Season 7 producer: “Dany in Westeros makes Game of Thrones a new show”

This week, Entertainment Weekly is rolling out a splashy cover story all about Game of Thrones, complete with five different covers. It put a few quotes up on its website, and they’re pretty juicy.

We know that Daenerys is on a collision course with the Lannisters. According to Game of Thrones showrunner Dan Weiss, that will provide lots of opportunities for new kinds of scenes and relationships. “What’s most exciting this season is being able to play interactions between various characters that for years we haven’t been able to play,” he said. Or as writer Bryan Cogman put it:

"Dany in Westeros makes Game of Thrones a new show. It has this amazing ripple effect throughout every storyline that’s very exciting to explore. There’s a pace and urgency that’s very palpable. This is the end game."

It’s not hard to imagine the kinds of things he’s talking about. The prospect of seeing major characters like Daenerys, Cersei, and Jon Snow all in the same room is a thrill. We can expect an uptick in action, too, with huge dragons and massive battles, both on land and at sea. “I know you probably get sick of hearing us say this, we say it every year, but everybody steps up their game this season,” said showrunner David Benioff. “It’s kind of astounding to us. In every department, from the acting to the effects, everybody constantly improves.”

EW also debuted a video where three of the actors behind the remaining Stark kids — Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran) and Sophie Turner (Sansa) imagined what a Stark family reunion would be like.

There will only be seven episodes of Game of Thrones this year, but the production team took just as long to make them as it usually does to make 10. We’ll see if their work pays off when season 7 debuts on July 16.