Small Council: Let’s talk about the Season 7 SPOILERS for the week of 10/30/16

Let’s talk about the latest round of SPOILERS for Game of Thrones Season 7, which include the lineup of directors for the year, a pair of interesting characters showing up in the same place, and an unprecedented gathering of cast members in Seville. It’s not as many as last week’s blowout, but there’s still plenty to discuss.

DAN: Now that the Game of Thrones production is filming behind walls in Seville rather than on an open-air beach, we’ll probably get fewer on-set pictures than before. Whether you think spoilers are a blast or a detriment to a good viewing experience, we can all agree that we got a LOT of them during the show’s stay in the Basque Country. But now the flood has stopped—it’s time to readjust and enjoy the normal trickle.

That said, there was some juicy stuff this week. My favorite was the list of which directors are directing which episodes next year, reproduced here for your edification.

• Episode 1: Jeremy Podeswa
• Episode 2: Mark Mylod
• Episode 3: Mark Mylod
• Episode 4: Matt Shakman
• Episode 5: Matt Shakman
• Episode 6: Alan Taylor
• Episode 7: Jeremy Podeswa

I think it’s very interesting, and encouraging, that the show is leaning so heavily on Jeremy Podeswa. Podeswa gets a lot of flack for directing Season 5’s “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” which is, to be fair, the least liked episode of the show by a decent margin. Still, the fault there lies with the writing, not the directing. Whether he’s introducing us to the Hall of Faces, revealing Melisandre’s true age, or bringing Jon Snow back to life, Podeswa has showed a gift for creating rich, moody atmospheres. I’ve long argued that he’s on the verge of directing a great Game of Thrones episode. With him directing both the premiere and finale of Season 7, it looks like he’ll get his chance.

It’s also worth noting that no one of this list has a big battle scene under their belt. (Although Podeswa directed the wildlings’ invasion of Castle Black in “Home”—it was no Battle of the Bastards, but it was well-done.) Maybe that means that the producers are hoping that relatively untested directors will step up. Or maybe it means that Season 7 won’t have much in the way of epic battles. As this is essentially part one of a two-part final season, I can see it being a deep breathe before an action-filled exhalation in 2018.

Because mostly, it looks like the production is going for tone. That’s what Podeswa is best at. Alan Taylor, the guy who directed Ned Stark’s execution way back in Season 1, also knows his way around a mood. Ditto Matt Shakman, a veteran of tonally rich shows like Fargo, Mad Men, and Six Feet Under.

And also Mark Mylod is there.

As with any TV show, the writing on Game of Thrones matters more than the directing. But on a show as lavishly produced as this one, the directing definitely matters. I’m curious to see what these guys bring to the table.

SARAH: As far as Jeremy Podeswa is concerned, I’m with Dan all the way.

“Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” was a poorly conceived episode, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was poorly directed. The combined awfulness of Sansa’s wedding night and the entire Dornish plot could have buried any director—although I would like to know why he allowed Jaime’s fight scene in the Water Gardens to borrow so heavily from Benny Hill—so let’s give him a pass. He found his groove in Season 6. “Home” is one of my favorite episodes of the last season. It wasn’t a glittering spectacle, but it was certainly emotive, and handled both Bran’s return and Jon’s resurrection with particular care.

I’m not puzzled by the absence of Miguel Sapochnik. In fact, I’m not expecting any majorly war-centric episodes in Season 7, even though I’m sure we’ll see the usual number of armies and battles. If the White Walkers made only a brief appearance, I wouldn’t be surprised, either. Their omnipotence, and their role as the biggest bad in this universe, is so built-up and terrifying that I believe a final showdown with them has to be endgame material. I’d find it strange if that thread was resolved before the end of Season 7.

As for the large gathering of cast members in Seville, I don’t necessarily believe that a takeover is going to happen this season. It will take time for Daenerys, stationed at Dragonstone, to gather supporters from the rest of Westeros. Besides that, she has Cersei to contend with. The widespread assumption that Cersei will be instantly steamrolled is very strange, and I think she needs to be given more credit for her ability to cling on. She was written off by quite a few people last season, and look what happened. Don’t count her out, at least not until Season 8.

RAZOR: For me, the sheer number of major Game of Thrones cast members arriving in Seville is the real story. If we really are going to get a scene where Queen Daenerys Targaryen, Queen Cersei Lannister, King in the North Jon Snow, and King Euron Greyjoy (along with all their advisors and bodyguards/soldiers like Davos Seaworth, Jorah Mormont, Brienne of Tarth, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane, Gregor “The Mountain” Clegaine, Jaime Lannister, Bronn, Tyrion Lannister, and Missandei) all meet, then we could be in for the greatest single scene in the history of the series.

I almost cannot fathom that many major cast members in one area without my brain exploding. Imagine the one-liners from Tyrion, the withering scowls from Cersei, the tension between the brothers Clegane, and Jon standing in front of the woman he probably considers responsible for the death of his father Ned (so far as he knows). There is just so much potential in this scene. I hope the entire hour is centered on this group of characters in this moment.

KATIE: I’m not particularly intrigued by any spoilers. What would perhaps be more interesting is if fans didn’t stalk sets and instead left well enough alone. I know, I know—that savors strongly of bitterness and all that. But if I see one more grainy picture of Jon Snow at a beach party, my eyes are gonna roll so far back into my head that I’ll never see anything again.

What’s different about these Season 7 spoilers is that we sort of had to see them coming. Seventeen major cast members in one place does admittedly pique some interest. But with the show winding down, you have to expect such gatherings. Storylines are converging and so the Thrones universe is shrinking. Sure, after so many years out of the loop, it’ll be surreal to watch Daenerys set foot in Westeros to contend with the likes of Jaime or Qyburn. Those are dynamics we haven’t seen before, but many of them have been a long time coming. Whether or not all these characters are shooting scenes together is unknown. Regardless, they’re likely to share some screen time before the series is through. And ultimately we could speculate on these matters with or without spoiler-y images.

I’m certainly looking forward to watching how these new relationships play out. Like Sarah, I don’t think it will be as easy for Daenerys to usurp Cersei as the internet has made it out to be. That would be dull storytelling, and anyway, Cersei is too clever for it. Of course, what’s cleverness compared to dragons? But that woman has a surplus of tricks up her sleeve and nothing left to lose. Cersei and Daenerys are both well-practiced in playing dirty, so I expect an elaborate rivalry to wind its way through the season.

ANI: What am I most excited about? Can I be totally honest? I’m excited that the cast all gets to hang out together for once for an extended period.

Full disclosure: Before I became a writer, I spent over a decade working in theater, in film, and special events, always as a little nobody in the background, doing lighting or costumes. But one thing that has always struck me about the Game of Thrones cast is how little time they get to spend as a unit. That’s really hard on a group, to be working on the same show for years, and yet almost never see the main part of the action in King’s Landing, or to never get to hang out with this actor or that actor, even though the show made both your careers. It can feel isolating, even discouraging. So for this to have happened, for an entire swatch of the main group to finally be together on location in the same hotel, drinking and hanging and bonding…To me that’s just the best thing ever, and I hope they are all enjoying the hell out of it.

I just hope next time they do it, Isaac, Sophie, and Maisie get to join in.