The final season of Game of Thrones is nigh…but still more than a month away. Luck for us, new portraits of the best leaders in all of the seven kingdoms just dropped.
Entertainment Weekly debuted a series of portraits on Instagram of the Ladies (and Gentleman) of Winterfell today, and now we’re even more excited for season eight. In one photo, on-screen sisters Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) stand strong inside the castle walls.
Not only is Sansa’s cheekbone game on point, but she’s also rocking a new lariat necklace that could definitely do some damage—and with good reason. Turner told the publication, “Sansa this season is very much enjoying becoming a leader in her own right, and this year there are certain challenges by people who threaten that.”
Arya is similarly poised for battle with a sword at her side. “There’s this split with Arya between trying to be who she wants to be—getting back to that naiveté and innocence with her family—and her unfinished business,” Williams explained of her character’s plight in the upcoming season. Something tells us her Girl with No Name skills are going to come in quite handy.
In another snap, fan-favorite lovers Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) nuzzle up, ready to take on the White Walkers (and bear their inbred child) together.
But good things don’t last forever in Game of Thrones, Harington explained: “The end of the world might be coming soon, but at least he’s in love with somebody and knows who he is—and then comes a sledgehammer.” Whether the “sledgehammer” is the fact that Dany is Jon Snow’s aunt or that the White Walkers are taking over, we’ll have to wait and see.
Dany looks more hopeful about what’s to come in the pic. Clarke muses that for her character, season eight is the actualization of a lifetime goal. “There’s so much she’s seen and witnessed and been through and lost and suffered and hurt. She’s been working for this her entire existence,” she said.
But will everyone be singing the same tune come the Battle of Winterfell? TBD when Game of Thrones returns Sunday, April 14, at 9 p.m. PT/ET on HBO.
