Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner and more talk Game of Thrones season 7 and beyond

Game of Thrones season 7 airs in just a handful of weeks, and the cast members are out in force to hype it. The Belfast Telegraph talked to a whole gaggle of them, including Emilia Clarke (Daenerys), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth). Let’s hear what they had to say about what’s to come, and how they’ll feel when the series is finally over, starting with Clarke.

“Right now, I’m sort of feeling – with her – optimistic,” Clarke said of Daenerys, who’s currently poised to invade Westeros and take the Iron Throne. “She’ll probably need some help, though. I’ll definitely be disappointed if she doesn’t make it.”

"I think that there was always that idea that she would know where she was going to, but the reality is frightening. I mean, I always believed that Dany had the highest of hopes for what kind of impact she could leave on this world. She is continuously reaching for purest level of rulership – is that a word? I just made it up."

Yes, Ms. Clarke, that is a word. You’re good.

Anyway, considering the enormity of the task ahead of her — not just winning the Iron Throne but keeping it, and then fighting the White Walkers — Dany could indeed use all the help she can get. Her allies, who include Yara Greyjoy, Olenna Tyrell, and Ellaria Sand, will surely come in handy. “Suddenly like, it’s a woman’s world,” she said. “That’s nice; that’s good.”

"Dany is exploring every avenue that her kind of bloodline has been to. People have an idea of what her father was and everyone has vague idea what her brother was. She knows what those things are but it could be very easy for her to do something very rash."

If Dany does “something very rash,” who might suffer the consequences? One possibility is Jon Snow. After all, as Kit Harington points out, the new King in the North is now just as vulnerable as anyone else:

"You could see, at the end of season six, [Jon’s] thinking, ‘I’m the King of the North and there is a small smile on his face, and I think that season seven starts with optimism. I mean, the world’s f****** ending and he’s in real danger, but at least he’s in a place where people will listen to him when he’s warning them, and he can get right down to business. And I think the point of sending Mel away at the end of last season was to say, well, she’s not around, so you know he’s in danger, mortal danger, like everyone else."

Kit Harington as Jon Snow. HBO/Entertainment Weekly

And there might be even more danger than he thinks. Sophie Turner, who plays Jon’s sister/cousin Sansa Stark, may not be as happy with Jon’s new authority as he is. “I think she definitely feels left out, with Jon being King of the North,” she said. “There’s a little bit of jealousy there and she feels as though she deserves the title of Queen of the North.”

"She also feels like it’s an injustice that she hasn’t been recognized for what she did for all of the northerners and also that Jon isn’t recognizing that either. I think if Jon was really appreciative of what she’s done and spoke to her about it, she wouldn’t have a problem with all the northern Lords not bowing down to her and hailing her Queen of the North. I think all she wants is the respect of her brother and I don’t think she feels like she’s getting that."

Turner teased a darker turn for Sansa in general. “She’s less sympathetic towards the other characters – she’s in it for herself and she’ll do anything to get what she wants at this point.” Should be interesting.

Looking backwards, Turner also discussed the controversial season 5 scene where Ramsay Bolton rapes Sansa on their wedding night. “I don’t think it was over the line; you know those kind of things went on then,” she said.

"We’re based in Tudor times; around the War of the Roses. Those things happened and we are not a show that will distract from that. We don’t, you know, paint a very pretty picture. We paint the world as it is and just throw in a couple dragons, and I think it would have been almost an injustice to pretend something like that wouldn’t have happened. I know the reaction was strong and I thought that was appropriate and I think it’s a really good thing. I think it was really great that we got the conversation going."

The audience response to the Ramsay-Sansa rape scene inspired Turner to get involved with Women for Women International, a charity that helps women who have survived war crimes, including rape. “So, if anything, I think it’s a benefit to have these things appear on television and let’s not make it taboo any more. That’s what I think.”

Incidentally, Turner doesn’t think there’s much hope for romance for Sansa in season 7. After all she’s been through, that’s pretty understandable.

Finally, Gwendoline Christie talked about the unexpected viral hit of season 6: Tormund Giantsbane’s awkward flirtations with Brienne.

"It was a bit more than I expected actually and Kristofer [Hivju, who plays Tormund]… I could tell he was delighted. He started sending something that I believe is called a meme? And a selection of images involving some very creative collage work done on a computer and web pictures from Titanic of Leonardo de Caprio and Kate Winslet — I was Leo, of course. It was mainly images of him in dresses, looking very small, and me protecting, so I’m not entirely sure what he was trying to communicate but I felt he was happy, and that’s all that matters."

This is the kind of thing she’s talking about:

Long may it reign.

Christie also answered that most persistent of interview questions: Does she think her character should sit the Iron Throne?

"(I) Don’t think [Brienne’s] about domination. I think Yara Greyjoy would be a good one. I always wanted Hodor on there but I don’t suppose that’s going to happen now. Arya would be good. Maybe her and Sansa together, or Jon Snow? I don’t know."

Head to the Belfast Telegraph to read more of their answers. And here are some further highlights:

• Between seasons 5 and 6, Kit Harington famously pretended Jon Snow was dead. Filming season 7 was much easier. “It really, really was a relief to be able to walk around Belfast and not have to make some excuse about what I’m doing here. I told my family and close friends only and had to hide when I was supposed to be dead – the social side of things here suffered a bit. There was no jet or helicopters to fly me in and out and we had to be careful, as there had been drone camera flying over the Battle of the B*******, for a start. I had to run under an umbrella and be taken to a tent.”
• What will Harington miss most about Jon Snow when Game of Thrones is over? “I’ll miss his northern grumpiness. I was picked because there’s something in me a bit like him, I think. It sounds like a cliché, but I will miss stepping into him each year. This is probably the most important job of my life. It’s a huge thing and it’s been very close to my heart. I’ll miss the family and coming back here, and even this costume and the fight scenes. The costumes and weaponry are incredible. I said from the start that I wanted the Long Claw sword but as the (show’s) momentum’s grown, it’s become very expensive and will probably end up in a HBO museum. Hopefully they’ll make me a replica.”

And all of the cast members had nothing but wonderful things to say about Belfast, which has the been the nerve center of filming on the show since the beginning.