We learned earlier this month that ‘The Winds of Winter’, the sixth installment of George R.R. Martin’s acclaimed ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ series, won’t be released this year. Many voiced their concerns for this because that means that HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones‘ will be catching up to the author’s last book ‘A Dance With Dragons’ sooner rather than later. More specifically, even though showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have an idea of where Martin’s story is going, season six of the popular fantasy drama will find the series traveling without the roadmap of the novels for the first time. Now that season five is almost upon us, some members of the cast weigh in on the future of their show.

The notion of proceeding with an adaptation without the actual source material can be terrifying or liberating. Interestingly enough though, the same can be said about anything that happens in Westeros these days. So while speaking with IGN about the future of ‘Game of Thrones’, a few key cast members shared their thoughts on what’s to come. First, Alfie Allen explains that his storyline hasn’t really followed the map of the books from the start. Because of this, he’s never really known what’s next for Theon Greyjoy/Reek:

“For me – specifically my character – with the torture stuff that happened in the third series. In the books, it’s only really spoken of about twice [in the early books] – ‘Theon’s in the dungeons getting tortured’ – that’s it. And so then that torture take place in book five. So they had to move it forward to season 3. So my storyline really is one where nobody knows where it’s going to go.

I’m feeling excited and terrified. It’s a bit of both. Definitely. I try to get it out of David and Dan where it’s going to head, but they’re extremely tight-lipped… it’s more exciting than terrifying…but definitely a bit of both.”

Carice van Houten is the next one to chime in. After revealing that she hasn’t read the books at all, the actress behind the Red Woman Melisandre shared that it will be nice to have a level playing field for fans of the books and fans of only the series for once:

“It’s nice to know that now everyone is on the same page. Nobody knows anymore. Like before in the make-up trailer, people would know a little bit more than we did… there were people who knew where it was going. Now everyone is on the same page.”

Nathalie Emmanuel shares the same sentiment as she discusses her excitement for what’s to come for her character Missandei and the Khaleesi:

“Everyone has their opinions on the show because of the books, and now we’re walking into a season where nobody knows what’s going to happen. I think it’s exciting. I’m really excited to find out what’s going to come of Missandei and Daenerys.”

Finally, Sophie Turner (who has apparently read the books) drops some vaguely spoilery details when talking about the fate of Sansa Stark from this point onward:

“It’s really exciting. Especially because, for Sansa, as book fans will know, it’s kind of come to an end for her [storyline] in the books, so we don’t know what’s going to be in the next book for Sansa, but [season 6 is] going to happen before then. So none of us have any idea. And judging by the end of how season 5 ends, I think it’s going to be the most ambiguous thing ever what happens to her.”

Now what could Turner mean by that?! When we last saw Sansa, she was regally coming down the stairs of her late aunt’s home and into the clutches of Littlefinger. Where does she go from there and where does it all end up by the end of the season? Thankfully ‘Game of Thrones’ is coming back on April 12th and we’ll begin to get some answers.

So after all that, how do you feel about ‘Game of Thrones’ operating without George R.R. Martin’s novels for the first time? Does it make you more excited for season 6? Are you worried that the show might suffer without that roadmap? Or is anyone else just thankful that their book-reading friends won’t be able to get drunk and spoil things for you after this season? Okay, that last one might just be me, but let us know where you stand in the comments below.