Game of Thrones season 7: the latest coverage from the new season

Winter has come, both in the sense that it’s December, and in the sense that Game of Thrones has wrapped for 2017, and we’re all doomed to share a two-year slog through the Game Of Thrones-less wilderness before the final season comes around. Not much to do now except look for other fantasy epics to fill the gap, talk over the past season, and revisit it on video, free of the frantic rush to be the first to comment on every plot development online. The seventh-season Blu-ray and DVD sets of the series arrive on December 12th, which will make that last part easier. And as a bonus, they’ll come with the usual round of cast commentaries, an animated history of Westeros, and some behind-the-scenes featurettes. Here’s a short exclusive excerpt from one two-part, 20-minute feature, “Imagination To Reality Part 1: Inside The Art Department,” which unpacks the process of planning, designing, and shooting the series.

This particular segment of the video was compiled from interviews and set shots taken during the production of “Beyond The Wall.” That’s the episode where Jon Snow and his seven samurai trek into the frozen far north with the idiot idea that they’re going to capture one wight out of an army of them, to use for show-and-tell in the south. The plan goes poorly. Behind the scenes, we get to see the quarry where the resulting standoff and fights take place, the process of making it all look like a snowy hellscape, and the green-screen panels that filled in for the background and let some extras turn into rotting zombies. The split-screen effect is pretty cool — by showing the same shot from multiple angles, along with interviewees talking about those shots, the producers pack a lot of information into a small space. It’s enough to warm your heart, maybe enough to keep it beating through the next three months of winter.

HBO’s Game of Thrones is on hiatus for the next year or two, so if fans want to see any of its stars on-screen, they’ll have to follow them elsewhere to new films and projects. It can be fun to see familiar faces in entirely different contexts, and soon the Game of Thrones cast will be turning up everywhere from superhero blockbusters to quirky, foreign indie films.

In the British historical television miniseries Gunpowder, set in the early 17th century, Harington trims down his beard to play Gunpowder Plot mastermind Robert Catesby. The series is currently airing on BBC One, and heads to HBO in December. He also stars in the Canadian satire The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, currently in post-production, playing the late American actor John Donovan.

Spoilers ahead for season 7 of Game of Thrones and for the book series 

It’s been a rough Game of Thrones season for Tyrion Lannister. Throughout season 7, showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff scooted him firmly to the back burner, where he sat and fretted and was generally ineffectual. And even when he took center stage, it was to fail — not in dramatic and interesting ways, but in petty, often sad ones, like whispering unheard warnings to his brother Jaime during the loot-train robbery. The only useful thing he accomplished on-screen all season was getting Jon Snow to Dragonstone to meet Daenerys Targaryen, and even that was accomplished via omission, in a way that promptly rebounded on him.

Game of Thrones’ season 7 finale was the most-watched episode in the show’s history. While it had its satisfying sequences, the consensus across social media was mixed. In typical Game of Thrones fashion, the finale left a lot of unanswered questions to set up a final season a year or two from now. But there were also rushed, predictable plot points that left the fans frustrated, and sparked a good deal of online debate.

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones season 7

If you’re sad about Game of Thrones being over until 2018 (or 2019), HBO is ready to ease the withdrawal symptoms with another Game of Thrones-related series. Game Revealed explores what goes into the series’ set design. It includes new footage of how the crew shot different production-intensive scenes, and there are interviews with the directors, actors, writers, and producers. The first episode is up on YouTube now.

Mild spoilers ahead for Games of Thrones season 7

Spoilers ahead for season 7 of Game of Thrones. Also: a lot of complaining. But some compliments too!

A lot changed in season 7 of Game of Thrones. The season got shorter, while the episodes got longer. The pace accelerated rapidly. Characters who’ve been gone for years resurfaced; characters who haven’t seen each other in years reunited. Showrunners and writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss moved beyond the last of George R.R. Martin’s written material, and struck out on their own, with Martin himself repeatedly reminding viewers that they’d diverged from his plans, and are, for instance, killing off characters he plans to keep in his books. The show arguably became an extended exercise in fan fiction. And above all, the dragons, the White Walkers, and magic in general took center stage.

Here we are on the other side of Game of Thrones’ penultimate season. How does it feel? Are you listening to your break-up playlists in honor of Jaime and Cersei, or your twinkly sex-song playlists in honor of that other pair of close relatives? Are you drinking red wine with your breakfast in celebration of some first-rate drunken diplomacy, or are you munching on bugs, training yourself to subsist on lean proteins in preparation for a hard winter? Are you crying because it’s over, or smiling because it happened?

We open the 81-minute finale with a 45-minute scene in King’s Landing that is, I’m sorry to tell you, mostly bickering. First, Jaime and Bronn watch the Unsullied and the Dothraki show off their numbers in front of the city, and have a conversation about cocks that made me regret investing so many years of my life in a TV show that’s so irrationally obsessed with this piece of anatomy. The folks at Fantasizr say Jaime should get +5 for the line “Maybe it really is all cocks in the end.” If I had not already been asleep when they made that decision, I would have fought it with every ounce of strength in my body. Whatever, Jaime — enjoy!

This season of Game of Thrones has felt like a sprint, packing in huge plot points, long-awaited reveals, and action-packed sequences in record time. The season finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” hewed to that formula from the very first frame. Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Cersei Lannister all ended up in the same location at the same time. The Clegane brothers finally faced off, if only for a moment. Littlefinger finally ended up on the losing end of a manipulation gone wrong. And the long-awaited romantic union of Dany and Jon finally arrived — just as the show decided to clue audiences in on Jon Snow’s real name and lineage. And did we mention that The Wall came tumbling down? Because that happened, too.

Like much of the season, “The Dragon and the Wolf” felt like a Game of Thrones greatest-hits album, pulling in as many high-impact moments with the show’s heavy-hitters as possible. But it wasn’t just about crowd-pleasing moments. The season finale also did some heavy lifting in setting up both the stakes (the Night King’s army is now past the wall and marching inexorably south) and themes (family, honor, and honesty) that will no doubt end up defining the final season of the show, whether it arrives in 2018 or 2019.

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones’ season 7 finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf”

In the season 7 finale of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen have sex, after a few episodes of smoldering glances and tentative hand-holding. But just as they come together, there’s news brewing on the horizon that might tear them apart. Jon is the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne, and he’s also Daenerys’ nephew. That has all kinds of political consequences.

HBO’s Game of Thrones is a dense series with a huge weight of history behind its story, so in practically every episode, something happens that could use a little explanation. So every week, The Verge will be diving into a scene or event from the latest installment of the series and explain how we got here. Whether you’re basically a Game of Thrones maester or you need a little reminder about previous events, we’ll try to help you keep your history straight.

Littlefinger — also known as Petyr Baelish — has been one of Game of Thrones’ power players since the beginning of the show, quietly lurking in the shadows and constantly moving pieces to his advantage. Throughout season 7, he’s been lurking at Winterfell, with no obvious purpose except turning Sansa’s allies against her and making her dependent on him again. But before that, he seemed to be playing a long game with a shifting focus. Now, with the season 7 finale, we’ve finally gotten some answers as to what he’s actually been up to over the course of the show. Here’s how it all went down.

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones’ season 7 finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf”

After all the work the various factions have done throughout season 7, trying to achieve some kind of balance between the power players in Westeros, Jon Snow nearly blows it completely in the season finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf.” When Cersei Lannister agrees to an armistice between her forces and Daenerys Targaryen’s — at least until the undead menace in the North can be contained — she has one condition: that Jon, as the King in the North, not take sides in the Lannister/Targaryen war. “I know Ned Stark’s son will be true to his word,” she tells everybody.

Game of Thrones has never been about giving readers or viewers what they most want. Its author and screenwriters prefer to build fan expectations, then overturn them for narrative impact — and sometimes for pure shock value. And yet fans maintain hope that at least a few of the characters will reach a satisfying, well-deserved ending. That’s why there’s Game of Thrones Hope Chest, a new weekly poll where we put all our hopes together in one place. We aren’t asking what you think is going to happen on Game of Thrones, we’re asking: what do you most hope to see happen?

This week, we’re headed into the season finale, with a chance that we won’t see any more of the show until 2019. So this is our last chance for a little closure on the storylines continued or opened in this season. There are plenty of unresolved plot threads at the moment, and some of them, we’re absolutely guaranteed not to see wrapped up, like the undead menace in the north, or whether Cersei’s ultimately going to sell out her theoretical allies. But there’s at least a possibility that we’ll get some reveals on other dangling plotlines.

Spoilers ahead for all of Game of Thrones.

The Game of Thrones season 7 finale airs this Sunday, and it’s sure to be full of bloodshed and gore, possibly with a dash of incestuous romance. With an ice zombie dragon that bears resemblance to a certain Yu-Gi-Oh! card in play, and relationships that fans have been rooting for finally blossoming, we’re heading into the finale with plenty of loose threads and questions to answer. Here are the top 12 things we hope to see addressed in the epic season finale.

Spoilers for Game of Thrones follow.

Of all the pairings on Game of Thrones, none have been as anticipated — or as heavy-handed in the execution — as the relationship between Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow. Their significance to each other has been foreshadowed in the books through Dany’s visions of blue roses, which are often associated with Jon’s mother, Lyanna Stark. His recently confirmed Targaryen blood makes them family. Also, as the priestess Melisandre explained just a few episodes ago, they represent the ice and fire the series is named for.

It took Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow almost an entire season to bend the knee to Daenerys Targaryen, but he was much more agreeable when dealing with Sesame Street’s furry red monster, Elmo — or rather, the actor that plays him was. In a recent YouTube clip, Thrones star Kit Harington gladly accepted Elmo’s “Share the Laughter” challenge, a promotion that dares people tell a joke, record it, and then share it on social media. Harington’s entry: “What does a bird give out on Halloween?” he asked. “Tweets!”

The joke had nothing to do with either Game of Thrones or Sesame Street, and it wasn’t particularly good — but we can almost forgive Harington because of the mischievous twinkle in his eye. (Plus he was clearly reading off some sort of script, so it wasn’t entirely his fault.)

Game of Thrones is known for juggling dozens of characters and storylines, but its seventh season has been remarkably focused in comparison to previous years. That dynamic peaked in “Beyond the Wall,” a nearly 80-minute episode that largely cut between two storylines, each with just a handful of characters. One was the suicide mission of Jon Snow, Jorah Mormont, Gendry, and the other men who thought it was a good idea to trek beyond the Wall, capture a wight, and use it to convince Cersei that an army of the undead is about to overtake Westeros. The other was a smaller storyline, following the growing division between Arya and Sansa Stark. Or perhaps we should say the growing division as orchestrated by Littlefinger, as he’s continued to demonstrate mastery in the art of driving people apart, even though you’d think everyone would have wised up and learned to give him the cold shoulder by now.

The focus didn’t limit the scope of the episode, however. The episode stretched out, with long conversations and confrontations, then stripped down to essentials with a series of dramatic, fast-moving, dialogue-light battles. Sister threatened sister. Dany learned what it was like to lose a dragon. Revelations about the White Walkers emerged. Jon and Dany kinda, sorta, almost owned up to the fact that they like each other. And by the end of the episode, the Night King brought a dragon under his control, changing the tactical realities of future battles in such a dramatic way that it’s hard to even comprehend how he could ever be defeated.

Before we get into what happened last night in the space of 71 minutes of prestige cable, some housekeeping: if you consult the rules of Game of Game of Thrones, you’ll see that killing a White Walker nets you 15 points, but there is no point allocation for killing a wight. The folks at Fantasizr have decided that wights will count as ordinary redshirt kills. Further — and I can’t believe I’m saying this — zombie polar bears will be scored as wights. Also, as this is the first episode where this question is relevant, here’s a reminder that point caps on violence apply to scenes, not the full episode. And yes, Beric Dondarrion’s flaming sword counts as magic use. Thank you to the 500 people who asked us about the sword issue on Twitter last week because they just had a feeling he was going to do that. I totally [eyes roll to stare fully into the eclipse] believe you.

Now, Game of Thrones is a pleasant shared pastime and a huge cultural phenomenon that has delighted many of us for years, and especially for that one year, 2012, when there were zero sexual assaults and Robb Stark was still alive. Game of Thrones has also thoroughly and irreversibly gone off the deep end. Did you see earlier when I had to type the phrase “zombie polar bear”? I’m not saying you need to be put off by this fact, or that we need to do anything differently. I’m just asking that we enter the next 3,000 words with a modicum of self-awareness. We’ve stuck with the zombie-and-dragon show long enough to see ourselves stick with what is now a zombie dragon show.

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones season 7, episode 6, “Beyond the Wall”

Thanks to Littlefinger’s manipulations, Arya Stark is on poor terms with her sister Sansa in Game of Thrones’ latest episode. Afraid that Arya might take an incriminating note back to the Northern lords, whose loyalties spin like weathervanes, Sansa tries to retrieve the note from Arya’s room, and instead discovers a bag with flattened faces. It seems like Arya’s building her own traveling House of Black and White, and making a collection of disguises for herself.

HBO’s Game of Thrones is a dense series with a huge weight of history behind its story, so in practically every episode, something happens that could use a little explanation. So every week, The Verge will be diving into a scene or event from the latest installment of the series and explain how we got here. Whether you’re basically a Game of Thrones maester or you need a little reminder about previous events, we’ll try to help you keep your history straight.

The first few seasons of Game of Thrones focused on the intricate web of politics in the battle for the Iron Throne, to the point where it gave the show its name. But the action-packed events of this week’s episode, “Beyond the Wall,” demonstrate that the squabbling over who sits on the throne in King’s Landing has only been a petty sideshow. The real threat is in the North, so it’s time to talk about the show’s big boss: the Night King.

Game of Thrones fills a specific need in our pop culture psyche, holding a similar appeal as shows like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. These are TV series that are so dark and filled with characters who are so miserable, that they make real life look bright and cheery in comparison. In Game of Thrones, new characters can be introduced, only to perish just episodes later. Unrequited romances can pull at the heartstrings, only to be smashed apart before the two individuals have any real shot at happiness. Even the best moments can be undercut with a certain dread: when something good happens, a tragedy is usually right behind it.

Spoilers for Game of Thrones ahead.

Game of Thrones has never been about giving readers or viewers what they most want. Its author and screenwriters prefer to build fan expectations, then overturn them for narrative impact — and sometimes for pure shock value. And yet fans maintain hope that at least a few of the characters will reach a satisfying, well-deserved ending. That’s why there’s Game of Thrones Hope Chest, a new weekly poll where we put all our hopes together in one place. We aren’t asking what you think is going to happen on Game of Thrones, we’re asking: what do you most hope to see happen?

This week, we’re considering some astonishing news from season 7, episode 5, “Eastwatch.” Cersei Lannister, the current occupant of the Iron Throne, has informed her brother Jaime that she’s pregnant again, he’s the father again, and she’s planning to let Westeros know both things, because she DGAF anymore. After spending her whole life hiding her incestuous relationship with her brother, and hiding the three resulting children by claiming their father was her husband King Robert Baratheon, she’s decided that she’s queen now, and she’s gonna do what she wants. This is clearly a terrible idea: she’s been dogged by incest rumors for years, and they’ve turned both the people and the nobility against her. Now that she’s an embattled queen, with the North in rebellion, an army of undead about to invade, and a foreign claimant to the throne torching her men and her supplies with a full-on firebreathing battle-dragon, this is not really the time to risk losing support by trying to push a social agenda based on brother-banging.

Charlie Endean has what he describes as an “unusual role” on Game of Thrones. As the head of the department for the show’s assistant directors, he’s used to people seeing his title and assuming he’s a glorified production assistant. But his job is much more complicated — especially on this series. “There’s a big team of us who work very closely with the director and the producers,” he told The Verge via phone from Belfast, the HBO series’ home base. Fresh off a 10-hour planning meeting for Game of Thrones season 8, he explained his responsibilities: “You sit directly at the crossroads of the director’s vision and the production’s budget. Your loyalty is to both.” 

On Game of Thrones, that means coordinating with the heads of every team involved in a given scene — set design, costumes, hair, makeup, stunts, pyrotechnics, digital effects, and more — and keeping them all aware of what the director wants, from the earliest script breakdown to the actual shooting days. Endean is an experienced first AD, with credits on the British series The Midnight Beast, The Last Kingdom, and Tatau, and the Irish / Canadian co-production Vikings. On season 6 of Game of Thrones, he was first assistant director on the final two episodes, “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter,” both with director Miguel Sapochnik and cinematographer Fabian Wagner.

This week in Game of Game of Thrones, your Thronesmaster had to Google “knuckle massages” and “carpal-tunnel risk factors.” What I’m saying is, too much is happening too quickly on this show, and I can barely write it all down without injuring myself. So let’s get right to it, and yes, I would love it if you would tweet any and all home remedies for joint swelling to @verge.

Season 7, episode 5, “Eastwatch,” has a sad, soggy opening scene: Jaime’s closest personal friend berates him while he doggie-paddles around a river in 80 pounds of armor. Bronn not-so-subtly suggests that Jaime is too stupid to live, but he also owes Bronn too much real estate to die right now. (+5 to Bronn for “You saw the dragon between you and her… and?”) The 2017 equivalent of this, I guess, would be dragging a drunk, topless friend off a waterslide and shouting that you’re only saving them from themselves so they can complete your Venmo requests.

After the “dragon-induced Armageddon” of last week’s Game of Thrones episode, “The Spoils of War,” it was inevitable that the follow-up was going to be comparatively smaller and more down to earth. Apart from a big raven flyby that had Bran Stark checking in on the Night King and his undead army, who are getting progressively closer to the Wall and the poorly maintained, undermanned outpost that gives “Eastwatch” its episode title, that generally proved true.

There were a lot of long-in-the-making reunions in this episode, and a little bit of abrupt and bloody murder, which all made for the kind of memorable moments we usually discuss here. But the scenes that seem most likely to have important ongoing effects on the show were relatively quiet ones. Sam and Gilly discovered, in passing, that Jon Snow may have a more legitimate claim to the throne than Dany. (And they have no idea that they discovered that.) Arya gently confronted Sansa about her relationship with Jon, and how the King in the North shouldn’t leave the North. (Arya’s always been a political hardliner, which is somehow creepier than her being a superpowered magic assassin.) That said, I’m not sure what Arya is objecting to here — the possibility that Sansa may have secretly, in her heart of hearts, thought about being queen, and is therefore disloyal to Jon? Arya really is a hardliner.