yet, and with so much ground to cover, a number of stories and characters have already fallen by the wayside. Will the same fate befall the Iron Islands, and the important Greyjoy subplots featured throughout Martin's novels?

You're warned of some minor spoilers for 'Game of Thrones' season 5, and potentially George R.R. Martin's novels from here on out, but it seems those expecting a heftier presence from the Iron Islands in season 5 may be left all wet by their exclusion. The books had notably chronicled the death of Theon Greyjoy's father Balon, the fallout of which sees Aeron, Euron and Victarion Greyjoy all jockeying for power in a "Kingsmoot" alongside Asha, changed to Yara in the TV series.

We saw a bit of Yara in 'Game of Thrones' season 4, attempting and failing to rescue Theon from Ramsay Bolton, but new season 5 insight from Entertainment Weekly suggests that producers have ultimately decided to forgo any further focus on the Iron Islands themselves, in favor of visiting Dorne:

An assumption among some readers of George R. R. Martin’s novels is the watery Iron Islands subplot will be explored. While the Dorne-based subplot will be in season five, producers have previously indicated the Iron Islands subplot has been omitted. This makes sense as the show already has so many characters and settings to juggle, plus is adding the Dorne scenes. Unlike in ['A Feast for Crows'], where Martin could bench half his major characters to take on two major subplots, a TV series must stick with its cast members (and contractually has to use its actors or risk losing them).

Additionally, EW writer James Hibberd had:

...asked the producers last season if they were doing Dorne and Iron Islands in season 5. They said they were doing one of them. Later they announced they were doing Dorne.

While we wait for ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5, we know of both returning, absent, and a multitude of other new characters cast, including those that confirm we’ll be visiting the oft-mentioned kingdom of Dorne, for which Spain will double. We’ll also meet fewer new characters in season 5 than in prior years, as the next cycle will prove to be something of a midpoint for the series’ run. As expected, the story will draw heavily from George R.R. Martin‘s fourth and fifth novels, ‘A Feast for Crows’ and ‘A Dance with Dragons,' while HBO has also provided a list of directors.

HBO's 'Game of Thrones' has only spent so much time on the Iron Islands to begin with, making their likely exclusion from season 5 somewhat understandable, but what say you? Are you disappointed to see a major book story omitted from the adaptation? What do you hope to see represented when 'Game of Thrones' returns for a fifth season in 2015?