Thanks to HBO‘s usual end-of-year recap video, which looks at what the cabler has aired over the past year… and then gives a taste at what’s to come, we finally have our first video footage of season 4 of Game of Thrones! In the video below, starting at the 1:38 mark, a handful of quick glimpses from the highly-anticipated fourth season gives a taste of what’s to come. Of course, there are some spoilers herein, so view at your own discretion!
For some discussion of what we’re seeing, see below the cut.
Most exciting for me, personally, is the first glimpse of a Meereenese champion—Oznak zo Pahl, in the books—charging at Daenerys’s chosen champion. In the books, that champion is Strong Belwas, but as we know, he will not be appearing (at least, not this season). Studying the image, it sure seems to be the re-cast Daario Naharis will be acting as that champion, providing him another opportunity to show off his allegedly superlative swordsmanship. Following this are clips of Tyrion in chains—obviously for his trial—interspersed with a look at Joffrey at his wedding, with a jester performing and Sansa to the far right of the screen. And speaking of Sansa, we see her at what appears to be the Eyrie, likely marveling at the sight of snow… and perhaps a prelude to her building her castle in the snow.
The second most exciting image, of course, is Jaime Lannister—now with a suspiciously metallic-seeming right hand!—in the chamber of the Kingsguard, examining the White Book in which the names and deeds of every Sworn Brother are written. Unlike in the novel, the table does not appear to be of weirwood, nor is the room all whitewashed. But it’s definitely an important moment, in the novels, and I’m looking forward to see how it’s adapted to the screen, especially given how well Coster-Waldau performed last season.