The biggest villain left in 'Game of Thrones' will never have a speaking line
"Game of Thrones" ended its sixth season with a surprising shortage of villains on hand. Ramsay Bolton was killed after the Battle of the Bastards, and Walder Frey followed shortly thereafter. If you include the deaths of Joffrey and Roose Bolton, "Game of Thrones" has done a pretty bang-up job of eliminating the bad guys.
Of course, there's still Cersei Lannister and Euron Greyjoy (plus Daenerys?) - but the biggest baddie of all left is the Night King.
The Night King is the White Walker's powerful leader - an ancient humanoid being created thousands of years ago by the Children of the Forest. Despite his significant role in the series, the Night King (in his undead form) has never uttered a sound onscreen. And, according to showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, he never will.
"We don't think of The Night King as a villain as much as Death [...] In some ways, it's appropriate he doesn't speak," Benioff and Weiss told Deadline. "What's Death going to say? Anything would diminish him. He's just a force of destruction. I don't think we've ever been tempted to write dialogue for The Night King. Anything he said would be anticlimactic."
While perhaps not wholly unexpected, hearing confirmation of the Night King's eerie muteness is interesting. The White Walkers were off-screen for the entire second half of season six, but fans can expect to see them in the upcoming episodes. Winter has come, and the dead come with it. Just no talking dead.
Read the full Deadline interview to learn more about Benioff and Weiss' thoughts on the Night King, Cersei, Jon Snow, and other season seven storylines.