Game of Thrones returns for its seventh season on July 16, and per its newest trailer — one with actual new footage, no less! — the fight for Westeros is going to be messier than ever.
With Cersei Lannister now holding a determined grip on the Iron Throne, the series’ clashes between families and long-simmering blood feuds have come to a head. In the trailer, Cersei intones that the Lannisters have “enemies to the East, enemies to the West, enemies to the South, [and] enemies to the North — whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it.”
Cersei is, as she’s proven over six seasons, one of Game of Thrones’ most indomitable forces of snarling nature. But she’s got her work cut out with her. Jon Snow is firming up his grip as “King of the North,” as Littlefinger encourages Jon’s half-sister Sansa to look for opportunities now that she is — somewhat improbably, after all she’s been through — one of the last Starks still standing. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen is marching her army towards Kings Landing — and as the trailer shows us, paying a visit to a what looks to be a formidable new castle (perhaps Storm’s End?). We also see glimpses of everyone from Unsullied soldier Grey Worm, staring into the sun, to Melisandre, staring out onto the ocean, to Theon — or is it Reek? — staring into a fire.
As with most trailers, and Game of Thrones’ trailers in particular, this newest one serves to set the scene more than anything else, and so season seven sure looks like it is beating a steady drumbeat of war.
Game of Thrones returns for season seven on July 16 at 9 pm on HBO.
