This is the season that Dan and I have been anticipating from the very beginning.
We're still casting more than we're killing.
There are a lot of tremendous new characters we're very excited about coming forward.
Lady Olenna, played by the amazing Diana Rigg,
and a lot of new faces this year, as well as all the old faces.
It is my honor to present my grandmother.
The Lady Olenna of House Tyrell.
Olenna is the matriarch of the Tyrell family.
She's in charge, and you're not in any doubt the minute you meet her.
She's very forceful. She doesn't mince her words.
She's witty, which always is fun to play.
I don't care what people believe.
- And neither do you. -(CHUCKLES)
As an authority on myself, I must disagree.
It goes without saying that the men aren't worth as much.
They haven't got half the brain cells in the Tyrell family that the women do.
Loras is young and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick.
That does not make him wise.
She doesn't think too highly of them. Men in general, in fact.
She thinks the world would be better if it were run by women.
I think the audience will see her as a female equivalent of Tywin Lannister.
FINN JONES: She is the driving force of the whole family.
It's gonna be very interesting seeing what her presence in King's Landing
brings to the whole dynamic of Game of Thrones.
DAENERYS: Do you have a name?
This one's name is Missandei, Your Grace.
She's Kraznys', the slave master of the Unsullied, right-hand girl.
Master Kraznys says you cannot afford this.
She's incredibly intelligent and can speak every language under the sun.
And Dany sees how useful she'll be.
But also sees, I think, a lot of herself in her.
And can see that it's a young girl
who is capable of much more than the position she's in.
Missandei's very clever. She's very intelligent.
She's a good girl. She's a kind, gentle one.
Valar Morghulis.
All men must die.
But we are not men.
Yeah, girl power. That's been our theme throughout the scenes.
We've been promoting girl power a little bit.
(CHUCKLES)
Don't look so grim, Jon Snow.
If Mance Rayder likes you, you'll live another clay.
The person that he's expected to meet is mean and fierce and deadly,
and the person he actually meets is all those things,
but in a much more intelligent fashion.
Mance Rayder is somebody who comes from a similar background to Jon, in a way.
He was an orphan, where Jon was a bastard.
He was also a member of the Night's Watch,
who gave up the Black for a different way of living.
Why do you want to join us, Jon Snow?
Knowing your enemy gives you a big advantage in any fight,
so Mance is perhaps the most dangerous
King-beyond-the-Wall to rise for hundreds of years.
And he's risen just at the time when the Night's Watch is at the weakest.
You know how I got 90 clans to march together in the same army?
I told them we were all going to die if we don't get south.
Because that's the truth.
Mance, who was once of the Night's Watch men,
has now gone over the Wall,
and he's gone to the side of the wildlings, which are like a scattered tribe of people
and he's trying to unite them all because he knows that there's a bigger enemy.
This chicken eater you thought was king is Tormund Giantsbane.
Tormund is a larger-than-life figure.
He is one of the leaders of the free folk.
He was one of the people that Mance had to subdue,
'cause he was not a man who listened to anybody.
And Mance managed to win his allegiance,
and Tormund has been one of his most loyal lieutenants, so to speak, ever since.
The funny thing is that Jon Snow thinks that I'm Mance Rayder.
I'm mocking Mance Rayder because I look more kingly than him.
(LAUGHS)
But Tormund finds a great liking in Jon Snow, becomes fond of him.
That's how Tormund is, you know. He goes for the gut feeling.
I like you, boy.
But if you lie to me, I'll pull your guts out through your throat.
They quite like each other. They respect each other.
He likes people not being scared of him.
He's no crow.
Just 'cause you want him inside, you don't make him one of us.
HIVJU: Orell, he doesn't believe Jon at all.
And he's making life pretty uneasy on him.
We are the bad cop and the good cop. (CHUCKLES)
HARINGTON: Of anyone that Jon's met through this series,
the person he wants to put a sword through most is Orell.
What's wrong with him?
MANCE: He's a warg.
He is a wildling warg,
which means he can put his consciousness into the consciousness of an animal.
The animal that I can do that with is an eagle.
And so then, I can go on reconnaissance flights and then report back.
OSHA: Not another step, boy.
I'm unarmed.
- My sister carries the weapons. -(SWORD CLANKING)
Jojen comes to help explain what's happening to Bran.
You can get inside his head.
Only when I'm asleep.
That's how it begins until you learn to control it.
He's starting to try and control his dream, but that's what he needs Jojen for, to teach him.
He gets called the little grandfather because even though he's young and slender,
he seems very wise and old.
Isn't he ashamed, your brother, needing you to protect him?
Some people will always need help.
That doesn't mean they're not worth helping.
Osha, I think her relationship with the Reeds,
and particularly Meera, is quite prickly at first.
They're from very different worlds. They're very suspicious of each other.
It's funny because they're very similar in a lot of ways.
For instance, Osha and Meera are both looking after these young boys with the sight,
and they're both very protective of them.
MICHELLE FAIRLEY: Robb tells Catelyn they will be traveling to Riverrun,
which is their family seat.
Once they're there,
she reacquaints herself with her uncle, Blackfish, and her brother Edmure.
People had been calling me Blackfish for so long,
they don't remember my real name.
CLIVE RUSSELL: I'm called Blackfish, and I'm covered with scales.
I would describe Blackfish, first of all, as being a hugely experienced warrior.
I think he's fought in every possible situation.
He's hugely respected by other men and other warriors.
But he's also a man committed to his responsibilities within family.
Don't call him "nephew." He is your king.
Blackfish understands that I've been elected king amongst my men,
and I must have done something right for so many men to have followed me into battle.
And I think that Blackfish understands that, and there's a level of respect.
I meant him no...
You're lucky I'm not your king.
I wouldn't let you wave your blunders around like a victory flag.
Edmure is younger than Cat or Lysa,
and was the little baby in the family for a long time.
And to a certain extent was spoiled, coming along late as he did.
And he's still trying to prove himself.
I would describe Edmure as being an extremely irritating human being,
constantly lets me down, the family down.
On the face of it, he's a tall, straight-back, soldierly looking guy
who messes up quite a lot.
I'm sorry.
I didn't know.
He's an outgoing character, he's quick to temper, quick to humor,
but maybe not the most contemplative character,
so, yeah, he tends to get himself in some hot water.
- ARYA: Who are you? - Thoros of Myr.
- Who do you fight for? - THOROS: The Brotherhood Without Banners.
PAUL KAYE: He is a red priest,
who is a cynical member of the clergy
who went through the motions, but didn't believe it,
and then something miraculous happened and he's a firm believer.
Brotherhood Without Banners,
well, they stand out in the context of the series just because they're good guys.
They care about people and they care about the atrocities that are being committed
and wanna do something about it, and so their intentions are really honorable.
The lords of Westeros want to burn the countryside.
We're trying to save it.
And they come from all sorts of backgrounds.
They're Stark deserters, Baratheon deserters and Tanners.
They're a hodgepodge. And Beric is our leader.
Beric Dondarrion?
You're fighting for ghosts.
That's what we are, ghosts waiting for you in the dark.
You can't see us, but we see you.
These guys live up in a cave. They're guerrilla fighters.
They come out and they strike like lightning.
Any oppressive force within the land, they'll go out and teach them a lesson.
For the night is dark and full of terrors.
WEISS: We're very excited about the way that new blood shakes up the picture.
And changes things for the people who we've already come to know and love.
I remember saying, "God, if we ever got this far,
"if we ever actually could make this into a series,
"and if we ever got far enough to get to these scenes, I could die happy."
And here we are. We finally made it.