Game of Thrones director Michael Slovis teases Braavos and Dorne

“The Wars to Come,” Game of Thrones‘ fifth season premiere, covered plenty of material, but there wasn’t room for everything. Arya Stark, last seen boarding a boat bound for the free city of Braavos in “The Children,” sat the episode out. We also didn’t get a taste of Dorne, which will be an important setting for the show this year. Episode 2, “The House of Black and White,” will visit each of these areas. The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Michael Slovis–the director of both “Wars” and “House”–to discuss how the season will introduce Braavos and Dorne to fans.

Audiences already caught a glimpse of Braavos last year, when Stannis stopped by to ask for a loan from the city’s Iron Bank. But while Stannis’ visit was mostly confined to the inside of one very fancy building, Season 5 will explore the city from an ordinary person’s perspective, really giving fans a taste of its day-to-day life. “There’s a whole fishing, seaside tie to the water,” Slovis said when talking about the feel of the city. He also praised production designer Deborah Riley for bringing it to life. “If you were able to see the drawings that [Riley] did of what Braavos should look like ahead of time and then you see the finished product, it’s identical…It’s extraordinary what she did with fishing nets and little groups of people.”

Having already seen the first handful of Season 5 episodes (by watching official screeners, not leaked episodes, I swear!), I can say that Braavos is one of the most impressive visual achievements the show has yet achieved. The overcast skies and network of criss-crossing canals give it a wonderfully unique sense of place, and everything is beautifully photographed.

What little we see of Dorne in the first few episodes is also impressive, if a bit less unexpected. The Water Gardens look particularly splendid, like a kind of medieval tropical resort, which is a new sort of aesthetic for the show. Slovis said that the setup for Dorne in “The House of Black and White” has big implications for the rest of the season, and that he consulted heavily with David Benioff and Dan Weiss on make sure he got the tone right. “My two episodes are bridges from the previous season to the new season,” Slovis said, speaking more generally. “The most important thing is that they services their long term story goals.”

In my opinion, the lavish-looking photography of Dorne and Braavos is symptomatic of a wider-scale visual upgrade. The show has looked better and better with each passing season, but there seems to be a real step-up this year. Apart from the beautiful new locations, there are also several expensive-looking fight scenes and some glorious shots of Daenerys’ dragons, so it would seem that the producers are putting the increased production budget to good use.

• Published on 04/17/2015 at 4:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT