Game of Thrones Season 5: new photos and clips released

HBO released a bunch of new images and a couple of clips of the upcoming season. Check them out below.

We’ve got two new images of Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon. Obviously (though not incredibly obviously), Free is not Aimee Richardson, the actress who played Myrcella the last time we saw her, when she was being shipped away to Dorne in Season 2. Still, the actresses don’t look so different that it’s impossible to imagine that the one grew into the other. Dorne changes you, after all.

We’ve also got an image of Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell, Myrcella’s intended. He’s wearing one of those sandy-colored battle robes favored by Oberyn last season, so you know he’s a Martell. As is customary for the show, both characters look like they’ve been aged up a year or two for the show, but it’s not overly distracting. If the show stays true to the books, we can look forward to lengthy scenes of the two of them playing Cyvasse.

Here’s what looks like an elongated version of the bit we’ve seen in the trailers, where Varys says he’s looking for someone who can bring stability to Westeros, and Tyrion’s all, “Good luck finding him,” and Varys is like, “Who said anything about him?” and the audience is all, “Ooooooh.” In this extended cut, we get some insight into why Varys sprang Tyrion from jail: 1) because you don’t refuse to help a man primarily known for killing people, no matter how few hands he has, and 2) because Tyrion is a “man of talent.”

The real question here is whether Tyrion and Varys are hanging out at Illyrio Mopatis’ place, as Tyrion did solo after fleeing King’s Landing in the books, or whether Mopatis has been cut. The show already introduced him back in Season 1, but since then it’s gotten a lot more bold about streamlining things, so it’s possible Varys will stand in for him.

Likewise, this is a slightly altered version of a scene posted on the official Game of Thrones YouTube page a couple of weeks ago, only without the silly fuzzy filter. Jon’s trying to convince the newly captured Mance Rayder to throw in his forces with Stannis, the better for all of them to survive the coming White Walker onslaught. When considered together with the knowledge that the show will be visiting Hardhome this year, the clip indicates that the producers are planning to throw themselves into the whole wildling-Night’s Watch detente storyline from A Dance with Dragons, a good sign.

This pic was actually released a while ago, but it’s new to us. I’m betting Margaery just found out that what she thought she ate wasn’t what she actually ate, and is angry. What did she eat? Tune in for the premiere on April 12 to find out.

• Published on 03/18/2015 at 2:59 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT