The latest update from HBO’s Making Game of Thrones site and production assistant Cat Taylor, is an interview with stand-in and trainee Assistant Director Graeme Livingston. It’s brief, but it does contain a couple of quite interesting bits:

• Strangest Moment on Set: “Talking at length about the Star Wars movies with another AD and the conversation being picked up by the director Neil Marshall and his First AD Gerry Gavigan, who actually worked on the original Star Wars. Surreal!”
• A Hint About Season 2: “There’s been quite a lot of sword fighting in this season, a lot more than last one. There’s a lot more combat. Anything with a sword fight keeps me happy. And a bit of blood.”

Unless I’m mistaken, Gavigan has not been involved in the first season of the show. I’m guessing he may have been brought in specifically by director Neil Marshall. Looking at his very extensive AD credits—going back almost 40 years, including (yes) the original Star Wars film—it looks like we’ve even more reason to expect something special out of the Marshall-directed, George R.R. Martin-written penultimate episode, “Blackwater”.

As to sword fights? We know a few people who will be quite pleased about that.