"If Benioff and Weiss had so desired, they could have easily killed Bronn in that moment, but his survival implies there is more of his narrative that they want to map out in the coming episodes."

I'd argue that would be the only one to leave out. Starting with WW1 being fought on American soil, the accompanying rise of a black-Marxist revolt in the South, ending with a humbled Confederacy leading to the rise of a racist, hate-mongering nationalist maniac harnessing the energy of a disgruntled white working…

Turtledove's Southern Victory series is a rebuttal point here (and far more worthy of mention than Guns of the South). On top of showing how things play out with a divided America in the coming years (the usual 'warmed-over trope'), he uses this context to stick us in Europe's 20th-century shoes and give North…