SFX Magazine goes inside Game of Thrones season 7

Recently, Games Radar published an interview with Game of Thrones star Kit Harington (Jon Snow) where he talked about Jon Snow’s mortality. The interview was part of a cover story from the site’s sister publication, SFX Magazine, a story all about Game of Thrones season 7.

Recently, the second official Game of Thrones season 7 trailer hit the internet, which tended to bury the SFX coverage under GIFs featuring Beric Dondarrion igniting his flaming sword like some kind of medieval Jedi.

But it’s still out there. Redditor berkay496 uploaded the SFX scans to Imgur — from Tumblr user Feo-oliau — and you can browse the pages. Let’s in.

"SFX – Issue 289 scans"

A few takeaways:

• Screenwriter and producer Bryan Cogman calls season 7 an entirely different show. “It’s sort of phase three.” Which parts were phases one and two, exactly?
• Cogman says the theme for season 7 could be “Worlds colliding,” with most of the characters coming together at some point. The showrunners, he notes, have “some spectacular stuff planned.”
• Conleth Hill (Varys) has a brother who does sound for the show, and who just won his third Emmy. Congrats, Ronan!

• While on set, the team from SFX witnessed three “craftspeople” in the sculptor’s hut shaping 40 blocks of polystyrene that when stacked resembled the dimensions of a double decker bus. We have an idea what they were working on.
• Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) delivers a great quote about the women on the show:

"When I first read the books and [heard] they were turning them into a TV show, I wondered if they would cut down the point of view female characters. And I was really pleased that those female characters were honoured and continue to be at the forefront of the show. And we see a development of the female characters that I think is three-dimensional, is complex, is conflicted — and is powerful."

• Sophie Turner, for her part, says that Sansa Stark will be “strong and steely” in season 7.
• Turner says Sansa feels like she should be Queen in the North, and that there is some jealousy on her part towards her half-brother/cousin Jon Snow for being crowned king.
• Turner agrees that Sansa has had some bad luck in the love department, but now that she’s safe and sound at Winterfell, she just ain’t got time for that. “She’s got other things on her mind.”
• When asked if she would like to see Hodor come back to the show as a White Walker (even though he would technically be a wight), Turner definitely does not rule it out. “Hodor as a White Walker might be slightly terrifying.” We see you, Sophie Turner, being cagey, dancing around the hard questions. Keep it up.

Next: Biggest surprises and questions from the second trailer for Game of Thrones season 7

If you want your own copy of the SFX Magazine spread, hit up a bookstore or newsstand near you. Or, if you wish, you can order a digital copy. Game of Thrones season 7 premieres Sunday, July 16, on HBO.