Game of Thrones filming resumes at Shane’s Castle with supporting cast 

Shane’s Castle, from GoT filming in August. Photo: Kieran/WOTW

has once again returned to filming at Shane’s Castle for season six. The show filmed on the estate in late August, and our exclusive photos at the time confirmed that the location’s cellars were standing in for the High Sparrow’s sparse sept. Now

has resumed filming at the castle in County Antrim, and details are emerging.

We can tell you that our sources have revealed that the scene being filmed this week at Shane’s Castle involves Qyburn (Anton Lesser) and Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover) along with some others in minor parts.

In addition to the source info, a fan on Twitter has offered up this tidbit as well:

@IrishThrones @WiCnet Filming taking place today at Shanes Castle. A friends daughter is a child extra. #GoT

At least one of the extras involved in the scene appears to be a child.

Shane’s Castle is a diverse location, with several areas that could potentially be used for shooting. The atmospheric cellars have been the center of filming in season 5 and in earlier season 6 filming, but in previous years, other parts of the property were used as well.

I have to say, the thought of Qyburn being anywhere near a child is terrifying. (Qyburn doing anything is creepy. He’d probably make your skin crawl while opening his mail.) But Pycelle is present, so hopefully the scene is not overly alarming. Too optimistic? Probably.

What do you think is going on out at Shane’s Castle, readers?

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Yes! Qyburn and Pycelle. Two of my favourite characters. Their rivalry in Season 5 was hilarious

Your parents must be very proud 😛

I find Pycelle creepier than Qyburn, and it doesn’t mean that I like the latter!

Pycelle near a child is creepy too. Said child should probably just run.

Pycelle confronting Qyburn over experimentation on children, maybe? They held back a bit on the full horror of Qyburn’s shit last season, so they may be looking to delve into that more now, and maybe employ Pycelle as a bit of a foil for him. Plus, since they cut the season 3 Pycelle/Tywin scene, Pycelle hasn’t really had any good opportunities to drop character. Maybe he could do that a bit if he’s ever alone with Qyburn.

Pycelle may like prostitutes but I’ve never seen him molest a child. Whereas I think Qyburn would have no problem using a child in one of his experiments. But hey, you never know what season 6 will bring.

Agreed with others, Pycelle is much creepier than Qyburn in the show imo. As far as this scene is concerned, I absolutely have no clue what it could be. It’s strange to me that Pycelle will be alive for a good amount of Season 6 in the first place.

Pycelle and Qyburn ( Them give me chills) New week, new news, great!

in the show – hence a secluded location and child (or children) being present.

Its chilling to know that the history of medical research and discovery is littered with Qyburns tbh

The fallout of Kings Landing is absolutely for me the most exciting part of season 6.

I find them both creepy. I just hope the child will not be harmed.

Eww – it couldn’t have anything to do with maybe reanimating Myrcella, could it?

Seven Heavens, I hope not! I felt sorry for Jaime to lose his daughter after such an emotional scene, but that woundn’t be the answer not even for the mourning mother I imagine Cersei will be!

Reanimating Myrcella would be creepy, ESPECIALLY if he used the organs of other children. Hope that’s not the case, lol.

Are we sure the Qyburn + Pycelle scene/plot is from same scene/plot as with the child?

It is no surprise to me that Pycelle is alive for most of season 6. I expect Kevan and Pycelle to die near the end or at the very end of the season.

Show Qyburn is downright cuddly. He healed up Jamie’s stump and protected Cersei at her lowest moment. Season 6 should probably start to reveal his true, sick nature. I am sure there is a stand-in for

I don’t see how people can say Pycelle is creepier that Qyburn. Pycelle simply puts up a false facade, pretending to be old and doddering and slower in wits than he truly is. And yes, he’s overly “attached” to the Lannisters and their cause, and willing to go out on a limb for them. But I don’t think he would even entertain the notion of doing nasty experiments on people, much less re-animating corpses and/or performing vivisection. That shit puts Qyburn on his own low level. Comparative to Dr. Mengele indeed…. Very good reasons he was stripped of his chain and expelled from the Citadel.

I don’t see how people can say Pycelle is creepier that Qyburn

What if the Children aren´t there for a Qyburn-Pycelle Scene but represent

Well, maybe “like” isn´t the right word…

Ok – confused. Is it guaranteed that the child is in the scene with Q and P? Could the child be shooting something different in the same locale?

Did the show give any indication that Meryn Trant was a child molester prior to his death scene? I don’t remember any (and I still think that was a mistake by the show; no need to try to further up the stakes for Arya there). So there’s certainly precedent for Pycelle to suddenly become one.

It’s not very likely. This isn’t a studio like in Banbridge where they can handle multiple scenes and units around the same time. This is just one site.

The show gave us a few scenes with Meryn being happy to beat on Sansa, so I do think they established it. We haven’t had any hints like that with Pycelle.

Qyburn over Pycelle every day for me. I find Pycelle completely horrible. Qyburn is using rats and corpses for research purposes. 😉

Maybe they analize the corpse of the dead Myrcella to find what poison killed her and who did it..

Qyburn told Cersei when she was imprisoned that Pycelle refused to come visit her (or help her out in some important respect). I’m guessing that when Cersei claws her way back to power that Pycelle will be persona non grata with Cersei. Maybe Pycelle seeks out Qyburn, Cersei’s trusted confidant, to intercede on his behalf with Cersei.

Anton Lesser is awesome, by the way. Loved his Thomas More in Wolf Hall.

On the child molester thing, while TV Meryn being a child molester is an invention of the show, Book Pycelle molested Sansa. She recalls in AGOT that he “made her undress and touched her all over” (when she’s all of 11 years old). So it’s not as if it would be out of the blue in relation to book canon, at least.

I’m pretty sure sure that Qyburn is taking on Varys’ role and will take out Pycelle (and possibly Kevan) using his little birds. Perhaps even under Cerseis orders- I’ve suspected this might happen for a while.

That’s a hell of a leap of logic- he’s a doctor performing an examination. The complete quote, with the context you removed:

“The serving girls tried to talk to her when they brought her meals, but she never answered them. Once Grand Maester Pycelle came with a box of flasks and bottles, to ask if she was ill. He felt her brow, made her undress, and touched her all over while her bedmaid held her down. When he left he gave her a potion of honeywater and herbs and told her to drink a swallow every night. She drank it all right then and went back to sleep.”

Given that we know Varys is headed back to Westeros, and probably making a stop to

ally the Redwynes and Martells to House Targ, and hopefully let Doran speechify about having planned it all along (please),

I expect him to finish the season with his book 5 plot, with KL pulling from books 4, 5, and 6, and hopefully Cersei doing some more batshit crazy and stupid shit, with Kevan/HS/Margaery trying to hold her off.

I think Varys will still do his thing, just after a season of

instead of a chapter. It seems like they’re really moving 4, 5, and 6 stuff around and fitting it freely, but I have to say it really seems to be working out well, better than the books in some cases.

And for fuck sake, make Julian Glover and Finn Jones opening credit regulars, they’ve been around since Season 1 dammit!!!

It seems most likely that, if there is a child involved, it would be Pycelle’s death scene. I could see Qyburn taking Varys’ role in eliminating him, especially taking into account how firmly their rivalry has been established. Pycelle could start asking too many questions about Ser Robert Strong, for instance.

Varys’s little birds taking out Pycelle and Qyburn would seem to me to be most in keeping with the epilogue to ADWD.

That is absolutely molestation. Pycelle took advantage of his position. There was no reason to touch sansa all over, that was unnecessary.

Every time I try and comment on this post it’s being marked as spam and rejected – anyone else getting that problem?

Of course, Murphy’s law means this comment gets posted with no problem AAARRGH!

Qyburn is mostly definitely creepy… but Pycelle is just despicable and slimy. A face off with those two would be pretty amusing to watch.

Because you posted something different. When you hit Submit on the same post over and over, it gets tossed to Spam. You must’ve double-posted, and then the subsequent same posts of course read the same. I’ll release one.

That’s generally how a physical examination is performed, doctors touch all over when they do a check-up. Never had to turn your head and cough, I take it? I suppose you could interpret it that way if you wanted to, but I don’t think that was the intention of the text.

Actually Merlyn beating Sansa was only evidence that he was a sadist. Sadists take pleasure from hurting other people–regardless of age, gender, etc. However, it wasn’t until we saw him beating other young girls that a pattern is established showing he is not only a sadist but a pedaphile, in that he prefers to beat young girls. So definite prior evidence of sadism but not of pedophilia.

In regards to Pycelle, I think his “ewww” factor has to do with his advanced age and the fact that he was using prostitutes–who seemed, in comparison to him, very young. But we had no way of knowing just how young that prositute he was with was. And in all fairness, just about everyone seems too young for him. We do have statements by Cersei that she’s seen Pycelle looking at the young women at court. And again, in all fairness, we don’t know the age of the women he’s looking at and most men, of all ages, will look at pretty young women. So there’s no real evidence that Pycelle is pedaphile. Does it gross us out that he’s still a “sexual” creature? Yes.

If a sadist is deriving sexual pleasure from beating on young girls in particular, that it is a form of pedophilia. But my point is that it was hinted at a little, since we saw Trant have zero problem with hurting Sansa and actually seem to enjoy it. Not quite the same thing as a knight begrudgingly doing his job on orders. No one is saying it was very obviously established that he was pedo pre-finale. Just hinted at that he likes hurting girls- which we literally saw several times.

And yeah, I think Pycelle’s age is why people are grossed out. It’s an ageism thing.

Well, like Joffrey, Trant seemed to enjoy being a dick to lots of people. I didn’t take his malice as being specifically targeting young girls. But I see your point.

Pycelle also enjoyed being a dick with those who were not the rulers. And, even if I know that being at court means being a liar, I find Pycelle’s flaterry disgusting: remember when he said that Joffrey had been the noblest young man alive – or something like that. The Hound, working as a bodyguard, was considered a servant by some, but he never behaved like one. There must be a way to serve your masters and also preserve your dignity.

we saw Trant have zero problem with hurting Sansa and actually seem to enjoy it.

Actually, I’ve just rewatched both scenes (the one with Sansa looking at Ned’s head and the one with the beating at the court). Meryn seems to have his usual angry face, and his face is hardly seen in the second (I even sense a bit of horror in the first one).

Anyway, I prefer that they changed it in the series. Arya killing a random guy for a random reason seemed stupid, as much as Joffrey killing Ned. But in the series it’s actually an important moral dilemma. If she kills him she could be expeled from the FM and lose everything she’s achieved so far. But if she lets him live Meryn could traumatise dozens of little girls more. In the end, it makes for a more interesting story.

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