This week has been an exciting one for Game of Thrones fans, with an array of cast interviews, promo pictures, and tiny teasers being released incrementally each day. Today was the most important of all, however – HBO finally released the first official trailer for Game of Thrones Season 7 this afternoon, THR reports.
The first full-length trailer opens with a monologue from Cersei Lannister, currently the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. “Enemies to the east. Enemies to the west. Enemies to the south, enemies to the north,” Cersei declares to Jamie Lannister. “Whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it.” Footage in the trailer indicates that Jamie still stands by his sister’s side, despite his condemnation of Cersei’s violent decimation of a portion of King’s Landing by wildfire in the Season 6 finale last year. The new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms seems obsessed with defeating her enemies, as footage shows the Queen standing over an enormous painting of the Seven Kingdoms in the Red Keep, indicating her fixation on keeping a firm grip over her kingdom and wiping out her enemies. Cersei oozes evil in the new trailer, with she and her Kingsguard (the ever-imposing Mountain included) draped in dramatic and lethal black costuming.
The trailer also emphasizes Daenerys Targaryen’s quest for the throne, with Daenerys proclaiming to an unknown audience, “I was born to rule the Seven Kingdoms. And I will.” Daenery’s dragons are now larger than they have ever been, with one of the show’s directors noting that they have now reached the size of 747 plane. The dragons are shown flying over what is presumably Dragonstone, Daenerys’ anticipated new home base in Westeros as she prepares to storm King’s Landing and take the throne from Cersei’s rule. Drogon, Daenerys’ largest dragon, is also shown flying over a galloping hoard of Dothraki soldiers.
The trailer involves a bulk of footage of Daenerys’ Dothraki and Unsullied troops, even giving slight glimpses of Unsullied forces storming a castle that might turn out to be the Lannister home of Casterly Rock. Casterly Rock is one of the most important locations in Game of Thrones lore but has never been shown on the show up to this point. Trailer footage of a castle marked with the red and gold banners of House Lannister and lions painted on the rock façade seem to suggest that the infamous location might finally be shown on screen come Season 7.
While Daenerys and the Lannisters are fretting over throne politics, those characters that lie north have other concerns. Davos Seaworth is shown warning an anonymous source, “If we don’t put aside our enmities and bound together, we will die. And then it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne.” Meanwhile, the new King of the North, Jon Snow, is seen in the trailer fighting in wilding-like furs far beyond the wall with a large force of other wildings, hinting that Jon will leave the politics of ruling Winterfell to his sister Sansa (who is shown in Winterfell alone with Littlefinger) while he helps fight back against the dreaded White Walkers.
The official trailer also includes a brief look at Arya Stark, who has returned to Westeros and seems to be treading north, camping out alone in a cold, snowy wooded area. Notably, the trailer did not include footage of Bran Stark, was still up north beyond the wall come the end of Season 6.
Game of Thrones Season 7 will premiere July 16 at 9pm EST on HBO.
