Spoiler Report: Directors, an archmaester, and Game of Thrones in Seville

EBrose

Back in June, just after the end of season 6, four directors were announced for the next season of Game of Thrones: returning directors Alan Taylor, Jeremy Podeswa and Mark Mylod, plus new guy Matt Shakman. What wasn’t included in the official announcement were specific details telling us which episodes the directors would be taking on. This week, however, we’ve been able to confirm with reliable sources which of the seven episodes match up with which director in a few cases.

Our sources report that director Jeremy Podeswa is handling the season premiere and the season finale of season 7. Podeswa directed two episodes each in seasons 5 and 6, directing major moments such as Melisandre’s aging unveiling and the resurrection of Jon Snow. With his strong track record, including an Emmy nomination for his work on the show, Podeswa has proven he’s up to the task of opening up the season and closing it out.

Furthermore we’ve learned that episode 2 will be directed by Mark Mylod, while episode 6 will be directed by Alan Taylor.

We’ve also heard that Matt Shakman will be directing episode 5, though this is less certain than the previous director info we’ve heard.

This is an unusual break from GoT’s typical pattern of having directors take on blocks of two consecutive episodes at a time, for example Podeswa directing last season’s first and second episodes. But season 7 is unusual in many ways, so we can add this to the list!


Another interesting piece of news we’ve learned is that we’ll be seeing Archmaester Ebrose in season 7.

S P O I L E R S plus speculation beyond this point!

This will probably come as a bit of a surprise to readers of the ASOIAF series because not much time is spent with this character in the novels. Ebrose is a maester of the Citadel, where he is mostly mentioned in conjunction with his area of expertise – healing- and his distinct silver mask and rod. (He’s the dapper fellow pictured up top.)

Archmaester Ebrose popped up in A Feast for Crows, where he’s described as having a “soft voice and gentle hands.” When Qyburn remarks on his own healing skills, he compares himself to Ebrose, saying that as a maester, he was “as skilled a healer as Ebrose, but aspired to surpass him.” (Hence the Frankenstein experiments, apparently.)

With Samwell Tarly at the Citadel, many had suspected or hoped we’d be seeing notable archmaesters like Marwyn the Mage or Walgrave to interact with Sam. So why include Ebrose? Because he’s a healer. And we have at least one major Game of Thrones character in need of serious healing- Jorah Mormont.

We haven’t yet confirmed who will be playing the role but we feel there’s a good likelihood that Jim Broadbent will be playing Ebrose. His part was described as “significant” but was never named, and so it would be perfect for the kindly-faced Broadbent to play Ebrose the healer.


shipyards
Royal Shipyards of Seville

Los Siete Reinos has some new information for us today, one involving a location and the other about the extras of Seville.

First of all, they’ve reporting that Las Atarazanas, the Royal Shipyards of Seville, will be playing the part of the same Westeros location as Italica (the Roman ruins in Santiponce). Since we’ve established that Italica is the Dragonpit, then the Shipyards are another part of it- probably an underground or side portion of the ruined pit buildings.

Additionally, L7R says that friends have told them that at least some of the extras of Seville will be playing the roles of Lannister guards at Italica- the Dragonpit. Which points toward a visit from an official member of House Lannister.

Our own sources have informed us that the Dragonpit will see many characters pass through- and that Brienne and Jaime will have at least one scene together.

Incidentally, ModExpor International is still looking for fit men in Cáceres, most likely to play soliders/Unsullied. They want people with availability from October 31st through December 12th, which is a much longer period than originally posted. So, perhaps Game of Thrones has decided to shoot more scenes in the Cáceres area, or their original scheduling estimate was a little off?

And that’s your WotW spoiler round-up for the morning! At least until the next glut of photos from Basque Country, which will be posted shortly.

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

170 Comments

  1. Many have guessed Jorah would be cured in the Citadel. I wonder why he got GS in the first place then. Maybe just so they could have an excuse for him not being around Dany while he was sick? I guess and hope we might see something more.

    If Ep06 is the new Ep09 it makes sense that Alan is the director. I was hoping he’d direct 2 episodes though.

  2. Kargaryen:
    Many have guessed Jorah would be cured in the Citadel. I wonder why he got GS in the first place then. Maybe just so they could have an excuse for him not being around Dany while he was sick? I guess and hope we might see something more.

    I hope there’s more to it than that, too. Even if Jorah does get cured, he’ll still be part stone like Shireen. I hope that plays some part against the WWs or Westeros as a whole.

  3. I did think Broadbent would be a perfect Walgrave but (as far as we know) he’s not overly important and necessary to have in show. If the purpose for Ebrose is indeed to cure Jorah then that makes sense to include him, and Broadbent would be great.

  4. It makes total sense that Alan Taylor would direct ep 6.I am sure he will do a great job.So I guess ep 3 and 4 are also Mylod and Shakman.I literally have no recollection of this master in the book but it does seem like a good fit for Jim Broadbent.

  5. First off – the directing schedule is interesting, I wonder if there was a specific reason for them splitting the episodes like that? I think that the philosophy they had in seasons five and six of having two sequential episodes really worked, particularly at the beginning and end of a season. But any information on which director is taking which episode helps us to try and piece together when scenes we have seen pictures of may take place.

    Secondly – Ebrose does make more sense than Marwyn for Broadbent, so I freely admit being wrong about Marwyn. I wonder if he or any other book-Citadel characters will appear? The fact that Ebrose specializes in healing does tip a nod towards Jorah; and opens up the very real possibility that he and Sam may meet at the Citadel in season seven. That would give Jorah a grounding in Jon and Jeor’s relationship, and possibly an idea of what has been happening north of the Wall since season one.

    Thirdly – Brienne and Jaime!!!!!! Cersei aside, Brienne is Jaime’s weak point; if Team Jon and/or Team Daenerys want to get to Jaime then she is the ideal person for that role. I hoped that the wave they shared at Riverrun last season would not be the last time they saw each other, and it would appear not. Brienne in the south is interesting – who sends her there, and why? And who is protecting Sansa at Winterfell in her absence?

    Fourthly – Lannister guards at the dragonpit opens up a can of worms in terms of what they will be shooting there. And multiple scenes – is that in multiple episodes or the same one?

  6. Well this is surprising..

    So Alan Taylor may get to direct episodes 4 and 6 which may probably have battles and big scenes..

    Kargaryen,

    I have always believed its just for the sake of drama..
    Except my theory was he will be cured by Red priest like victarion did ..and I was expecting that to happen last sesson…so that red priest may earn the trust of dany and tyrion.

  7. Any thoughts about Miguel Sapochnik coming back at some point? When they announced he wasn’t coming back this season I was hoping it was because they were giving him a huge chunk of the final season and wanted to give him more time to prep. He’s too incredible with the big set pieces to pass up IMO.

  8. Debunking the leaks… maybe…

    So, awayforthelads said that Sam would cure Jorah. It certainly is possible that Ebrose would try and fail, but it seems highly unlikely that novice Sam would step in and be successful if they’ve gone to the trouble to cast this role, especially if played by as respected an actor as Broadbent. If Ebrose is the one to cure Jorah, then this would bolster what many of us hope, that the leaker had access to who was shooting the outdoor scenes in Spain and what those scenes were but that a lot of his leaks were things he filled in. As a matter of fact, there was one redditor who claimed that he too had inside info and that awayforthelads had the basic structure of the season correct but that his details were wrong. Here’s to hoping!
  9. Ok, so the picture with ‘The Big Tree’ paper sheet that had Jeremy Podeswa’s name on it was definitely ep 1 (some suspected it was ep 4) and as the post suggests, the finale ep 7 – as well.

    And since he’s been filming most scenes in Belfast, I suspect the finale will have the most scenes in the North.
    Logically, a director would shoot their particular episodes sort of close together, right ?

    I know they don’t shoot in chronological order, so if we take all these into accounts, I strongly suspect the highlight of the season will be happening in the North, at the Wall and in Winterfell and we’ll see Dany take on Cersei in season 8.

    Mommy’s excited, gimme some northern action yes baby !!

  10. Adam:
    Any thoughts about Miguel Saponik coming back at some point? When they announced he wasn’t coming back this season I was hoping it was because they were giving him a huge chunk of the final season and wanted to give him more time to prep. He’s too incredible with the big set pieces to pass up IMO.

    I would love him to be back for season eight – Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards and Winds of Winter are among the best ever episodes of GoT, and his depiction of the sequence at Hardhome itself was genius. He would be the perfect choice to direct huge chunks of season eight, in which there will likely be such large-scale action sequences. As you say, maybe that is why he isn’t directing any this year?

  11. dreamshade,

    He’s directed some of the very best episodes of the show and I’m not even afraid to name my own Podeswa favorites: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, Home, and Kill the Boy. I’m really happy about him being back.

  12. Foreshadowing:

    Bronn: How do you want to go?
    Jaime: In the arms of the woman i love.

    So Cersei or Brienne? 😀 If this is true there’s still a chance for Brienne’s version.

  13. I told you the only reason Lord Friendzone got greyscale was to keep him away from Dany and make Tyrion her chief adviser.

    Podeswa directing the finale and Mylod possibly having the episodes I feared he would have (3 and 4)….. thanks but no thanks.

    Alan Taylor is almost guaranteed an Emmy nomination.

  14. Alba Stark: I would love him to be back for season eight – Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards and Winds of Winter are among the best ever episodes of GoT, and his depiction of the sequence at Hardhome itself was genius.He would be the perfect choice to direct huge chunks of season eight, in which there will likely be such large-scale action sequences.As you say, maybe that is why he isn’t directing any this year?

    He’s set to direct a movie about Sinbad so I’m not holding my breath about him coming back for S8, which is a shame.

  15. Oldtown being rewritten to be entirely about curing Jorah Mormont feels weird to me. Anticlimactic. Like both Sam’s Oldtown story and Jorah’s greyscale story are both going to amount to very little when all is said and done. But it makes sense, because they seem very reticent to explore the mystical side of the story outside of White Walkers/Dragons/Bran/Melisandre. Rewriting Oldtown to being a medical trip for Jorah and rewriting Euron into their very un-magical version of him pretty effectively removes those aspects of the story.

  16. I can’t wait to see how the dragonpit looks on screen!!

    I hope that means Jorah gets healed that would be awesome! What if his spot on his arm saves his life fighting WW somehow.

    And I agree that Jorah and Sam could run into each other at the Citadel and possibly discuss Jeor and Jon. At least then he has some kind of idea about Jon before he meets him.

  17. Adam,

    Sapochnik was directing several episodes of the Iron Fist Netflix show, which was the reason given for why he wasn’t available for Game of Thrones. Assuming Marvel doesn’t bring him in for the Defenders series, he should be free for season 8.

  18. Chreechree:
    Debunking the leaks… maybe…

    According to the leak Sam simply finds old parchments written by a maester who once cured himself of greyscale and basically just follows the instructions (dumb as it is). If that were the case why bother with Ebrose? I do think the leaker has got many details wrong.
  19. So that means Jon is at Dragonstone until ep. 5. From episode 2-3 more likely to episode 5. Interesting we haven’t seen Alan Taylor on DS set, maybe indoor scenes?

    It seems this Archmaester will cure Jorah because how would sam be able to do that. Also Jorah wouldn’t be able to touch Dany and be with her. She commanded him to get cured. So he can go North for some reason. Leaks got it wrong as it seems.

    Podeswa 1 and 7
    Mylod possibly 2 and 3?.
    Taylor 6 and 4?
    Shakman 5

  20. My feeling is that Jorah needs to get cured because dying of greyscale isn’t his story in the books. He only got it because he took on part of a book character’s fate in the show, but only part, then his arc diverges and follows more of his book arc.

    And I’m ok with that ?

  21. Flayed Potatoes,

    I’m curious as to why you say that. Is something about Mylod and Podeswa supposed to worry us ?
    I’m asking because I’m not so well acquainted with the directors and I’m curious to see what they’ll do with the episodes they were given.
    I know Podeswa directed Unbowed Unbent Unbroken which still gives me the occasional chill down my spine and Mylod kinda destroyed the Arya/Waif and the Barristan vs Harpies scenes ..
    If he truly is directin episodes 3 and 4 which are some of the most important due to the Dany/Jon/Gendry/Jorah interactions, I’ll be pissed..

    Altough I’m pretty sure I saw Matt Shakman with Kit and Emilia a couple of days ago and I’m excited to see what he brings to the table, his previous work is really good.

  22. Arya Serious,

    I can’t imagine Jorah and Sam won’t meet. Writers won’t waste that opportunity. Sam thought very highly of Jeor, and a conversation about him and Jon seems natural.

    afeastfordances,

    I still hope Broadbent is playing Marwyn. After all, Sam always wanted to be a wizard, so Marwyn seems the logical mentor for Sam, especially as he doesn’t look at the world the way the other maesters do and could perhaps help Sam discover crucial elements for fighting the white walkers. Of course, Broadbent’s role could end up combining elements of multiple book characters as the show sometimes does. I too would like to see some of the mystical aspects of the Citadel story line, but I’m afraid you’re right that it’s been removed. No glass candles for us.

  23. Alba Stark:
    First off – the directing schedule is interesting, I wonder if there was a specific reason for them splitting the episodes like that? I think that the philosophy they had in seasons five and six of having two sequential episodes really worked, particularly at the beginning and end of a season.

    Maybe it was logistically unfeasible for episodes 1-2 to be shot by the same person this year?

  24. dreamshade,

    This was what I was referring to in an earlier post. A year ago, someone leaked the entire script for season 6. The outline of Arya’s storyline was too spot on to be fabricated. The play where the Lannisters were the protagonists and the Starks the antagonists, Arya receiving a 2nd chance after getting back her sight, Arya killing the waif. The storyline involving the play was too specific to be a coincidence. It is actually understandable to conclude that this person was legit. However, the reality was a different case altogether. I am also worried about Jamie’s fate this season. I am big on foreshadowing and there was a scene a couple of years ago that started to concern me about Jaime’s fate.

  25. Geralt of Rivia,

    I don’t think he got it wrong.He does say Jorah has scenes with the maester and I would assume the maester would be specialized in healing to treat Jorah and apparently Sam gets the key from his supervisor so the maeser also has scenes with Sam.Honestly it would be too easy if he just goes there and the maester cures him.Sam doing it is more dramatic because of the Jeor connection also gives him something to do.I don’t see anything contradicting them in this post
  26. Podeswa is a GREAT director…his work on Boardwalk Empire is awesome…& pretty much all of his work on GoT has been great…people can say what they want about Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken but the wedding between Sansa and Ramsay was masterfully shot…the mood and ambiance of the scene was very much on point.

  27. Tobin,

    I’m done trying to convince myself that it’s false. It’s a wasted effort now. It’s beyond obvious they are true. Everyday makes it more obvious than the last. But, I don’t understand how this could have possibly happened. There are very limited people that would have knowledge of every story, every character, every arc. Even the crew members would only know what they were working on. The guys claims that it is a “friend of a friend of a friend” is nonsense. It’s too much detailed info to be that far down the line. It seems like this was an intentional effort by someone very important. I mean technically, it could even be a member of the cast. They’d be among the few who would have full detailed knowledge. But why would you do that?

  28. dreamshade,

    If a maester had cured greyscale, wouldn’t that be healing 101 at the Citadel? It’s a devastating, highly communicable disease. Finding a cure is not something to record and then file away. Seems ludicrous. So, yes, why bother casting Ebrose? So he can shrug and say he can’t help so that Sam can step in and have another heroic moment? I love Sam, but that’s silly. I crave more details like this to poke further holes in the leaks.
  29. Irina Stark,

    I’m not a fan of most of the episodes they directed. I partly blame Mylod for that ridiculous chase scene with Arya and the Waif and Podeswa isn’t really good at directing fight and action scenes in general imo.

  30. Jenny,

    Except the leak states Sam only finds written instructions from some late maester, no living maester helps him. It’s contrived if he manages to find those instructions in THAT big library for Jorah and it’s coherent enough for such a rookie like Sam to do it on the first try. It’s too convenient. It’s better if an archmaester does it. Sam could play the role of an assistant.
  31. Alba Stark,

    Ah – I would say that Brienne is Jaime’s strong point…He becomes a better person when he’s around her. So excited for this meeting!

  32. Sean C.,

    Sam would initiate the meeting between Jorah and the Archmaeter. Sam could run into Jorah in the streets, they meet Sam learns he’s the Old Bear’s son and wants to help him. So, he brings him to the Citadel “healing center” and gets Jorah cured.

  33. asoiaf fan,

    I think Jaime will definitely die, but not this season. He will probably be the last major death, he will die in series finale. But before that he will redeem himself, have a brief romance with Brienne and possibly impregnate her, then die in her arms. This is the most likely scenario based on parallel characters and stories in mythology and history, as well as the books, as I had mentioned in another comment.

  34. Envisioning a cold open. A close up of a maester wrapping a patient’s arm in bandages, giving him a pot of potion, without us seeing the patient.
    Maester: The healing process seems complete but apply this ointment twice a day for the next three moonturns.
    Patient leaves, next comes in, with gruesome sores, maester begins to treat him and, annoyed, turns to say.
    Maester: Samwell, you really must attend if you ever wish to forge your silver link.
    We see Sam looking green, stuttering.
    Sam: Yes, Archmaester Ebrose. I will try, only…
    Maester: Burying yourself in the library and hanging around the likes of Archmaester Marwyn, trying to learn ‘the higher mysteries’ will do you no good if you want to forge your chain. If you can’t learn the simplest steps in knowledge…
    Sam: Yes, Archmaester, only… [Sam retches]
    Maester [annoyed]: Go! You’re no use here. Go and prepare more of the ointment. At least you can read a recipe and measure accurately. Pfft.

    Later on in the episode (or the next) Sam brings the ointment to the patient, who’s revealed to be Jorah. Jorah is eager to go but notices Sam’s not wearing ordinary Citadel acolyte garb but all black and it leads to (awkward, because it’s Sam) convo about NW, Jon… OK, I don’t know how much Sam would know about murder/ressurrection, taking WF, but he knows about WWs. And Jorah knows all about Dany. Info dump. Bringing these storylines together.

    Aargh, I’ve just indulged in fan-fic!

    Shame! Shame! Shame! [bell ringing]

    It was just that I virtually saw these scenes while reading the article. It may not happen this way – it most probably won’t – but these brief moments of imagination and speculation make the off-season more bearable. (Not to mention the looong wait for the books that may never come out. 🙁 )

  35. Name *,
    The healing process will take its toll on Jorah and make him emotionally unstable, so in the end, in a fit of rage and jealousy, he will kill the lovers Jon and Dany both with Longclaw… 😈 Sorry. Couldn’t resist 😀

    I agree though. It would come off as a rather not so elegant plot device to have us worry and to have him away from Dany for the needed amount of time. For the rest of his book plot, I imagine, he can’t have Grayscale. I guess that’s just another example of how difficult it is to adapt this tale also in terms of characters/actors-economy and that no matter how hard you try, it does not always go as smoothly as everyone involved and the viewers and fans would wish. But you obviously have to compromise a lot… The writers must make those choices themselves, and live with it for the rest of their days, as we will have to. 🙂

  36. Cersei’s Brain:
    Alba Stark,

    Ah – I would say that Brienne is Jaime’s strong point…He becomes a better person when he’s around her.So excited for this meeting!

    I agree that he is a much better man when he is around Brienne than when he is around Cersei. I meant weak point in the sense that she is perhaps the one person that could break through the Kingslayer persona where others could not; she is the person he is his true self around.

    Essentially, if you wanted to get at Jaime, to get him to change sides, Brienne is the person you would send in to try and convince him.

  37. So that means the photos of Maisie in a Northern garb are from episode 1. She makes it home in episode 1. Because it rather won’t be episode 7. Jeremy Podeswa was on set when she and others were filming at Linen Mills.

  38. Hm. If Jorah is at the Citadel with Ebrose and Sam and Sam is at the same time making discoveries about Rhaegar and Lyanna, Jorah could become privy to this info and casually drop it in convo at Dragonstone.

  39. Told you, guys. Brienne will be in the Dragonpit for Jaime, not some parlay, and that Dragonpit will be happening with Cersei still in control of KL. Knew it.
    All in all, expect the trial by combat with Frankenmountain as Cersei’s champion; expect Jaime volunteering as a champion of the accused side (Yara, Sansa or simply all of the Cersei’s captives); expect the Bear Pit reverse with Brienne interfering and the Daznaq Pit reverse with the crowd turning on the queen, only this time there will be another queen of cause; expect the vibe of “The Gladiator”, and expect the revolution.

  40. Boojam,

    No idea. However, Maisie Williams stated in an interview that while the season is shorter, it contains as much material. Not sure if that means extended length of episodes or if the episodes are more full of wild content.

  41. dreamshade,

    You’re forgetting that those pics were later confirmed to be from a week’s worth of filming, not a single day, and that multiple units were confirmed to be present at those studios. Maisie could have easily been filming a different episode with a different director. Podeswa was the only director identified, but that doesn’t mean that other directors weren’t there that week.

  42. Sean C.,

    It wouldn’t necessarily be only about that. It’s also about creating a connection between the two. About Sam telling Jorah about the Old Bear’s final wishes. Which might later impact Jorah story line. And also, this is probably not Sam’s only story line, it’s not even the major focus. He did go there to learn how to fight the WW. I have a feeling that will be the major focus of his story line.

  43. elybe,

    On the 13th the pap said he was trying to spread out the photos he had taken on the same day. There’s at least one crew member who is present in Maisie’s photos and those of the rest of the cast. She’s wearing the same clothes. So unless she wore the same outfit all week….

  44. Sean C.,

    That would be a shame. Guest or more seasoned, minor characters often point the younger, main cast in important directions, like Ray to the Hound, like many characters to Jon. I’d rather see Sam learn from a maester and grow in confidence than unrealistically play super healer. Still, if that happens, much will depend on how it’s written, so it might come across much better when the details are filled in.
  45. singedbylife:
    dreamshade,

    He’s directed some of the very best episodes of the show and I’m not even afraid to name my own Podeswa favorites: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, Home, and Kill the Boy. I’m really happy abouthim being back.

    Yeah, I think there are a lot of people blaming the director for the writing in the episode they’re hired to direct.

    Case in point is the Sansa/Ramsay wedding night scene. Anybody who’d paid any attention knew how that’d go. The director made it first beautiful cinematographically, to emphasise the tragedy. He also cut away from Sansa to show even Reek/Theon was appalled.

    I don’t get the people who maintain that the camera should’ve stayed on Sansa (to see a gruesome rape? WTF?) because showing Reek/Theon’s reaction somehow took away from her story and made it Reek/Theon’s. Their stories are intertwined at this point, and it’s important for later developments. I think the big furore was about letting Sansa be (marital) raped. I think the director of that scene did it very well.

    One GoT director that unfortunately got it wrong was the Jaime/Cersei scene by Joffrey’s bier. In the books it’s clearly consensual, and the showrunners, director and actors all say it was. It just didn’t look that way to viewers. As great as GoT is, they do have some misses.

  46. orange,

    Indeed, the leak seems to have a lot of information on the details: too much to be a simple fan-fiction. But still the story makes no sense: in fact, there is no consistent story at all. So, I keep to my theory that this leak is a decoy full of true details but totally misguiding in the sense of the overall course of events. D&D have learned that avoiding filming leaks is mission impossible, so the only thing they can do to keep the plot in secret, is to set the fandom on the wrong track. And they are known for trolling actors with false script.
  47. talvikorppi,

    Fanfic is just speculation with dialogue. No shame in that. Peeps do it all the time on reddit and call it writing “fan scripts.”

    Brienne could convince Jaime to turn over KL without bloodshed. He took Riverrun without bloodshed simply because she asked.

  48. dreamshade,

    And it was later confirmed on this very site that the photos were in fact taken over the course of a week. And what does the presence of the same crew member in the same clothing prove, exactly? You don’t think one crew member can work with two different units filming two different scenes from two different episodes at the same studios in one day? They reuse and redress sets standing in for the same location (or even different ones) all the time. That same crew member is also on set at the same time as Isaac, who is filming Castle Black scenes. What of it?

  49. Morgoth,

    We sit on opposite sides of the fence. The more confirmation we get, the happier I am. Most of it made total sense to me although I would like to see the odd Hodor like surprise along the way. One of those twists barely anyone thought of is very GOT.

    Anyway there’s plenty of missing links even with the filming reports. And I’m always mindful of the fact that all the friends I know who watch the show struggle to remember who Gendry is and the names of half the characters so wouldn’t bat an eyelid at plot lines which hardcore fans aren’t happy about.

  50. Podeswa is unfairly maligned sometimes because he directed UUU. He’s done great work. His stuff on Boardwalk Empire is incredible, too. (There’s a show to marathon if you’re bored between GoT seasons.)

  51. Adam,

    I hope he will, too, and I heard contradictory things. On one hand, it’s “rumored” he’ll get a big chunk of the final season. On the other, he just signed to do a big budget feature film. Since S8 isn’t technically green lit, it’ll be interesting to see how long he holds out for a GoT contract and if it interferes with the feature film.

  52. Chreechree,

    About supposed leaks…

    Yeah, the undead dragon thing is hard to swallow. Really can’t see that happening. Though I can see the whole Jon-bringing-a-wight-to-Dragonpit scene. That one kind of makes some sense.
  53. dreamshade,

    We don’t know that they were only filming one scene that day. It would be a mistake to assume that the photos we got are comprehensive.

    moiaf:
    It wouldn’t necessarily be only about that. It’s also about creating a connection between the two. About Sam telling Jorah about the Old Bear’s final wishes.

    The Old Bear didn’t have any final wishes on the show.

    Chreechree,

    It sounds like from the supposed leak that his main accomplishment is finding the old text in the archives, which is more a feat of research than medicine.
  54. Sue the Fury,

    I think he’s fine with atmospheric stuff (like Melisandre reveal), but he suffers when asked to stage/film a big action set piece, and it’s not just the Sand Snake stuff in S5.

  55. Off topic: I found WoTW in the months leading up to season 6 so missed a lot of the production spoilers but found myself bummed that i knew too much for the season… but now that i have WoTW its hard to turn away lol I keep trying not to come here every day but im like a GOT junkie i just need my daily fix. I know im spoiling things but i cant help it.

    on topic: It seams like they will be rushing through a lot of these side quests to push the main story forward. I could see only a two episode arch for Jorah to get to the Citadel, meet Sam and build that connection, get cured and leave. Which at this point I’m fine with. People complained last season about teleporters and all but we have 13 episodes left i dont really want or need multiple traveling the road episodes. Lets get into the meat; lets see the reunions; lets see everything pull together. I have a feeling the season could feel entirely like episodes 7-10 typically feel. all progression and climax.. and you can never have too much climax.

  56. We have been discussing THE leak for some time now. So, here is my announcement:

    I accept the leak is true and I just hope the chronology does not suck and that there is more to the season.

  57. moiaf:
    Sean C.,

    It wouldn’t necessarily be only about that. It’s also about creating a connection between the two. About Sam telling Jorah about the Old Bear’s final wishes. Which might later impact Jorah story line.And also, this is probably not Sam’s only story line, it’s not even the major focus. He did go there to learn how to fight the WW. I have a feeling that will be the major focus of his story line.

    There were no last wishes in the show though. That was cut. They could probably rework it into Sam talking about the Lord Commander and Jorah taking his father’s legacy into his own hands.

  58. moiaf,

    That was in the books, wasn’t it?

    jentario,

    I think it makes sense other way around. White walkers have no answer to dragons, if they don’t turn one of them or do something.
  59. Name *,

    Yeah, in the books

    one gets the idea that Shireen’s presence in the north is significant in potentially unleashing some kind of greyscale epidemic in conjunction with the Others’ invasion. This seems foreshadowed by Val’s reaction to her. And then you have Jon Connington with greyscale in the south. Since Shireen’s already been burned in the show, Jorah, with his halted-but-not-cured greyscale, may be taking her place, and also Jon Con’s, for this part of the plot, since he’s in the south and is probably going to end up in the north.

    I don’t think they’d have put him through the greyscale arc unless it turns out to be significant. Unless the significance is simply to bring him into contact with Sam and setting Sam in motion in some way that relates to Jon and Daenerys. But that seems like a lot of trouble for something that could probably have been accomplished via raven.

    Regardless, I’m glad to see Jorah again, and glad we’re getting some time in the Citadel.

  60. It would make sense, as others have touched on, for Jorah to seek healing at the Citadel and somehow meet Sam. Gaining knowledge about Jon, the WW and how things fair in the North, it would be logical that Jorah’s next move would be to join Daenerys at Dragonstone. Whether to advise her to seek counsel/an alliance with Jon (hence his presence there), or by him meeting up with Jon and crew first and then travelling with them and then introducing them to Dany. Since we don’t know yet in what order who arrives at Dragonstone first, either story line would work.

  61. Wow, a lot to take in. So we are still unsure about who is doing Ep. 3 and 4 (NOT Podeswa, who’s already doing 1 and 7). Taylor didn’t go to the location which L7R has speculated to be Dragonstone interior, though the other 3 did.
    Archmaester Ebrose sounds interesting. As for Jorah’s greyscale, there’s zillions of people on Essos with greyscale. It was also somewhat of a stigma for poor Shireen. What if Jorah getting greyscale and getting cured, is to bring a greyscale cure to the world? For me, that would be enough.
    Jaime and Brienne meeting again? I AM quite surprised by that.
    About Lannister guards at the dragonpit, perhaps Jaime will come there with his guards and meet Brienne as well as Daenerys and her people, to parlay? Come face-to-face with Tyrion again?

  62. Chreechree,

    My thoughts have always been that Greyscale will be important in one of two ways: it will unleash a plague on Westeros, or it will be key to defeating either the side of ice or the side of fire. Stone in most fiction is immune to the effects of ice and largely to fire. And there are some theories going around regarding the Citadel and dragons (fire). I could also be way off base.

  63. sun,

    Awesome! Daenerys, Jon, Tyrion, Davos and dragons! Also, she is wearing the white cloak, not red, so it’s not the scene when they get onboard and row away.

  64. jentario:
    Chreechree,

    About supposed leaks…

    Except it doesn’t make sense, not with the reasoning behind it that the leaker gave us.

    He said they capture a wight, bring it to the dragonpit and Jon shows it can only be killed with dragonglass after The Mountain tries and fails to kill it. Excuse me, but that’s a direct contradiction of an established plot point. Wights can be killed by simple fire or even not that as evidenced in Hardhome and Blood of My Blood. Fire or just hacking them to pieces. It’s White Walkers who can be killed by dragonglass/Valyrian Steel only as far as they know. So unless the leaker made it up, or simply screwed up the names (a wight instead of White Walker) which means he’s prone to mistakes (he did contradict himself or got the names wrong on a number of occasions), then wth?

    I don’t believe the reasoning behind the mission, or at least think there’s more to it. We’re missing important details. But it’s quite anticlimatic if they go to all that trouble and risk so much for a single wight which leads to no pay off anyway. Now imagine if they go to capture a White Walker (how they do it is another ballgame). Now that would be raising the stakes. Or maybe they go to find Benjen and get answers from him.

  65. innocence,

    I can definitely agree with your prediction. If I were to place a bet, tragically my odds are with you. Jaime’s chapters, as well as Theon’s were some of my favorites.

  66. Archmaester Ebrose is one of those characters who, though they were mentioned in the novels, I had honestly completely forgotten*. If Sue hadn’t referenced his description from AFFC, I’d have had no trouble believing that he was an amalgamated character created for the purposes of the show.

    *Khal Moro is another such character, though in that case the character’s appearance in the published novels is even less substanial than Ebrose’s. In fact, he’s so minor that there’s a strong chance that the show just borrowed the name, as they did with Mossador.

    I don’t feel too ashamed about that – the novels have hundreds of such characters, and in this case, Ebrose is so minor that even calling him a background player seems generous (he may, of course, have a bigger role in the books that have yet to be published – if they are ever finished). Nevertheless, it’s cool that seven seasons in, there are still obscure characters like that for the writers to pull off the bench when necessary.

    Based on the description, Ebrose sounds like a great fit for the role that Jim Broadbent is playing. Broadbent has tremendous range, but a healer with a kind face and gentle hands sounds like better fit for the image I have of him than Marwyn does, honestly (although Broadbent may still be playing Marwyn, and an appearance from him can’t be ruled out quite yet).

    And yes, he’s probably going to play a role in healing Jorah, even if Sam is the one who ultimately facilitates it.

    TheMannis: Podeswa is a GREAT director…his work on Boardwalk Empire is awesome…& pretty much all of his work on GoT has been great…people can say what they want about Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken but the wedding between Sansa and Ramsay was masterfully shot…the mood and ambiance of the scene was very much on point.

    Agreed! Podeswa’s direction of the wedding sequence in UUU is both beautiful and masterclass in slow-building horror. He was richly deserving of the Emmy nomination he received for his work. Loved his work on Boardwalk Empire and the other Game of Thrones episodes he’s directed as well.

  67. sun,

    Jon pets Drogon?

    What are Emilia and Peter doing in one of those pics, dancing? Lol.
    One of the best things about these pics is seeing how much fun this cast has filming with each other.

  68. Sean C.,

    Fair enough. I still would prefer it to not play out that way.

    jentario,

    Oddly enough, I prefer the wight dragon over the wight at the dragon pit. I can see Viserion’s demise as a logical outcome of a confrontation with the White Walkers. WW do, after all, raise wight animals, and dragons can be killed. I have a hard time, however, accepting the concept of a wight hunt. Wanting to provide proof is reasonable, but Jon knows how dangerous that is. What are the odds that they will come across one wight on its own or, at least, a small enough number that their small group wouldn’t be at much risk? Jon has seen what happens when they swarm. It seems a fool’s errand. If this does happen on the show, I think it could be a bridge to the books, since Book Jon already has captive wights in his possession and wouldn’t need to risk an expedition to provide proof. If the dragon pit parlay is a pivotal plot point setting up the endgame, however, then Show Jon needs to kidnap one. M’eh.
  69. Jenny,

    Doubt that Archmaester will play a door man role as someone said it here. Sam might try behind his back. Also, don’t believe that. They’ll find papers of Rhaegar’s anulled wedding with Elia and his is Aegon. Sounds ridiculous.

    One things outside of it. It looked tome Jon and Dany farewell was simply platonic bond. No signs of any affection. It might really stay there and not go further if this is ep. 5 or 6. Really struggle how to develop it into romantic in those remaining episodes. So leaks must be telling lies or half truth.

  70. Geralt of Rivia

    Oh he is telling the truth you will see lol.He might have gotten some things wrong but the Jon/Dany hooking up is not one of them.Of course the goodbye was platonic at that point they are not together yet.Plus they were in front of everybody and Jon and Dany are not the pda type.It will make sense when you see in the show plus attraction and love are feeling you really don’t need much time to develop them.
  71. dreamshade,

    I try to keep reminding myself that more details will make that story line more palatable. Time will tell.

    Yes, capturing a white walker is a whole other level above capturing a wight. I have a hard time accepting that they would think this quest is a solid strategy, but they might feel as if it’s the only way to convince Westeros. Again, not a fan and am still hoping this part of the leak is not valid.
  72. dreamshade,

    You are right. It doesn’t make sense the way the leaker mentioned them.

    it’s the WWs that can be killed by dragonglass, wights can be killed by fire or by being hacked. In fact I think in the books it is established that dragonglass is ineffective against wights? There is some mistake here.
    But Jon going beyond the Wall to kidnap a live white Walker seems an even crazier plan lol. Maybe we are missing some crucial piece of info here.
  73. Bergey,

    I’ve read similar theories. If the disease is endgame important, then either Jorah is not as cured as they think he is or they discover that pertinent information when researching how to cure Jorah.

  74. sun,

    Nice. It looks like Shakman there. My word, a lot of stuff if he’s doing one episode. But it looks like Jon might be leaving WF in ep 2 then, arrive 3. a lot of people come and go and then leave ep. 5 because Alan Taylor is not there in Spain. Ian Glenn was seen in Sevilla.

  75. Okay I’m going to make one post regarding leaks:

    I don’t think this spoiler report is entirely or even mostly true.

    Many things in it are either logical guesses or stuff we kind of suspected would happen – in which case it isn’t really “news” to me and I shrug it off.

    Only three things struck me as particularly implausible or absurd, meaning either the report is wrong or the show is crazy:

    1 – Zombie dragon?…..well books have speculated, and MAYBE this is an extreme condensation of the next book’s timeline. Even if it really happens in the TV show maybe it’s “in the spirit” of the books. I dunno, I have a “wait and see” attitude.

    2 – Randyll Tarly getting burned by dragons? Unlikely….the Reach is on Daenerys’s side now! Okay maybe that happens in the novels, but there’s no reason for the TV show to do it in this context.

    3 – The one I found most absurd and really the only one I fixate on: *Sunspear AND Highgarden falling to the Lannisters early in the season?!* Okay….MAYBE if this was true, it’s because Euron attacks Sunspear on the coast, while the Reach’s army is along the coasts defending Oldtown and thus has a skeleton defense for Highgarden leaving it open to surprise attack.

    Nonetheless…..WTF? The Tyrells have the largest army in Westeros, mostly intact still, while the Lannisters have maybe half their original army left. This, more than the zombie dragon stuff, I dismiss out of hand as preposterous. Cersei’s bankrupt and has no army left; even allied with the ironborn this just makes no sense.

  76. My least favourite part about the ‘leaks’ is

    Euron running away and hiding in the Iron Islands because of the wight he sees at the Dragonpit.
  77. dreamshade,

    We know so very little about Arya’s arc this season, but ye olde leak

    states that, in true Stark fashion, Jon will leave Winterfell before Arya and/or Bran arrive and that he won’t encounter either of them in Season 7. This would seem to rule out Arya’s making it back in Episode 1.

    Sigh.

  78. ghost of winterfell,

    The show could have dragonglass working on wights. Nothing to the contrary has been established (yet). But the whole expedition North of the Wall with a bunch of random people thing seems odd. Dany suddenly deciding to come on a dragon and help seems even odder (and just in time! lol), het being able to save everyone but Jon is worse (seriously, what) and Benjen coming out of nowhere only to jump into the wights and save Jon is just bonkers. And I won’t even talk about the zombie dragon. I refuse to talk about that shit. A dragon dying? Absolutely. But zombie fucking dragon?
  79. Kargaryen,

    I was thinking that maybe Jorah had to promise some things in order to be cured, like not ever marrying Dany and not trying to get back to her for some reason…but the photos obivously show us otherwise

  80. If all the leaks are true then every single character is going

    to get butchered. At least 85% of the spoilers make no sense. The characters’ motivations are absurd and designed only to fit the plot and not be coherent/consistent. The biggest WTFs are the wight mission with Deus Ex Daenerys on a dragon equipped with GPS and Deux ex Benjen (we’ve had so many last minutes rescues, enough already. Also what prompts Dany to follow Jon’s Suicide Squad and when does she do it? ), the moronic reasoning behind the wight mission. Euron pulling an Eric Cartman. Theon regressing to Reek. Bran, the near God, being reduced to an exposition machine (only purpose is to sort through birth certificates), Littlefinger going down in the dumbest of ways, LF/Sansa/Arya reenacting Mean Girls: Winterfell edition, the Tyrells being defeated by a war-wrecked Lannister force, Euron already having a fleet large enough to defeat Yara’s, Daenerys not believing in WWs when she’s experienced so much magic in her life (blood magic, dragons, being unburnt, HOTU), Jon submitting as if to pay for Dany’s help, as if WWs aren’t her problem too and her heloing was a favour, not her duty and Ghost being ghost
  81. Sphinx,

    This is an example of why I hold out hope, that some of it is wrong.

    It states Euron asks “can it swim”, Jon says “no”. Euron goes peace out guys, I’m hiding near the water, and that he supposedly literally sprints out of the scene to his boat, which makes it sound like this is end of Euron and the conclusion of his character and we don’t see him again. I mean this is ridiculous. Even 15 year olds on tumblr can come up with better material.

    So…I hold out hope some or most is wrong.

  82. Geralt of Rivia:
    Jenny,

    It looked to me Jon and Dany farewell was simply platonic bond. No signs of any affection. It might really stay there and not go further if this is ep. 5 or 6. Really struggle how to develop it into romantic in those remaining episodes. So leaks must be telling lies or half truth.

    Can I get a hallelujah?! 🙂

  83. Kargaryen:
    Many have guessed Jorah would be cured in the Citadel. I wonder why he got GS in the first place then. Maybe just so they could have an excuse for him not being around Dany while he was sick? I guess and hope we might see something more.

    It is so he can end up getting his hands on the tarly sword.

  84. A few things that occured to me:

    Podeswa is directing ep 1 which “the big tree” is the provisional title or a scene from the episode. And all of team Stark were there- including Jon, ARYA but allegedly not Bran…

    Shakman directing ep 5 confirms Jon leaves DS then… so likely arrives at DS in ep 3.

    In S5 Stannis mentioned that the maesters, healers etc. cured Shireen. So I’m guessing there’ll be some reference to that in S7.

    Is a pity they Jeor didn’t express his dying wish to Sam on the show- this would be a perfect link to Jorah going North (if indeed that’s what happens). Who knows- maybe they’ll tie this in and maybe on meeting Sam / Jon and seeing longclaw might focus his path, especially now Dany has made it home.

    I figured Reales Astarzanas would serve as the undervaults of the Dragonpit- they’re perfectly matched with the Italica ruins in terms of architecture and sheer scale. It’s gonna look amazing.

    As said on a previous thread- I believe Brienne goes south on Sansa’s (or Jon’s) orders to petition Jaime in helping out against the WWs that’lll lead to an ultimate (maybe fatal) conflict of loyalty for Jaime..

  85. orange,
    I have to confess that the part of the leaks you refered to made me giggle when I first read it ^^

    In my ever disputable opinion, it is so molecularly out of character for Euron “I am the Storm (PS I am also quite demented and drugged up)” Greyjoy to run away from any kind of danger that a tiny part of me, one that lives in a very dark, damp corner of my mind, almost wants it to be true… It could be one of Game of Thrones‘s best comedic moments ! 😉
  86. jentario,

    There is said that Dany saved everybody, except Jon, then Jon is saved by Benjen and half alive get to the EWBTS, and he still manage, somehow, to catch wight. If they are overrun by wights and NK have freaking wight dragon, it`s impossible for Jon to get away with wight. It`s just stupid.
  87. dreamshade:
    If all the leaks are true then every single character is going

    I agree. Season 7 doesn’t look good to me. Where is GRRM story ? It should be Jaqen at the Citadel not Jorah. Where’s Melisandre ? What’s the point of bringing back the Hound to chop some woods if they have nothing good for him now ? Why bring back Gendry who’s name is forgotten to all but small Gendray fanboys ? What a waste.

  88. Sphinx,

    Plus. Jon and Dany have sex on bout going North!?!?!? When? Dany don`t go North in this stupid wight catching mission with them.
  89. dreamshade: to get butchered. At least 85% of the spoilers make no sense. The characters’ motivations are absurd and designed only to fit the plot and not be coherent/consistent. The biggest WTFs are the wight mission with Deus Ex Daenerys on a dragon equipped with GPS and Deux ex Benjen (we’ve had so many last minutes rescues, enough already. Also what prompts Dany to follow Jon’s Suicide Squad and when does she do it? ), the moronic reasoning behind the wight mission. Euron pulling an Eric Cartman. Theon regressing to Reek. Bran, the near God, being reduced to an exposition machine (only purpose is to sort through birth certificates), Littlefinger going down in the dumbest of ways, LF/Sansa/Arya reenacting Mean Girls: Winterfell edition, the Tyrells being defeated by a war-wrecked Lannister force, Euron already having a fleet large enough to defeat Yara’s, Daenerys not believing in WWs when she’s experienced so much magic in her life (blood magic, dragons, being unburnt, HOTU), Jon submitting as if to pay for Dany’s help, as if WWs aren’t her problem too and her heloing was a favour, not her duty and Ghost being ghost

    About the leaks:

    It is clear that the leaker knows some things. But at the moment these spoilers are more like bullet points. We dont have the context to understand them.

    Another problem is that we dont know what exactly is 100% fact and what parts the leaker may be guessing about in order to fill out the gaps.

    It is also clear that the person doesn’t always understand the laws and customs of the story. It seems like the leaker is a show only watcher, I ve often found that people who havent read books dont always understand some of the subtleties within the story. Since they dont have time to spell out everything within the show.

    – The leaks said that Dany would summon all of the Lord and Jon to Dragonstone. Dany wouldn’t be able to do that, it is much more likely that she invites them for negotiations.
    – The leaks said Jon will be in somewhat of a hostage position on Dragonstone since the Dothraki removes his boat after landing, and because they take his weapons away. But we have clearly seen from the footage this past week that Jon is definitely not in a hostage type of position. It is actually customary for a visiting Lords to hand over his weapons.

    So this might be a big problem with these leaks. The person knew some events will occur and he then interprets them incorrectly because he doesn’t understand all of the intricacies and laws that governs Westeros. So some of his/ her assumptions might be incorrect. You are going to reach a wrong conclusion if you dont understand this story very well.

    We have seen this person spell Targaryen incorrectly, my guess is the person is more of a casual watcher. So he might assume that wights can be killed with dragon glass, or that Jon’s name would be Aegon because he perhaps learned something about Rhaegar’s son.
    I think some of these predictions of his only shows that he/ she doesn’t always understand the subtext within the show.

    We will have to wait and see how these things really develop on screen.

  90. Cragen,

    Supposedly they’re going to return to Dragonstone…again. Which is bordering on comical now, how many people are coming and going to Dragonstone for gods sakes. From there they decide to take a boat north with Dany’s army. But this will require a stupid bending of time. They’ll have to get Jon and Dany from the Wall, to Dragonstone, to the dragonpit, back to Dragonstone to board a boat North all in episode 7. Now, they could if they really wanted, as they’ve shown zero hesitation to move time offscreen at a rocket’s pace in the past…but this time might be a little too much to believe, if it plays out like this. Jon and Dany ill be criss-crossing the continent, thousands of miles in one episode.
  91. Cragen,

    That bit sounds unlikely. There is literally no time for them to have a sex wihtout it being forced. It will be better to do platonic bond but something tells me while Dany will fall Jon (supported by Hotu vision and how she felt terrified about not feeling anything for Daario), he won’t. Jon is kinda of tough for him to love another afer Ygritte and his death. he’s got mission.

  92. I wish the leaks could be kept to the forum. Every comment section is getting over run with it. If it’s not Jon vs Dany, then it’s the leaks and sometimes it Jon vs Dany AND the leaks. Sheesh!

  93. orange: Supposedly they’re going to return to Dragonstone…again. Which is bordering on comical now, how many people are coming and going to Dragonstone for gods sakes. From there they decide to take a boat north with Dany’s army. But this will require a stupid bending of time. They’ll have to get Jon and Dany from the Wall, to Dragonstone, to the dragonpit, back to Dragonstone to board a boat North all in episode 7. Now, they could if they really wanted, as they’ve shown zero hesitation to move time offscreen at a rocket’s pace in the past…but this time might be a little too much to believe, if it plays out like this. Jon and Dany ill be criss-crossing the continent, thousands of miles in one episode.

    More about the leaks, and traveling:

    Nope, this is more how the timeline shakes out:

    -Jon and his group will go to Easwatch by the sea in a boat, and Dany will follow them with her dragons.
    -They will capture a wight and present the wight in the Dragonpits.
    -After that event Jon and Dany will go back North again, via a boat.

  94. Flayed Potatoes: I partly blame Mylod for that ridiculous chase scene with Arya and the Waif

    I’m glad you said partly, because it was my understanding that David/Dan wanted the sequence to look like a Terminator chase. So he, Mylod, was following instructions. But considering Arya’s horrific wounds, the chase just didn’t make sense at all. I don’t want to go down that path of complaint again (well, I do if it will make everybody concerned with the writing to be more diligent about making sense before rocketing into the fantasy aspect of the story.)

    As for why Jorah would have had to contract greyscale –

    I imagine it’s to convince Sam to leave the Citadel and go to Jon’s aid, both as a friend and as a healer. As it was left at the end of season 6, Sam had no idea about what had happened to Jon. No idea of his murder and resurrection, nor of him being made KitN, nor of Dany’s trip across the sea. Being the avid book-freak that we know Sam to be, it would take something monumental to get him to leave the Citadel, after waiting a lifetime to get there. I put this in spoiler brackets because I can’t remember if I read about Sam returning north in a spoiler or if I read it on WotW. I’m just glad it looks like they will be reunited at some point
  95. Cragen,

    I think the wight dragon isn’t supposed to appear during Jon’s escape, but later as the NK’s army is on the move (when the Wall comes down during the sweet, sweet love making while they’re heading south, not north).
  96. Geralt of Rivia: but something tells me while Dany will fall Jon (supported by Hotu vision and how she felt terrified about not feeling anything for Daario), he won’t. Jon is kinda of tough for him to love another afer Ygritte and his death. he’s got mission.

    You have been posting quite a bit about how Daenerys may fall in love with Jon (apparently supported by her HotU vision?), but he will not. Let’s be a bit more dramatic: how about they both fall in love and THEN discover they are Nephew and Aunt! DRAMA!! Or…. let’s be much less dramatic and soapy: neither fall in love with each other, they BOTH have a mission – Jon about the WWs, Daenerys about the smallfolk (my preference from long ago). They can fall in love with other people long after the show has ended. I mean, WHAT would the story achieve by showing a Daenerys all forlornly gazing out at the ocean, because Jon doesn’t love her? In only 13 episodes left?

    purpleofhair: I wish the leaks could be kept to the forum. Every comment section is getting over run with it. If it’s not Jon vs Dany, then it’s the leaks and sometimes it Jon vs Dany AND the leaks.

    PREACH!

  97. Cragen,

    Oops. I apparently remembered that incorrectly. Sweet, sweet lovemaking while the Wall falls is after dragon pit, not after the wight mission. I really hope that I look back at these posts a year from now and laugh at how we were worried about the possibility of this happening. [/spoiler}

  98. Apollo,

    It seems at least Dany feels positive and she usually smiles like this on people she cares about. Of course Jon might be hesitant to enter relationship. He rejected Mel after all. Not comparing Dany and Mel but just illustrate that it is hard for Jon to love someone after Ygritte and his stabbing. If it was durin shooting of scene and not before, then it is Emilia sort o giggling around lke she usually does.

    Iam with you on that they should be friends and most of all family. She got Viserys and only Targaryen she ever knew. He was an asshole and she deserves better family. we know how much she wants family and Jon is protective of his family.

    She might help him embrace his Targaryen side because it has to importsant for something, not osm uch for iron throne since it becomes irrelevant with upcoming zombie apocalypse.

  99. The Dragon Demands,

    Last season already established that, in the show, the Lannisters have the largest army. Jaime refers to the Tyrell army as the second-largest.

    The leaks state that the Tarlys switch sides to Cersei.

    It’s already established that the White Walkers can revive animals, so I don’t see why dragons would be different.

  100. Kay,

    I can imagine Jon being a reluctant lover: he always was that way and it took Ygritte quite a lot of effort to seduce him. I assume, Dany will make it faster, if she intends to: IMO she will be having conflicted feelings and hesitations. But I don’t want them to develop any kind of relations (romantic or friendly) without knowing that they are relatives, otherwise it will be like a cheap soap opera.
  101. Kay: You have been posting quite a bit about how Daenerys may fall in love with Jon (apparently supported by her HotU vision?), but he will not. Let’s be a bit more dramatic: how about they both fall in love and THEN discover they are Nephew and Aunt! DRAMA!! Or…. let’s be much less dramatic and soapy: neither fall in love with each other, they BOTH have a mission – Jon about the WWs, Daenerys about the smallfolk (my preference from long ago). They can fall in love with other people long after the show has ended. I mean, WHAT would the story achieve by showing a Daenerys all forlornly gazing out at the ocean, because Jon doesn’t love her? In only 13 episodes left?

    Usually or so far men falls for Dany. It would be nice if she for one time fall in love with someone else Jon or whoever else. If they do follow hotu visions, she will fall in love with someone. The thing is hotu was from her perspective.

    Dany might realize even if she loves him romantic level, having family is more important. Is what she always missed and felt lonely. They might get with another characters, who knows really. It’s all aut what we prefer I guess. It’s pretty clear they’re not going involved on intimate level later on at minimum, after getting to know each other. Then you have a few episodes to do it and it seems like dilemma. Do it or don’t do it? Just no love triangles.

    Of course them getting together, slepping and then reveal sounds like a lot of angsty Jon and something that could make their relationship intense. Also a way to go.

    Inga,

    Better to develop whatever they plan before than after. It makes for more interesting storyline. Human conflict.

  102. Apollo:
    Boudica,

    Dude wtf…. cover your shit up! There are people here who don’t wanna see leak info!

    I am very sorry, I did actually cover it up. Perhaps I did something incorrectly.

  103. Geralt of Rivia: Usually or so far men falls for Dany. It would be nice if she for one time fall in love with someone else Jon or whoever else.

    Right. You and I saw different versions of Season 1 and men just falling in love with her and she never reciprocating.

    Geralt of Rivia: If they do follow hotu visions, she will fall in love with someone. The thing is hotu was from her perspective.

    We also saw different versions of HotU. 😀 What I saw was that she longed for Drogo and her kid, but ultimately responded to her DRAGON children every single time. Whether it was the throne, or her dead husband and baby, she chose her dragon children.
    It’s fine. You and I will definitely NOT agree about this, since we watch different versions of the show, as filtered through our different expectations of the overall story. Sorry I brought this up in the first place – usually I don’t! 🙂

  104. H.Stark,

    The guy who posted those pictures clarified on twitter that they’re in Manchester, not Belfast. I don’t know what Maisie and Sophie are up to together, but they’re not filming.

  105. Sean C.,

    Someone please explain me how the WW could kill a dragon first of all. We haven’t seen them using any kind of sophisticated weapons like ballistas, or catapults, or anything of that kind. Their munition is limited to rather primitive ice swords and a rater primitive ice armor working against obsidian daggers, but not against Valyrian steel. Of cause, we saw giants shooting giant arrows with giant bows, but can wight-giants do that? Wights act mindlessly, there is no coordination in their actions, and the only tactic they or rather the WW use is overwhelming numbers. So, how the WW can take out a dragon? There is no build up for that.
  106. Kay,

    Of course post Drogo. Jorah, Daario, Tyrion in a way. Scene in brothel in Volantis how men wants to you know what do with her. Basically, she’s being worshipped by men even if not in real relationship. Usually Jon is a bit slower when it comes to love or well anything.

    Hotu in the books was from her perspective. What she has to do slay lies, mounts, how she will be betrayed etc. This is what I meant because apart form nice touch having Jason on the set, it wasn’t that good like in the books, but I would understand at least including some of them. I understood why there wasn’t Red Wedding and such.

    Show told us she’ll reach King’s Landing, turn her eyes North and the bit with Jason is a bit unclear. Is it supposed to mean she’ll die fighting white walkers or that she has family at the Wall or Beyond? Since, Jon at that time was Beyond the Wall.

  107. Geralt of Rivia,

    IMO, developing relations with a long lost relative who also happens to be a potential rival to the throne and a potential match for political marriage would be even more interesting at least for Dany, but it’s a matter of taste. I am ready for anything. It would be just a bit cheesy for me, if any kind of drama is made around the characters not knowing what the viewers know, and that wasn’t the way of the show so far.
  108. Inga:
    igor Carvalho,

    There is an instruction right above the comments.

    Two continuing problems I see with newbies and spoilers: they don’t remove or they add spaces and second they use wrong brackets.

  109. Can we get the uncovered stuff about the leaks deleted by mods? It’s the one thing I’ve been avoiding, and I just read it anyway. =/

  110. HotPinkLipstick:
    talvikorppi,

    Brienne could convince Jaime to turn over KL without bloodshed. He took Riverrun without bloodshed simply because she asked.

    Yeah, maybe. OK, I don’t usually have gripes with book/show differences, but…

    In the books,

    Brienne was nowhere near and it was all Jaime’s own decision to use his shitty reputation to “conquer” Riverrun with minimal bloodshed.

    But maybe book things don’t matter as regards Jaime. In the show he’s a tertiary character, secondary at best (S3). In the show, he still is Cersei’s lapdog.

    I give a lot of leeway to adapters of books and usually go along with their choices and understand why differences have to be made. Different medium, different story. All has to service the end story.

    That said, Jaime is the semi main character that has got the shortest shrift from the showrunners. Jaime’s story has become totally messed and confused. Shrug. Shit happens. We don’t know the end of Jaime’s story in the books either. But, at least, in the books, he’s left Cersei. [screaaaaams into the void].

  111. afeastfordances:
    Oldtown being rewritten to be entirely about curing Jorah Mormont feels weird to me. Anticlimactic. Like both Sam’s Oldtown story and Jorah’s greyscale story are both going to amount to very little when all is said and done. But it makes sense, because they seem very reticent to explore the mystical side of the story outside of White Walkers/Dragons/Bran/Melisandre. Rewriting Oldtown to being a medical trip for Jorah and rewriting Euron into their very un-magical version of him pretty effectively removes those aspects of the story.

    I think it’s terrible idea. Oldtown is about Alchemist, Sam and Maesters. They get rid of what’s best of the book. After all the leaks I don’t look forward to see next season.

  112. Jon: I agree. Season 7 doesn’t look good to me. Where is GRRM story ? It should be Jaqen at the Citadel not Jorah. Where’s Melisandre ? What’s the point of bringing back the Hound to chop some woods if they have nothing good for him now ? Why bring back Gendry who’s name is forgotten to all but small Gendrya fanboys ? What a waste.

    It looks terrible ! I thought they decided to make next season shorter to put more effort into writting and avoid season 6 mistakes but they continue to force poor fanservice and butcher the book material. If I have to watch that idiot Gendry instead of Jaqen and Melisandre where’s the fun ?

  113. Kargaryen,

    Name *,

    “Wake the dragons out of stone.” There is a HUGE reason visually, stone men were introduced in the very same shot as dragons, behind Tyrion and Jorah.

    That’s visual storytelling 101… they want you to link it. WIth no question, it has big significance. 🙂

  114. Kargaryen,

    Maybe with Jorah going to the Citadel and being healed by this Ebrose, Sam is serving under him. Sam and Jorah begin talking, and Jorah tells Sam about Daenerys and how she has dragons and will land in westeros etc. etc.

  115. AE: “Wake the dragons out of stone.” There is a HUGE reason visually, stone men were introduced in the very same shot as dragons, behind Tyrion and Jorah.

    That’s visual storytelling 101… they want you to link it. WIth no question, it has big significance.

    Nice catch! 🙂 I didn’t connect the shot of Drogon flying overhead with the stone men in Valyria! So what do you think is the connection? Is the cure in an adult human something to do with dragons? Are Targaryens immune? Was Shireen’s disease stopped because she had a tiny amount of Targ blood? It IS curious that Drogon was sailing in that area full of stone men all by himself when Daenerys was in far-off Meereen.

  116. dreamshade,

    Yes, especially the Dany bits. Euron has a fleet made of wood, and Dany has dragons. That should end Euron as certainly as it ended the slaver armada, yet, completely irrationally, it does not.

    Why is Cersei still queen? Why hasn’t Dany gone after her with the dragons? Why are they trying to parley with an unstable, unpopular, and weak enemy, when they can defeat her and move on to the Walkers?

    …and everything else you mentioned. None of it works, if the center–Dany’s invasion of Westeros, for which we were made to wait six years–does not hold.

  117. Inga:
    Told you, guys. Brienne will be in the Dragonpit for Jaime, not some parlay, and that Dragonpit will be happening with Cersei still in control of KL. Knew it.
    All in all, expect the trial by combat with Frankenmountain as Cersei’s champion; expect Jaime volunteering as a champion of the accused side (Yara, Sansa or simply all of the Cersei’s captives); expect the Bear Pit reverse with Brienne interfering and the Daznaq Pit reverse with the crowd turning on the queen, only this time there will be another queen of cause; expect the vibe of “The Gladiator”, and expect the revolution.

    Inga, I like your idea better than mine!

    I have been thinking that Dany will put Jaime on trial for killing Aerys (and perhaps for attempting to kill Bran), and Brienne will intervene to save Jaime. That would give Brienne (the Maiden Fair) the opportunity to fight Jorah (the Bear) in the dragonpit. It would be the inverse of the scene when Jaime intervened to save Brienne from the real bear in the bearpit at Harrenhal. And Brienne’s family’s Valyrian steel sword is named Just Maid.

  118. Apollo,

    I think the spoilers about Jon-Daenerys banging in season finale can be true, those spoilers seem legit to me. I think the leaker was someone from the technical team and his source was storyboards as some people suggested, he knew a great deal about action-outdoor scenes although his knowledge and understanding of the story and characters were poor.

    I don’t think he would include a banging scene in his story if it didn’t exist in storyboards or whatever his source was, because it’s not a scene which is open to interpretation. The leaker’s story is limited and some of his interpretations of the scenes are wrong I think, because he didn’t have the scripts-dialogues and as I said it seems like he didn’t know much about the characters and storylines and therefore he is not trustable when it comes to emotional context etc. as well as non-action scenes simply because he didn’t know.

    But I believe that there will be a banging scene because it’s an action scene and I can’t see how he would interpret it wrong. Just because they bang it doesn’t mean that they are in love with each other. So, there is no need for a strong emotional development or relationship background. Daenerys had sex with Daario and Jon had sex with Ygritte not long after they met. I think somebody had asked the leaker on reddit if they love each other and he had said something like “I don’t know if they love each other, but they have sex”. They are both hot and it has been a long time since Jon had sex and Ygritte died and they don’t know that they are aunt and nephew, so why wouldn’t they have sex?

  119. Jon:
    I’m not happy at the rewrites of Oldtown. They haven’t learnt anything. The show is going downhill. Only cheap fanservice, nothing in common with the book anymore. They do what they can to make characters look shallow.If there is not Jaqen in Oldtown I don’t care about the show anymore.

    I think that the absence of Jaqen was almost inevitable following him taking on the role of the Kindly Man in seasons five and six. They really tied off the faceless men plot when Arya left the HoBaW in 608. A shame, but inevitable.

  120. Chreechree:
    Arya Serious,

    I can’t imagine Jorah and Sam won’t meet. Writers won’t waste that opportunity. Sam thought very highly of Jeor, and a conversation about him and Jon seems natural.

    afeastfordances,

    I still hope Broadbent is playing Marwyn. After all, Sam always wanted to be a wizard, so Marwyn seems the logical mentor for Sam, especially as he doesn’t look at the world the way the other maesters do and could perhaps help Sam discover crucial elements for fighting the white walkers. Of course, Broadbent’s role could end up combining elements of multiple book characters as the show sometimes does. I too would like to see some of the mystical aspects of the Citadel story line, but I’m afraid you’re right that it’s been removed. No glass candles for us.

    I can’t imagine Jaqen and Sam won’t meet. What a waste of Oldtown storyline ! I also hope Broadbent will play Marwyn. It seems they keep on trimming what’s the essence of the books.

  121. Alba Stark: I think that the absence of Jaqen was almost inevitable following him taking on the role of the Kindly Man in seasons five and six.They really tied off the faceless men plot when Arya left the HoBaW in 608. A shame, but inevitable.

    Actually they said they brought him earlier than they intended and gave him the part of the Kindly Man because he’s so good. They never said it was the end of his part and he is still signed for season 7. I wish they follow the book in the Citadel storyline though. I can’t stomach Sam and Gilly and king of friendzone . It has nothing to do with the book and it would be even more boring then season 6 Sam’s story. There is so much potential for Citadel part in the book. FM are still part of the story in the books and I’m sure Arya will reunite with Jaqen. In the show however it’s all getting worse. They get rid of great characters or limit their parts like Tyrion’s and Jaime’s and force us to watch more of Brienne, Grey Worm or Gendry. I like minor characters but they are not that interesting to give them more screen time when there are better ones worth showing.

  122. Jon,

    To give the show some credit, they don’t have time to include all the plotting and history and connections (if any) between the Citadel and the Faceless Men. It’d be great if Jaqen was given a minute of exposition, though.

  123. Inga,

    No offense but how does the flow of the story from the leaks not make sense? I have read them and it makes total sense. The reason I don’t question it is because of how smooth he was able to answer questions and provide detail that is uncanny in speculation. Not trying to argue with you just curious what you think about the story leaks that doesn’t make sense?

  124. Inga,

    Well that is the beauty of the story. if it does happen we will find out. Yes, a Wight Walker clearly runs around like a zombie. But the Others do not. They are legit beings with goals and clearly have control over the Wights. There literally was no build up for the Hold the door moment. that all happened in the same episode. Same for hardhome. Basically anything with Wights is a surprise that we weren’t expecting and everything in that surprise happens in the same episode. So don’t worry about build up. The show tends to do a great job with the Wights.

  125. Inga,

    I’ll make a guess: Walkers might not need sophisticated weapons to take down a dragon.

    Walkers are ice magic, and their swords are also ice magic. Walkers go down when they’re cut with objects imbued with fire magic–Valyrian steel swords, obsidian, both tied to dragons.

    Dragons are fire magic. If a Walker goes down when cut with dragonglass, a dragon might go down when cut with an ice-magic sword.

    If Sam can take down a Walker, the Night King can take down a dragon, as dragons occasionally land to fight (Daznak’s Pit)

  126. Okay, so I haven’t read the leaks, but I have read comments about the leaks.. But there’s a whole lot that just seems logical and expected. I don’t know when the leak surfaced, so I don’t know how to estimate the Gendry stuff, because if it surfaced before we saw Gendry on set, then that’s pretty much a dead giveaway that they’re real. If not, it seems logical to speculate that Gendry would go to where Arya would be. Gendry has had that storyline with the BwB who are also going North, it wouldn’t make sense to not send Gendry up to Winterfell if you were making up a fake script. As for Jaime, well, he already said in S6 that he’ll be the head of the Lannister army soon enough, and that’s what the leak might be playing off – as well as Dany having to have at least one loss or maybe two (against Jaime and Euron).

    If the leaks are fake, then I think that at least the one who made them took enough time to connect enough plotlines that were dangling into something that while lame, could make sense with proper context. If it’s real, then yeah, I do need more context and whether we eventually like it -or holds up to our expectancies- is completely based on personal opinions of where we set the imaginary bar.

  127. maria:
    Jon,

    To give the show some credit, they don’t have time to include all the plotting and history and connections (if any) between the Citadel and the Faceless Men. It’d be great if Jaqen was given a minute of exposition, though.

    Of course they had and still have time they just do other stuff instead. Gilly , Grey Worm, Missandei, Jorah they all get too much of screen time. Hound return wasn’t the best written either. Gendry who was forgotten by most of viewers besides hardcore G/A shippers is not necessary at all. They just get rid of all the debth of GRRM story. Hell, they even had time to put fictional whore ( Ros) in the show but can’t do Aegon plot.

  128. Jon: Gendry who was forgotten by most of viewers besides hardcore G/A shippers is not necessary at all. They just get rid of all the debth of GRRM story.

    While you make some good points about the showrunners finding time for ‘filler’ characters (Karl Fooking Tanner, anyone?) while giving short shrift to some others with deeper roles in the story, I think your aversion to Gendry is exaggerated. Shipping him with Arya isn’t the sole reason many of us have remained eager for his return over many seasons.

    For one thing, since they eliminated Mya Stone and Edric Storm and had the Lannisters butcher all the rest of Robert’s bastards, Gendry is the last surviving scion of House Baratheon. That is not insignificant.

    Neither is the fact that he was the gifted apprentice of one of very few smiths in Westeros who know how to reforge Valyrian steel. I doubt that it was an arbitrary choice to make the artisan deity among the Seven a smith.

    As far as his relationship with Arya is concerned, whether or not they become romantically involved, it seems important to Arya’s rehumanizing arc that they meet again. They formed a familial bond during a time of great stress, and reconnecting with him will serve to remind her of the person she once was.

  129. Firannion: While you make some good points about the showrunners finding time for ‘filler’ characters (Karl Fooking Tanner, anyone?) while giving short shrift to some others with deeper roles in the story, I think your aversion to Gendry is exaggerated. Shipping him with Arya isn’t the sole reason many of us have remained eager for his return over many seasons.

    For one thing, since they eliminated Mya Stone and Edric Storm and had the Lannisters butcher all the rest of Robert’s bastards, Gendry is the last surviving scion of House Baratheon. That is not insignificant.

    Neither is the fact that he was the gifted apprentice of one of very few smiths in Westeros who know how to reforge Valyrian steel. I doubt that it was an arbitrary choice to make the artisan deity among the Seven a smith.

    As far as his relationship with Arya is concerned, whether or not they become romantically involved, it seems important to Arya’s rehumanizing arc that they meet again. They formed a familial bond during a time of great stress, and reconnecting with him will serve to remind her of the person she once was.

    You care about Baratheons but many people don’t and really there isn’t that many viewers who cares about Robert’s bastards at all. If they bring him back it’s not for the sake of his character, they will just give him the plot of the others.
    Arya is fine as she is. She knows perfectly who she is and it was shown in the most obvious way during her whole Braavos storyline and couldn’t be more thrown in our faces than it was in ep8. She doesn’t need Gendry at all, their bond was never that strong. She never thought of him once they parted book or show. There are people who are really important to her, first of all Jon and Sansa. Just a friendly reminder that Gendry actually left Arya to join BwB so he didn’t care that much either ;D
    What’s best about Arya that she is far from a cliche character you want her to be. She is an extraordinary girl and she will never fit sappy ending with some average bloke. The shippers just want to trim all that is great about her and ruin her arc.

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