It’s been a (very) long wait, but the full trailer for season 7 of Game of Thrones is finally here and it’s a corker. This peek into the penultimate outing opens with Cersei explaining the dire position that the Lannisters find themselves in – surrounded on all fronts by their enemies, their avaricious ambitions for the Seven Kingdoms finally coming home to roost.
Mixed amongst this are glimpses at what they’re up against, the most striking being Daenerys’ rampaging army with a dragon swooping overhead. Other stunning shots include Cersei sat atop the Iron Throne, Tyrion gazing over a cliff in disbelief at (presumably) the approach of an oncoming army, Arya on horseback in the woods looking like every inch the badass we always knew she’d end up as, Jon Snow being heralded as the King of the North, and glimpses of all kinds of blood, sex and viciousness. We conclude with the promise that “The Great War is here.”
Overall, it’s an excellent trailer that bodes very well for season 7, in which HBO begins to wind down Game of Thrones and take us to an exciting and no doubt nail-biting conclusion. The only caveat is that seasons 7 and 8 are notably shorter than previous ones, possibly to compensate for the larger scale of the battles and scenes within.
After all, it’s not cheap to hire vast armies or men or create beautiful CGI dragons. With season 7 having just seven episodes, and season 8 a meagre 6, that means we only have 13 more instalments until we can finally say goodbye to the brutal, bloody land of Westeros. Well, at least until those spinoff series that are being planned arrive.
Game of Thrones season 7 premieres on HBO on July 16.
