[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxWfvtnHtS0]
With Game of Thrones‘ seventh season drawing ever closer, slowly, like a horde of horse-warriors crossing the sea toward Westeros, HBO just dropped our first good look at what we can expect. And thank the Seven, we didn’t even have to watch an intern shoot a flamethrower at an ice-block for 3 hours to get it.
The premium network revealed a whopping fifteen photos from the upcoming season and, surprise, everyone looks miserable. Everyone, that is, except for Tormund Giantsbane, bless his red-bearded soul, staring puppy-eyed at Brienne of Tarth.
Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane and Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth. Helen Sloan/HBO
Other highlights include…
Kit Harington as Jon Snow. Helen Sloan/HBO
Jon Snow, definitely still not dead, who has 100 percent never made a face that wasn’t this exact face.
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. Helen Sloan/HBO
Cersei Lannister, wearing the same boss-ass outfit she wore while murdering 85 percent of this show’s principal cast, sitting on the Iron Thone next to her brother, Jaime, whose face is its own “*record scratch* yupp, that’s me…” moment.
Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont. Helen Sloan/HBO
The return of little Lyanna Mormont, season 6’s pint-sized breakout star, with a special appearance by Littlefinger in the background, making the face one makes when one is planning to straight up poison a little girl.
Conleth Hill as Varys. Helen Sloan/HBO
Varys, once again proving that just because you’re a eunuch doesn’t mean you can’t look flashy as fuck, in a fur-lined wardrobe. Strange, though, since the last we saw of The Spider he was continent-hopping from warm climate to warm climate, first in Dorne and then with Dany on her way to Westeros. Where is he here?
Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei, Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Conleth Hill as Varys, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen and Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm. Helen Sloan/HBO
I can tell you where Varys isn’t, and that’s wherever Dany and friends (Varys included, minus the fur) are in this next photo. Dragonstone? It’s likely (is that Blackwater Bay in the background?), but doesn’t explain why the squad is looking mighty tense at whatever came to greet them.
Ellie Kendrick as Meera Reed and Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark. Helen Sloan/HBO
Meera Reed acting as sled-dog for paraplegic time-traveller Bran Stark, as the two presumably hustle away from the Nights King, as well as the memory of that time Bran mind-warped his gentle-giant best friend into a life of brain damage.
The rest of the sneak-peek photos all showcase, in one way or another, the miserable and increasingly frigid world these characters live in. Sam and Gilly are reading up on the Lord of Light at the Citadel, the Hound is headed North, and Arya is staring wide-eyed at…something; in keeping with Game of Thrones‘ track record, that “something” is probably dead and/or coming to kill her.
John Bradley as Samwell Tarly and Hannah Murray as Gilly. Helen Sloan/HBO
Rory McAnn as Sandor Clegane. Helen Sloan/HBO
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. Helen Sloan/HBO
Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth. Helen Sloan/HBO
Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei. Macall B. Polay/HBO
Aiden Gillian as Peter Baelish and Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark. Helen Sloan/HBO
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Macall B. Polay/HBO
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Helen Sloan/HBO
