In case you’ve been banished to the far side of the Narrow Sea where the wi-fi totally sucks, let us be the first to inform you: Game of Thrones Season 5 premieres on HBO Sunday night.
We’ve already seen the season 5 trailers and we know some beloved characters will finally cross paths. (Possible spoiler alert: How awesome would it be to see Tyrion hangin’ with a dragon?)
New Game of Thrones photos that hit the web today got us more pumped than ever, and just when we thought we couldn’t get any more excited, we checked out what the critics have to say about the upcoming episodes of HBO’s most-watched series.
It seems that this time around, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are allowing the series to diverge from the source material more than ever.
Rather than adhering to the plot of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series as they’ve (mostly) done in the past, Benioff and Weiss are fully making the story their own this season.
And those who have seen the results say there’s no doubt that Westeros is in good hands:
"As Game of Thrones approaches the point where it passes what Martin has published, the show feels more free than it ever has in the past – and, at the moment, isn’t making many mistakes at all." – Alan Sepinwall, HitFix
"In the fifth season, the story has been distilled to just the moments of pathos and characterization and gorgeous direction that make the story work." – Sonia Saraiya, Salon
"Game of Thrones is flying, full tilt, toward a destination off the edge of our map of the known world. I can’t wait to see what it finds there." – James Poniewozik, Time
So there you have it. Not only is GoT at the top of its game, but you won’t have to worry about spoilers from those smug book-readers anymore!
If you’re still not caught up (What are you waiting for?!) watch Game of Thrones online at TV Fanatic. And hurry – winter is coming, and it’s sure to be full of boobs and blood.