"Come for a last look?"
With less than a month standing between us and Game of Thrones' return, it's probably a good time to start getting excited. Okay, most fans have been excited for Season 4 since seeing the final frames of last year's finale but now it's a bit more reasonable with the premiere actually in sight. It's 'so close taste it' time. Of course, without True Detective (or Breaking Bad before that or Boardwalk Empire before that) to tide us over, these last few weeks may feel like forever. And to continue mounting anticipation, HBO released the fourth (and perhaps final) trailer for Season 4.
As the fourth look at the upcoming season of Game of Thrones, there's obviously going to be some footage that we've already seen (in trailers one, two and three), however, I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the spot is new. The trailer opens on the Lannisters with Cersei repeating a threat that Tyrion threw her way last season before we see the latter hauled away in chains. The imprisoned Imp has been seen in almost all of the promos thus far but this time we get a better sense of the gravity of his situation. We also see Jamie back in King's Landing as well as glimpse his ongoing, uh, complicated relationship with his warring siblings. That final line is quite the curtain closer.
The preview (set to “Devil Inside” by London Grammar) then jumps over to the Free Cities to catch up with Daenerys and her troubles as liberator. Turns out, there are repercussions to dismantling a long standing slave culture, especially when you burn a few people in the process. And speaking of burning, the dragons seem to be growing up nicely, now significantly bigger than their mother.
The majority of the new footage in this spot, however, is spent catching up with the Starks after the bloody developments in the North. Ramsay Bolton is quick to remind (us and) his father Roose that their control of the region will remain tenuous as long as there are Starks so they best take care of Sansa, Arya, Bran, and yes, even Jon. As if they didn't have enough on their plates with husbands, hounds, wights, white walkers and wildlings. Oh my.
And that's just some of what we see in the 'last look' before the bodies start piling up again. Come on, by now you must be expecting that more of your favorite (and least favorite) characters will die. I mean, the tagline for the upcoming season is "valar morghulis" after all. That's High Valyrian for "all men must die." Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of spoiling whose (or how many) heads are on the chopping block. And besides, the HBO series usually alters George R.R. Martin's blueprints ever so slightly to also keep readers guessing as the vast world is built concurrently across two mediums. I wonder who will finish first?
The fourth season of Game of Thrones premieres on Sunday, April 6 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Based on the novels by George R.R. Martin, the TV series was adapted by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and stars Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Need to refresh your memories of last year but don't have ten hours? Here's HBO's Game of Thrones Season 3 recap...
