Game of Thrones dropped its first trailer for season 7 on Wednesday, thrilling fans everywhere — including here in the Rotten Tomatoes office. So we decided to review it shot-by-shot to see what magic it reveals. We encourage you to play a game of “Where’s Bran?” while viewing/reviewing.
Spoilers ahead, of course. Stop here if you haven’t seen season 6 of Game of Thrones.
Did you see something in the trailer that tickled your inner fanboy/girl? Tell us in the comments!
Game of Thrones returns to HBO for its seventh season on July 16
1. “Enemies to the east,” Queen Cersei Lannister says, as her heels tick off on hard stone floors like a bomb.
2. Grey Worm’s stern face appears with a storm of spears puncturing the air behind him. No surprises there.
3. “Enemies to the west,” Cersei says in voiceover. The camera pans up the ancient carved-wood table map of Westeros at Dragonstone and shows the Riverlands towns Rosby and Duskendale, which are generally considered northeast of King’s Landing — but we’ll allow the artistic license (not that anyone asked). Riverlands, you’ll recall, is the region where the Tully castle Riverrun is. Could Edmure Tully rise up now that his lethal niece Arya Stark has dispatched his captor Walder Frey at The Twins? Let’s hope so.
4. A ghostly ship glides on screen. Does that look like pirate-lord Salladhor Saan’s vessel to anyone else? Euron Greyjoy’s? Or maybe it’s just Daenerys Targaryen’s ship slipping in at Dragonstone under cover of night and fog.
5. “Enemies to the south,” she says, but the trailer shows the Vale of Arryn. Again, north of King’s Landing.
6. A delicate hand – Arya’s? – sharpens a blade.
7. Back to the table: “Enemies to the north,” she says. Hey, that’s Last Hearth, Castle Black, Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and the Wall, y’all, with little trees Beyond the Wall. Little trees carved in a wood table – so meta. Remember that Eastwatch-by-the-Sea is a stone’s throw from Hardhome, where White Walkers turned tens of thousands of Wilding refugees into an army of undead.
8. Arya! On a horse! Surely on her way to Winterfell, right? Her reunion with her sister, Sansa, and “stepbrother” Jon Snow is eagerly anticipated. We’re eagerly anticipating it right here, right now, so don’t try to argue that point.
9. Cersei and her brother Jaime stand on a large map of Westeros. Plotting, obvs. “Whatever stands in our way,” she promises…
10. Closeup on Cersei’s smug face, “…we will defeat it.” I laugh a little right here, because she’s so going to get a faceful of dragon fire at some point. Jaime needs to hop the next boat to Essos and enjoy some well-earned vacation time in Lys.
11. The Lannister army goes marching. Are their red lion shields scary enough to drive off the Dothraki horde about to rain down on them? Think not.
12. Cersei sits on the Iron Throne. Saw her take the throne at the end of last season. Glad she’s coping with Tommen’s suicide so well.
13. Jaime’s expression is inscrutable. Sayeth Cersei, “We’re the last Lannisters.” Does his face say, “I’m but a meat puppet to be thrown at the coming fray”? Or, does it say, “I could use a sandwich”? What is Jaime thinking?
14. Cersei is fondling the Iron Throne like looney King Aerys II at his Stark barbecue. This won’t be good for anyone.
15. Estranged Lannister brother Tyrion approaches a cliff’s edge. Like to think he’s at Dragonstone looking out toward King’s Landing and thinking, Be there soon, sis.
16. “…the last one’s who count,” Cersei says in voiceover. Tyrion is transfixed by something. What could it be? It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s….
17. Dragons returning to Dragonstone! Looks like all three of Daenerys’ dragons survive the flight from Essos – and, boy, are their wings tired. You know Tyrion is up on that cliff having a fanboy freakout.
18. The gates of Dragonstone open to the Mother of Dragons. Chills!
19. Daenerys realizes her dream before the gates of Dragonstone: “I was born to rule the Seven Kingdoms…” Grey Worm, what looks like Varys, and the Unsullied stand behind her
20. Hand in the sand. Wishful thinking: Gendry rows up.
21. Daenerys voiceover: “…and I will.”
22. Daenerys sits on the Dragonstone throne with a Dothraki guard.
23. The Unsullied invade…Casterly Rock? Surely that “L” isn’t already gracing the architecture of King’s Landing. Who loves the idea of Daenerys gaining control of the Lannister lands and money? This one does!
24. Are those the eyes of Grey Worm peeking out during the invasion of Lannister holdings?
25. This clash between the Unsullied and a soldier doesn’t tell us much about where they are. A glance back at the Lannister army shot doesn’t suggest it’s that clash —yet, anyway.
26. A chorus hails, “The King in the North!” We’re in the great room at Winterfell. You can see the fireplace in front of which Bran Stark had long ago heard the pleas of the Stark family vassals and Ramsay Bolton later killed his father. Roll call: Jon Snow? Check. Sansa? Present. Brienne of Tarth? Here! Who’s that on the left? Messed up face guy? We were hoping it was Tormund Giantsbane, but maybe it’s a Karstark?
27. A wide shot of Winterfell’s great room filled with Stark loyalists. Jon Snow flanked by Ser Davos Seaworth and Sansa. Littlefinger whispers in voiceover, “Your father and brothers are gone…”
28. A private moment between Littlefinger and Sansa. “…yet here you stand,” Littlefinger continues. Don’t listen to him, girl!
29. A gate rises in a snowy clime. Is it the gate of Winterfell or is that the toothy maw of a gate at the Wall?
30. Hey, Theon. What’s up? Is this the face of a man who’s just met a dragon close up and personal like? Maybe. And Littlefinger is still talking! “…last best…”
31. “…hope against the coming…” Littlefinger! Still talking. Melisandre looks shook. She better be thinking of poor Shireen Baratheon and praying her spirit isn’t hanging out there at Dragonstone. How do we know it’s Dragonstone? We don’t. That’s a guess. If Daenerys is at Dragonstone with actual dragons, you know Melisandre isn’t far behind. Like an annoying cousin stalking you on Facebook, the Red Woman always shows up where the party’s at. Everyone: “Don’t remember sending you an invite, Melisandre —” Melisandre: “The night is dark and full of terrors.” Everyone: “Don’t let the door hit you where the Lord of Light split you.”
32. People approach up the Dragonstone (probably) ramparts. “…storm.” Shut up, Littlefinger!
33. Looks like some Wildings (men of the Night’s Watch? someone else?) are running through a wall (it’s stone, so maybe not THE Wall) — perhaps passing under that toothy maw we saw earlier. Now, since one of them looks back frantically, you could deduce that they’re actually running from something, which would most likely mean they’re heading south away from that undead horde. Maybe.
34. Is that Arya? It looks like Arya…
35. Yay, Arya! And a horse’s butt. On her way to Winterfell, we’re guessing, fulfilling our season 7 fantasies.
36. We’ve seen this defense tactic before on Game of Thrones, and I recall that it didn’t end well, right? Horses and men, slaughtered in the snow? “If we don’t put aside our enmities…” says Ser Davos.
37. “…and band together, we will die,” Davos continues. Look here, it’s Littlefinger lurking in the shadows. He’s probably watching Sansa braid her hair. Shudder.
38. Dothrakis on the move. This is a great reminder that Daenerys has all kinds of warrior champions by her side. In case you forgot that she won some new Dothrakis to her cause by holding a Mother of Dragons–style barbecue at the end of season 6.
39. Band name: Daenerys Stormborn and the Flying Dothraki. (Did I really promise to do a shot-by-shot review of the new trailer? I did.)
40. So this kind of image probably stings book readers a little bit — we don’t know whose boat is on fire here either. We used to be all smarty-pants, knowing which battle a shot came from. Can we guess that maybe it’s Team Euron Greyjoy getting a taste of dragon fire? “And then it doesn’t…” Davos says in voiceover.
41. “…matter whose skeleton sits…” he says.
42. “….on the Iron Throne.” Truth, Davos! Truth! Here we see the silhouettes of Daenerys and Tyrion in the Dragonstone map room. Them thinking: What do we conquer second?
43. Speaking of the undead: Ser Gregor Clegane, everybody. (Once again, respect to Mary Shelley for Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.)
44. Again, no idea what’s going on here, but my mind gives this person the Elder Scrolls Argonian name “Runs-With-Fire.”
45. I’ve watched this moment over and over to try to make out who the players are: That is Jon Snow coming at you, bro. And I am really, really hopeful that is Littlefinger about to get his ass beat. How sweet would that be?
46. Jon Snow’s attack face.
47. Unsullied attacking Lannister soldiers. King’s Landing? The Lannister soldiers’ uniforms suggest it. I’m sure there’s also a faction of people who know every stone of every location that’s ever represented King’s Landing. I am not one of those people; however, the stone style does remind me of the architecture near the docks when Tyrion slapped Joffrey after the attack following Myrcella’s departure for Dorne. And thinking about that slap still makes me smile after all this time.
48. Unsullied advance!
49. So the Lannister banners here also suggest King’s Landing, in this one’s opinion. Feel free to debate in the comments if that’s how you do.
50. Hey, girl. We like to think you’re listening for the tentative footfall of your next deserving victim.
51. So we cheated and turned the brightness all the way up to see what was going on in this shot. It looks like fire-kissed skin on that creeper arm. Is it reaching out of a cell? It’s a mystery we’re looking forward to seeing solved.
52. The guys on the horses: Dothraki, of course. The one sad, little guy on the right? A King’s Landing soldier. And that’s exciting because? It’s our first confirmation that the Dothraki will face the men in their little iron suits, as Khal Drogo promised: “To my son, The Stallion Who Will Mount the Word, I will also pledge a gift. I will give him the Iron Chair that his mother’s father sat upon. I will give him Seven Kingdoms. I, Drogo, will do this. I will take my Khalasar west to where the world ends and ride wooden horses across the black salt water as no Khal has done before! I will kill the men in iron suits and tear down their stone houses! I will rape their women, take their children as slaves, and bring their broken gods back to Vaes Dothrak! This, I vow — I, Drogo, son of Bharbo. I swear before the Mother of Mountains as the stars look down in witness! As the stars look down in witness! As the stars look down in witness!” Best-laid plans, right?
53. Tormund Giantsbane and Jon Snow: The Reunion Tour. They look like they’re running from something. Guessing they’re north of the Wall. Why would you go back there? Why, Jon Snow?
54. This moment had the office cheering, “Yaaaassss, Grey Worm!” and is another confirmation that Missandei is a goddess.
55. That’s definitely Ellaria Sand on the right, and — Yara? Is that you? When in Dorne… Seriously, though, it would make complete sense that Yara would be sent to treat with the Dornish; the Iron Born and the Dornish share the common language of seafaring — and sex, obviously.
56. That’s a carved lion getting toppled on the map table at Dragonstone. Can’t say for sure, but we really like the idea of that being Tyrion’s hand doing the toppling.
57. There’s really no way of telling who that is making a splash under — fair guess — a burst of dragon fire. Could be anyone. Crossing fingers that it’s Euron. He’s in need of a spanking by the Mother of Dragons.
58. It’s an emotional thing, after all these seasons, to see a dragon filling the sky over Westeros — and leading the Dothraki horde at that. A red-orange tinge in the wings make this one think that’s Viserion, which seems fitting since the dragon was named for Daenerys’ brother, Viserys Targaryen, the prince who would be king — had he not been bat-sh– crazy like his father and gotten himself crowned with molten gold. We prefer the dragon to the man, of course.
Thus ends the first footage released from the new season.
