Season 7 filming: Unexpected cast members show up in Cáceres

There are lots of interesting things happening around the Game of Thrones Season 7 set today. We know, for example, that the production is getting ready to shoot a couple of days’ worth of material in the Spanish of city of Cáceres. We’re also pretty damn sure that Cáceres will stand in for King’s Landing. How do we know? Because of sights like this:

You don’t dress medieval-looking walls with Lannister flags unless you’re filming at the Lannister stronghold. The production team is also creating a market square.

And yet, new pics and information are throwing some wrenches into the works. Let’s look at them. Beware SPOILERS below.

First of all, we have reports that three of the actors who play characters known to be in King’s Landing as of the end of Season 6—Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (the Mountain)—are all in Croatia at the moment, probably to take part in a mid-December shoot. The cameras start rolling in Cáceres tomorrow, and filming only lasts two days. If Cersei, Jaime, and the Mountain aren’t a part of it, then who is?

Nothing’s certain yet, but a couple of unexpected cast members just turned up in the city:

https://twitter.com/Indosfemo/status/808773403561889792

That’ll be Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand) and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Tyene Sand). These two were also photographed in Belfast a few months back.

Their presence raises several questions. What reason would the Sand Snakes (well, one Sand Snake and her mom) have to visit King’s Landing? Or are they visiting King’s Landing? The local authorities are closing down several areas for filming—might the production use the city for more than one thing? And where are Keisha Castle-Hughes (Obara Sand) and Jessica Henwick (Nymeria Sand)? Earlier in the year, spoilers revealed that Euron Greyjoy will team up with Cersei and kill “at least one” of the Sand Snakes. Are Obara and Nymeria the ones who get the axe?

A note: Even if Headey, Coster-Waldau and Björnsson aren’t in Cáceres, that doesn’t mean they won’t film scenes in King’s Landing. Dubrovnik, Croatia has long stood in for the Westeros’ biggest city. Perhaps the production will film King’s Landing scenes in both Cáceres and Dubrovnik, and then edit the footage together. Where and whether Ellaria and Tyene fit in to this remains up for speculation.