HBO threw a star-studded premiere screening for the sixth season of "Game of Thrones" in Los Angeles on Sunday.
It was the only chance for press to see the premiere episode ahead of its airing, as the network decided not to release early screeners to the press, presumably to avoid spoilers and pirated copies.
Media at the screening were asked to hold their reviews and plot-point revelations until the episode premieres on HBO, according to Entertainment Weekly (EW). But reporters and critics were still able to divulge their "general impressions."
The main cast was present, but there were two obvious no-shows: Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, and writer George R.R. Martin, who wrote the novels the series is based on but which it has now surpassed in plot.
Here's what we learned from the coverage that came out of the screening:
SEE ALSO: Here's the odd way 'Game of Thrones' actors find out their characters are about to be killed off
DON'T MISS: A former 'Game of Thrones' star has harsh things to say about his time on the show
"Game of Thrones" shot an insane amount of footage for the new season.
"We shot 680 hours of dailies, which translates to 3.7 million feet of film," co-showrunner David Benioff said. "We shot in five different countries — Northern Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Iceland, and Canada. We employed 900 crew members in Belfast; 400 in Spain. We issued 140 script revisions. We two shot units a day for 22 weeks straight, three units a day for 10 weeks straight, four units for two weeks straight. And none of that would be possible without the greatest producing team on the planet."
Source: EW
The story jumps right back into what happened at the end of season five.
The action picks up right away, without any kind of time jump. And the first episode is more fast-paced than usual.
Source: EW
Not every main character makes an appearance in the premiere.
The episode spends a lot of time at Castle Black, the primary headquarters of the Night's Watch. Jon Snow theorists certainly have a hunch about why that is.
Source: EW
See the rest of the story at Business Insider