The season premiere of Game of Thrones seventh season is almost upon us, and the interviews keep rolling in. Entertainment Weekly brings us a look at the coming conflict between Cersei (Lena Headey) and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), the cast shares their thoughts on other character clashes and alliances with TVLine, and Jessica Henwick does a fun interview completely in character as Nymeria Sand on Instagram.
The war for the Iron Throne is coming to a head this season, with Cersei firmly entrenched in the seat of power and Daenerys on her way to take it from her. Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke discuss the situation with EW touch on each queen’s strengths and weaknesses.
Cersei’s position looks precarious given that she torched – literally – her alliance with the Tyrells last season, but Headey hints that Cersei has a plan. “Cersei’s very smart and she’s listened to her dad, unbeknownst to everybody who judges her,” she explains. “She’s put a lot of things in place politically, and we’ll see her cash those in.” One of those things may be Euron Greyjoy. “Cersei thinks he’s a bit of a dick, but he’s arguably dangerous in a good way, somebody else she might be able to manipulate and make use of.” She definitely needs all the help she can get against Daenerys and her dragons.
Dany may not have an easy time of it though, as Cersei will be gunning for her. “The prophecy says somebody younger and more beautiful will take Cersei’s place, so I’m sure that’s at the forefront of her mind,” Headey admits. “And since Tyrion is her Hand, she couldn’t view Dany worse.” And we all know how Cersei handles her enemies. Watch out, Dany.
As for Daenerys, Clarke implies she is ready for a fight. “Dany forces you to think about her objectives this season,” Clarke says. “She’s practiced patience and has this savior-like quality, but now it’s game on.” Although Cersei and Dany are on opposite sides, Clarke believes they have more in common than you think. “We both truly believe we deserve to be on the Iron Throne. Both of us think it’s our birthright, we both had f—ed-up dads; it’s a clash of similarities.”
Read the rest at EW.
Speaking of clashes, several of the Game of Thrones cast spoke to TVLine about their characters’ potential conflicts in season seven. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau teases tension between Jaime and Cersei. “Obviously that relationship has always been very complicated; it’s not less complicated now. I think he earned his name Kingslayer when he killed the mad king who was about to firebomb the whole city – now his sister did something very similar. How does that affect him? You’ll have to watch the show to find out.”
Gwendoline Christine discusses some inner conflict for Brienne this year. Brienne has long been loyal to her oath to Catelyn Stark and subsequently, the Stark girls themselves, but Christie suggests Brienne’s motives have evolved. “Brienne starts to question those preconceived ideas…of how her life should be, how she should live her life, what loyalty truly means. Does loyal mean adhering blindly to someone who perhaps is making poor decisions, or does it mean trying to steer them towards the better way?”
Jon Snow has evolved as well, as Kit Harington points out. “He has been an underdog…being this black sheep of the family and an illegitimate child,” he says. “Now he’s King in the North – that’s a huge trajectory. There’s a lot of pride in that for him, he’s more than his father was; he’s not even Warden of the North, he’s King in the North. But it’s not something he asked for, so we’ll see how he deals with it.”
Harington also reiterates the tension with Sansa, “Basically putting these two people together who we’ve never seen interact before, but we know have a history, and instantly they go back to disliking each other.” For him, it’s a case of art imitating life. “I really enjoy working opposite Sophie Turner, I think she’s a fabulous actor, and she irritates me in real life just as much as Sansa irritates Jon so it works,” he jokes.
Most interviews are conducted with the actors themselves, but Jessica Henwick decided to inhabit her character, Nymeria Sand, for her latest. She discusses her two favorite things – whips and killing – in the interview above. I have a feeling we’ll see plenty of both from Nymeria this season.
Love me some Sand Snakes.
Lol. I don’t care much for the Sand Snakes, but I like Jessica Henwick. She always seems fun, in interviews and on twitter and stuff.
She was awesome in Iron Fist.
A Jonsa shitstorm is coming. This one will be long. And dark things will come with it.
When it does come, Gods help us all if we’re not ready.
I love how much love these guys have for each other. One of my favourite quotations from this interview cycle is this one from Kit, on watching Sophie grow:
(Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2017/07/11/game-thrones-sophie-turner-sansa-stark/460260001/)
They’re so supportive of each other – hope various cast members will continue to work together on future projects.
And this isn’t really an interview, but Conleth Hill and Iain Glen met the Manchester United players while they were in LA. The video’s really cute – they’re such big fans!
http://www.nme.com/news/tv/watch-game-thrones-cast-members-meet-man-utd-2109799
I like Jessica a lot. She was the only good part of Iron Flop. Hope she has a great career.
Amazon talks to Liam and Rory
https://twitter.com/amazon/status/885846486310944768
Isabelle,
I saw an interview with Kit Harington the other day and I thought I couldn’t love him more than I do then he said he was a lifelong Manchester United fan. What a guy!!!! Now I find Iain Glenn is too ooohhh heaven.
Gwendonline Christie’s statements about Brienne reassessing her beliefs were interesting. Blind loyalty does not always help.
I hope she does start thinking about her own life and what she wants…cough Jaime cough….
ghost of winterfell,
I think it has something to do with Sansa.
mau,
Yeah, they’ve kind of set that up, haven’t they…
mau,
I was mostly joking about the Jaime part :).
The part about blind loyalty and wanting to steer others better was definitely about Sansa. But yeah I guess the part about how Brienne wants to live her life is connected to her statement about blind loyalty.
Meanwhile….ONE day left, and still Arya’s story line has been kept top secret! 👸🏻😝😝😝😛
#TheManyFacedGoddess
ghost of winterfell,
Good. Jaime and Brienne can travel with Jon and Ghost on the crackpot vacation we want when the show ends.
Anyone else have trouble sleeping last night? Gosh, this hype is killing me! Longest 24 hours EVER!
Markus Stark,
Have you read the leaks?
Jack Bauer 24,
Thanks for that Jack!!!
I can never get enough of Rory.
(So glad they used that clip of Beric telling the Hound, “You can still help alot more than you’ve harmed, Clegane. It’s not too late for you.”)
Jenny,
🚱🚱🚱🚱🚱🚱
She was the only truly, consistently good thing in that mess of a show.
If you think back, when Brienne swore the loyalty oath to Catelyn, it was done after these two had a pretty good understanding of each other, and I believe Catelyn truly understood the aspect of the pledge of not asking of Brienne anything that would go against her personal honor. That aspect, as well as Brienne’s revenge on Stannis was really emphasized during their exchange.
With Sansa, the loyalty pledge was immediate, there was no understanding of each other and Sansa didn’t really even know the words, let alone their full meaning and weight. I’m not sure Sansa is mature enough yet to understand how much honesty, honor and loyalty means to someone like Brienne; Sansa has experienced the opposite too much, and right now she is too focused on herself – her position, power, revenge, etc… so some disappointment or lack of understanding is to be expected.
Flayed Potatoes,
Yup! Braime and Jost go on a world tour, I would dig that ending!
Ten Bears,
What’s your problem?I’m not saying anything or breaking any rules.
viki,
I agree. It will be good for Sansa to see the integrity and decency that is inherent in Brienne and maybe appreciate her all the more for that, given her previous experience with people.
Luka Nieto,
Agreed! I fell asleep during one of the episodes. That’s usually not a very good sign!
Oh yeah, I loved her in that. Honestly, I didn’t think that show was as bad as people made it out to be.
Hmmm……. the way Cersei herself set the High Sparrow up all cosy and comfortable and with his own power in King’s Landing is very, very, very far from a “smart” person! Hahahaha….. 😀 Cersei may occasionally appear to be smart in a twisted way, but she is overall quite stupid, petty and vengeful. I wonder if Cersei’s end will be more or less dignified than daddy’s?
Almost there! One day.
This delusion that Cersei is smart always makes me laugh. The last time Cersei had a smart thought was when she was against Ned’s beheading.
Nik should refrain from baiting Jaime and Brienne fans. His character is still far up his sister’s bum even though she pulled a mad king.
No “problem.” Wasn’t aimed at you. Didn’t want some neophyte to start in with a “leaks” barrage.
Sorry if I didn’t make that clear. With one day left I’m ultra-skittish about “leaks” talk.
Jenny,
PS. I LOVE your avatar!
Jessica Henwick’s “in-character” interview was really good. Wish other actors would do the same
Ten Bears,
It’s okay.I try to always be very careful with the spoiler coding.Double and Triple check every time.I love my avatar too.How cute are they?!Whenever it happens this season or the next that is gonna be the reunion to top all reunions.
Ok based on the interviews…
Sounds like Brienne will be telling Sansa she’s doing it wrong.
Bronn is toast
Ellaria is toast x 2
Jaime and Cersei are definitely breaking up.
Did you seen the Nikolaj and Gwendoline joint interviews? Yeah, we are getting Jaime and Brienne this year.
Jaime will finally walk out on Cersei the way he was always meant to and Brienne will realize that Sansa uniting with Baelish is a bad idea and choose to leave and go out on her own.
Where she meets up with Jaime and they get married and have seven kids. (Okay, that’s want Nikolaj wants for Jaime and Brienne. I’ll settle for just meeting up.)
:(( I hope not. No castle, no high-born beauty, no sons to fight over their inheritance? He’ll come back and haunt Jaime’s ass for eternity.
.
Jenny,
They ARE so damn cute together! And with the costumes and hairdos – they really DO look like brother + sister or cousins.
Coincidentally, I too cropped Jon + Arya from the 4-Stark EW photo like you did. Kit + Maisie were just too adorable together, and I think it’s the only time they’ve both smiled in-character since S1e2.
Jenny,
Oh, and I don’t think Jon-Arya reunion will happen this season; it would be “diluted” by the less-significant Jon-Sansa in S6.
Instead, I’m looking for a Sandor- Arya reunion. I hope they give each other apprehensive looks…and then Arya breaks into a broad smile, runs over and hugs him.
Yes. I know. I’m a sap.
HotPinkLipstick,
Well, Sansa’s sworn “pledge” includes vowing not to ask Brienne to do nothing that’d bring her (Brienne) dishonor….
Jenny,
No, but I have unfortunately been spoiled on many plot points from the leaks. But I didn’t read them myself.
Unless the WOTW rules have changed(and if they have, I apologize; I haven’t been around much this off season), I think there’s some misunderstanding about the use of spoiler tags regarding leaked material. I believe the rule is that the leaks are not to be discussed, even with spoiler tags. The spoiler tags are to protect the Unsullied from book spoilers(which are rarer for obvious reasons, but can still be an issue). Can someone please clarify whether that’s still the case?
King in the North Carolina,
That ship sailed a long time ago, unfortunately. People couldn’t help themselves. Without a working forum back then, we just had to acquiesce.
HOWEVER, if the information within the spoiler tags is leaked material, that must be clearly stated beforehand, to distinguish it from regular spoilers!
An example would be this (with no actual spoilers, everyone can read this):
LEAKED SPOILERS:
And yeah, not that we have a working forum, any leaks discussion should preferibly go there, of course.
Yes, I made a post about the G + N interview where She says “Physicality, yes… but maybe not the kind you expect” and was like WAAAAAT. Ahhhhhhhhhbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbjjjhhejwudisjebdjdo
I dot think Brienne will just up and ditch Sansa though. I think she’ll be sent off after unsuccessfully trying to change her mind about something LF related. And there she can meet up w Jaime again (my idea would be Brienne is sent to work with danys crew who will have captures Jaime).
I’m not too worried though. There’s No way ultimately that S chooses LF over her family.
I really like Jessica Henwick. She was the only Sand Snek who didn’t irritate me.
I get why D&D did the “Olenna shutting down the Sand Snakes” in The Winds of Winter, but I wish she (or rather, D&D) had let Nymeria speak a bit more. Nymeria’s defining character trait in the books is diplomacy and cunning, especially compared to her sisters, so it was nice for that to be at last translated to the TV show, with “Forgive my sister. What she lacks in diplomacy, she makes up for in–“… right before she was cut off. Everyone assumes the Sand Snakes are doomed in Season 7, but I hope we get to see a bit of them before they die; shutting them up as Olenna did or killing them without further development is a bit like admitting failure with their characters. I think they can try to do something with them — Nymeria can show her cunning, perhaps in one Dany’s strategy meetings; Obara can demonstrate her fierce strength in battle, reminding us of her dearly departed father; Tyene’s relationship with her mother, Ellaria, can be exploited for emotional effect. They can be salvaged, at least as tertiary characters; and that’d mean not wasting these wonderful young actresses, too. Basically, I hope D&D didn’t just… “give up.”
I thought every Sophie interview was in character.
I definitely agree, particularly with Nymeria and her diplomatic attribute, which I would have liked to have seen be given more of a fair shake. I was disappointed in how they just dropped Doran from the show like a sack of potatoes, so I’m hoping there’s a wee bit more substance given to the other 4 before/if they go.
Luka Nieto,
I was kind of hoping the dedicated “Quarantine” forum section would give “leaks” addicts a place to congregate.
But no worries!!! Less than 24 left and I’m still uncontaminated (except for one insignificant detail delivered through a trollian Trojan Horse).
Thank you and everyone else at WoW for protecting folks like me! And thanks to all posters who at least had the courtesy of using “leaks” warnings + covering text with spoiler coding.
Pigeon,
Really? I kind of liked Tyene’s flirtation with Bronn. When they were all apprehended after the brief fight in the Water Gardens and Bronn pissed off Tyene by chiding her “You fight pretty well…for a little girl, and then she pulled the “poison-aided” seduction in the jail cells, I thought that was the beginning of something cute (like Vince Vaughn + Isla Fisher in “Wedding Crashers”).
If only Tyene’s parting line was “You want a good girl, but you need a bad girl – like me”, instead of the unfortunately unforgettable “bad p____y” line…*
Bronn & Tyene = perfect match. In my mind.
And while I kind of wondered why Ellaria didn’t plant the poisoned kiss on Jaime Lannister’s mouth if revenge for Oberyn and inciting a war were the objectives, it’s not for me to quibble with such choices.
* I am NOT critiquing the show’s writing. I never will. (With one exception – a “shoehorning” – that’s been debated to death so I won’t bring it up again.) 98% of the dialogue is fabulous, though I confess I don’t know what % is from GRRM’s pen, and what % is “show-original” scripting.
Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the great writing when it’s being delivered by great actors, or when it’s being spoken in the middle of a visually spectacular or emotional scene.
Pigeon,
My final two cents (three cents?) about the Sand Snakes: When GoT released those SS character/actress introduction videos at the Comic-con preceding the season, I thought the show was “hyping” them as integral parts of the show going forward.
One of my favorite YouTube posters just put this up on his channel. Enjoy – something to watch before S7 starts. Number 4 has an interesting theory.
5 Game of Thrones Characters Thought to be Inspired by Real Life Historical Figures
Ten Bears,
I actually also really liked the Bronn/Tyene scenes as well, it was unexpectedly hilarious and so fascinating to see Bronn meeting his match. One of the more light hearted moments in Dorne.
omg Jessica in character really is hilarious, she was definitely the best character in Iron Fist for sure
I like the scene in jail too. It was an introduction to them as human beings instead of just tools of revenge.
Kay,
Thank you! Someone who gets it! Cersei is a dumb overly vengeful person who thinks she’s smart because her dad was. Nothing that she did was good. These actors and their descriptions lol.
Luka Nieto,
It was an introduction to some world class BEWBS and “bad p—y” lol
The Dany V Cersei is just the side show until the real stuff starts in the North, I doubt either will sit on the iron throne in thirteen episodes time.