Game Of Thrones Season 5 Will Include Dorne Setting According To Showrunners

The showrunners of HBO's Game of Thrones have confirmed that they will taking a trip to Westeros' southernmost kingdom, Dorne, in the show's fifth season.

"There will be Dorne, and we're excited about it," David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told Entertainment Weekly. "Who wouldn't want to hang out in Dorne? They have admirable values and priorities. And have you seen Oberyn's coat?"

Audiences got their first taste of the Dornish's "admirable values and priorities" with season four's introduction of Prince Oberyn Martell, "The Red Viper of Dorne," and his bastard paramour, Ellaria Sand, played by Pedro Pascal and Indira Varma, respectively.

In George R.R. Martin's novels, the Dornish have the most unique culture of all the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Dorne is the only kingdom that did not submit to Targaryen rule, becoming part of the realm only through marriage centuries after Aegon the Conqueror's death. They also are the only culture to allow succession through females of a bloodline and that respect bastards rather than looking down on them.

The inclusion of Dorne as a setting in season five of Game of Thrones should come as no surprise to fans of the books. Season five will draw largely from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragon, the fourth and fifth books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, which sees House Martell, rulers of Dorne, becoming much more involved in the series' plot.

There have also been casting rumors that Game of Thrones is searching for an actor to play Doran Martell, Oberyn's brother and head of House Martell, as well as the Sand Snakes, Oberyn's bastard daughters.