Game of Thrones season 7 is two weeks out, and Entertainment Weekly has some new, carefully worded SPOILERS for us. Turn back now if you wish to remain unsullied.
As we already know, Daenerys Targaryen will finally land in Westeros in season 7. She’ll land on Dragonstone, where Stannis hung out for a few seasons and where she was born. What’s more, because Sky Deutschland included the episode numbers along with several season 7 screenshots on its site, we know that she’ll more than likely arrive there in the first episode.
But according to EW ‘s Natalie Abrams, that landing might not go entirely smoothly. When asked for spoilers about the new season, she declined from giving too much away, but still tossed readers a bone:
"Dany’s journey to Dragonstone won’t be easy given that Euron is out there looking for her, and you can expect at least one major character meet-up in the first hour."
That would be Euron Greyjoy, Theon and Yara’s homicidal uncle. Incidentally, Entertainment Weekly had direct access to the set during season 7 production, so their reports are very trustworthy.
The trailers have teased a fiery battle at sea — we even caught a glimpse of Euron looking appropriately insane during the thick of it.
So Euron will definitely get up to no good in season 7, but does this battle happen in Episode 1? Is that the thing that makes Dany’s journey to Dragonstone less than easy? If it did, an encounter between Dany and Euron would qualify as a “major character meet-up.”
But it’s too vague to be sure. Euron may engage a smaller part of Dany’s fleet in the first episode, perhaps the part that includes Theon and Yara. Or perhaps Euron will make Dany’s journey difficult in a way that doesn’t involve meeting her — after all, Euron “looking for” Dany doesn’t mean he finds her. Perhaps Dany changes the course of her fleet to avoid Euron’s and runs into storms.
Opening the season with a large naval battle would give the premiere a nice kick, though.
If Euron doesn’t engage Dany directly in the premiere, perhaps the “major character meet-up” could refer to a meeting between himself and Cersei. We did see Greyjoy ships pulling into Blackwater Bay in the trailer:
Or the meet-up could involve none of these people. The good news is that we’ll only have to wait two more short weeks to find out.
In other news, Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) spoke to the Evening Standard about where his mind is at as the show nears its conclusion. “From the last season really it’s felt like there’s more of a sense of an ending,” he said. “I’m going to miss the show as a fan, I’m going to get withdrawals from it as a person who watches it.”
"With Thrones I feel like as long as I’ve done my best then it’s all right and I’m just excited to see the stuff that I wasn’t a part of."
For those who may not know, Anderson is also a musician who performs under the name Raleigh Ritchie. His music career has evolved alongside his acting one, although he tries not to let the two interfere with each other. “I thought the show was going to undermine what I was trying to do with music and vice versa, but now I think I’m just happy to get to do things with my life that I enjoy,” he said. “If people come for Grey Worm and they stay for Raleigh Ritchie then that’s fine. But I would never want to try and use the show to sell music.”
Next: HBO releases more two images from Game of Thrones season 7
Game of Thrones season 7 debuts on July 16.