Now that the dust—or should we say snow—has settled on the epic Battle of Winterfell, it’s time to look ahead to episode for 4 of Game of Thrones. As is tradition, HBO released a brief teaser for the episode, featuring a quick look at the battle’s aftermath, and more than enough information to suggest that the good guys have their sights set on Cersei and King’s Landing.
“We have won the great war,” Daenarys says in the clip. “Now we will win the last war. We’ll rip her out root and stem.” Most of the popular thinking went that if the living did manage to fend off the Night King and his zombie army, then the show would make its way south, where the Iron Throne awaits. This teaser confirms that.
But if you’re not ready to look ahead quite yet because you need more time to process what you just saw, HBO has you covered with the weekly installment of “Inside the Episode.” In it, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss expand on the decision to have Arya be the one who kills the Night King. It was a shocking moment, but no one was more surprised than Kit Harington.
“I was surprised, I thought it was gonna be me!” Harington told Entertainment Weekly. “But I like it. It gives Arya’s training a purpose to have an end goal. It’s much better how she does it the way she does it. I think it will frustrate some in the audience that Jon’s hunting the Night King and you’re expecting this epic fight and it never happens — that’s kind of Thrones. But it’s the right thing for the characters. There’s also something about it not being the person you expect. The young lady sticks it to the man.”
Episode 4 of Game of Thrones’ final season airs Sunday, May 5 on HBO.
