Bran and Hodor Won't Appear in Game of Thrones Season 5

HBO's Game of Thrones returns for Season 5 next year, but a certain group of characters won't be a part of the action for the entirety of the fifth season.

George R.R. Martin is working on the sixth book in the series, but Bran Stark's storyline on the show has already caught up to the end of the fifth book, A Dance With Dragons. The group reached the Three Eyed Raven in the Season 4 finale, which is Bran's current position in the books.

Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor and works as a DJ during his downtime, spoke to Yahoo! (via Comic Book Movie) and revealed that Bran's entire clan is out of Season 5:

"We have a season off and we have a year's hiatus, solely because I imagine our storyline is up to the end of the books. So, I get my year off now to do Rave of Thrones and gallivant all over the world."

In other news, EW.com reports Sherlock co-creator, writer, producer and actor Mark Gatiss will return as Tycho Nestoris in the fifth season of the mega-hit show. He should be back on the set in Croatia next week.

The actor and character first appeared in the Season 4 episode "The Laws of Gods and Men." He and the bank agreed to fund Stannis Baratheon's war effort to reclaim the Iron Throne from the Lannisters, who are in major debt to the bank. Naturally, the bank is not happy about this, so they've decided to sneakily fund the enemy in order to get the Lannisters out of power.

Are you surprised Bran and friends are not in Season 5 at all? Let us know in the comments section.