Way back in the first season of Game of Thrones, Cersei Lannister told Ned Stark that “when you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.” After the sixth season, Cersei has won the latest round and sits upon the Iron Throne. Despite her incredible unpopularity with the people of the seven kingdoms of Westeros, it may not be as easy to displace Cersei as you may have believed.
In a new interview with Deadline, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss looked back at the sixth season, and shared these tantalizing teasers for the seventh season. “Cersei will do anything to win. In the past, the only factor limiting her ruthlessness was her love for her children. Now that her children are gone, nothing restrains her. As she herself said, ‘love is weakness.’ A loveless Cersei is a fearsome thing.”
The favorite to unseat Cersei is Daenerys Targaryen, but Benioff and Weiss were quick to play up her strengths before teasing that she may be due for a fall. “Dany has a boundless confidence in herself and her mission in this world. Her sense of destiny makes her a compelling, charismatic leader, a messianic figure for multitudes. She has arguably the cleverest advisor on the planet in Tyrion Lannister. She has three dragons, an army of Unsullied, and a great Dothraki horde…What could possibly go wrong?”
Related: ‘Game of Thrones’ Concert Brings The Seven Kingdoms To Life
Meanwhile in Winterfell, Jon Snow won’t have an easy road as the new King in the North. Benioff and Weiss had quite a bit to say about the trials ahead for him.
“Jon’s honorable nature has proven a disadvantage in some regards: a man who plays by the rules will have a harder time defeating men and women who don’t. But Jon’s nature also provides one of his great strengths: his ability to win others to his cause. Men who respected his courage and honesty elected him Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. The Free Folk, who had never before aligned themselves with kneelers, chose to fight for Jon Snow because they believed in him. The lords of the north named him King in the North because they realized he was their last, best chance to survive the wars to come.
The question will be whether an honorable man can overcome dishonorable enemies. As E.O. Wilson wrote, ‘Within a group, selfish individuals always win. But in contests between groups, groups of altruists always beat groups of selfish individuals.’ So Jon Snow better hope this is a contest between groups.”
The other remaining player in this power struggle is perhaps the most fearsome yet: the Night King, with his White Walkers and their army of the dead. Benioff and Weiss dryly noted that “he can raise the dead and have them do his bidding,” but they added that “he’ll never be as funny as the Ice King.” Nice Adventure Time reference.
Game of Thrones season 7 will premiere in summer 2017.
