SPOILERS: Almodóvar del Río to stand in for an important castle, and details on a big battle

(Image credit: Rabe! License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)

After loading in to the area last week, filming began today at the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río, a stately 8th century castle that has undergone numerous reconstructions over the centuries, meaning there’s a lot of different kinds of  architecture mixed in. Cordopolis posted many photos from the shoot. Read no further if you don’t want to learn some major SPOILERS.

According to Cordopolis, the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río will stand in for Highgarden, as many fans have suspected. There was a lot of filming inside the castle today. It involved hundreds of extras, all of them decked out in military garb, fighting it out. It looks like the Lannisters will bring the fight to the Tyrells in Season 7. Check out some photos.

Per Cordopolis, the production had some of the soldiers cover themselves in blankets so as to avoid giving too much away. There’s no mistaking that Lannister armor, though.

There are more pictures where that came from at Cordopolis, incidentally.

Curiously, Cordopolis also reported that there were a few extras in Stark uniforms, although it’s possible it just saw a few people in dark colors and jumped to conclusions.

Where the Lannister army goes, so goes its commander. In a different article, Cordopolis posted a picture of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) arriving on the scene.

It also reported that a local actress was on set as the body double of Diana Rigg, who plays Olenna Tyrell. It’s a full house.

But one of the most revelatory pictures was this one:

That’s a Lannister flag flying high over the Castillo. That could mean one of two things:

1. After the Lannisters storm Highgarden, they claim it in the name of their House.
2. The Castillo de Almodóvar del Río stands in for more than just Highgarden. It may also stand in for Casterly Rock, the seat of House Lannister.

Remember: we know that we’ll visiting both Highgarden and Casterly Rock during Season 7. Given the Castillo’s architectural diversity, different parts of it could stand in for different locales in Westeros, depending on how the crew shoots it.

There’s another picture that points toward option #2: in addition to Coster-Waldau’s appearance, Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) was also on set.

Fansite Watchers on the Wall has it on “pretty good authority” that Grey Worm and the Unsullied won’t play a part in the battle at Highgarden. Instead, reports the site, they’ll attack Casterly Rock. That’s consistent with how Anderson didn’t spend as much time on the Dragonstone set in Zumaia as the rest of Daenerys’ crew. Grey Worm probably leaves for the continent’s west coast before all of those scenes finish. Basically, it looks like the production is using the Castillo to kill two birds with one stone. It’ll likely stand in for both Highgarden and Casterly Rock, with the production taking advantage of having lots of extras in one place at one time.

But the battle at Highgarden is the main event…and what happens afterward. The production has been preparing for a while to shoot a major land battle near Malpartida, with a castle (probably Highgarden) inserted into the background with CGI. Combining this new knowledge with previous SPOILERS, we can get a decent idea of what’s going to happen:

• The Lannisters attack Highgarden. They make it inside, so the Tyrells lose.
• After they’ve sacked the castle, the Lannisters leave, but Daenerys, mounted on a dragon and leading her Dothraki army, ambushes them on the road. That’s what the production will start filming near Malpartida next week.

Okay, that’s a lot of spoiler. Watcher on the Wall has one more for us. According to the site, Grey Worm and Missandei will, at some point next season, share a sex scene. Discuss.