For those of you who haven’t quite recovered enough to emerge from underneath your covers and leave the house after the gore-ridden episode, “The Rains of Castamere” (otherwise known as “The Red Wedding’), you may have cause to stay there. Director, Neil Marshall is back directing episode 9, “Castle Black”, another important and game-changing episode in the ‘Game of Thrones’ epic.

When asked if we can expect any more Red Wedding-esque drama this season, Marshall laughed, “I wouldn’t doubt it. I think that’s one of the key things of ‘Game of Thrones’. They take the characters that you love, that you have loved for three or four years, and then butcher them brutally.”

In the episode Marshall will be directing, he says there will be some drama and tragedy and expects there will be for the rest of the season. For those who have survived his Season 2 episode, “Blackwater“, which won a Hugo award this year, and the mind-blowing and upsetting episode, “The Rains of Castemere“, which is still lamented by men and women beating their breasts to this very day, they should not be surprised by this news.

Though, looking at this behind the scenes picture that he leaked from the episode on Empire’s Nick de Semlyen’s twitter, one wonders how much tragedy is actually going to happen…. (the tweet has since been deleted but we have it to share with you none the less):

Look at them smiling! They definitely aren’t going to lose a few main characters in a few bloody minutes…. Okay, they probably will. It is ‘Game of Thrones’ after all.

This scene may be a bit hard to recognize, but it is supposedly a behind-the-scenes picture for the Battle of Castle Black. Those of you have read the books, ‘Songs of Ice and Fire’, know exactly what will be happening here. For the rest of you, you’ll just have to wait and see, though, I think it’s safe to say that everything you thought was going to happen is going to get turned on its head and there almost certainly will be character death.

As for the Purple Wedding (another tragedy-laden wedding in ‘Game of Thrones’, named for the color of wine that plays a large part in it), George R.R. Martin teases “It’s going to be the wedding of the year, and as memorable in its own way as our wedding last season.” Since it doesn’t look like Marshall will be directing that episode, we may be spared another of his weddings.

What do you think of the pic? Are you guys excited about this particular scene and the episode “Castle Black”?