‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5: Tywin Lannister’s Return Confirmed, Plus Movie Talk?

Of all the myriad details leaked from ‘Game of Thrones‘ season 5, perhaps the most simultaneously surprising and expected is that of Charles Dance’s return to the role of Tywin Lannister. And while the show’s introduction of flashbacks might craft any number of returns for the fallen Lannister patriarch, Dance himself has confirmed details of the character’s reappearance.

You’re warned of some minor spoilers for ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5 (in the sense that you can follow the logical turn of events after someone’s death), though it seems Charles Dance told The Daily Beast that while Tywin Lannister would indeed be present for ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5, we’d only see the decomposing “Lion”’s body. That is to say, that the HBO series will seemingly follow George R.R. Martin‘s book, in which Tywin’s body is displayed in the Great Sept for a week following his death, before knights take the body west:

Well, only my body! I don’t wake up in the shower having had a dream about it all.

We’ve known for some time that the fifth season would see (or open with) a flashback to Cersei’s youth, but it seems Dance’s comments may rule out a living appearance from a younger Tywin. Of course, there’s always room for Tywin to reappear in the inevitable ‘Game of Thrones’ movie that everyone seems to have talked about, thought likely wouldn’t come to any kind of fruition for years down the line. Says Dance of the possibility:

There’s talk of eventually trying to do a feature film, but I don’t know which of the storylines. There’s so much to cram into a film.

While we wait for ‘Game of Thrones’ season 5 (already renewed for 6, with the cast signed through 7), we know of both returning, confirmed 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. 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, as well as insight into which literary stories may not make the transition to film.

Well, whaddaya think? We’d have to hope Charles Dance got a bit more to do than merely provide a handsome, lion-esque corpse, but would you be content with merely seeing the character’s funeral? What do you make of the never-ending movie speculation?