Davos Seaworth has basically been the lone voice of reason on Game of Thrones since his introduction in Season 2, graduating from advising the terminally stubborn Stannis Baratheon to advising the suicidally stubborn Jon Snow (aka Aegon Targaryen).

Both of those roles were pretty thankless, and now that Jon has decided to unite — politically and, um, physically — with Daenerys Targaryen (aka Jon's aunt), life's about to get a lot more difficult for everyone on Team Snowgaryen heading into the final season.

Mashable spoke to Ser Davos himself, Liam Cunningham, in the wake of the Game of Thrones Season 7 finale, to discuss his thoughts on Westeros' newest incestuous power couple, who will survive Season 8, and whether we'll finally get to see Cleganebowl.

What was your reaction when you first read the script for the finale?

We had our story and obviously the first big scene in the dragon pit, but one of the beautiful things about that episode, and one of the things that [director] Jeremy Podeswa is incredibly good at, is capturing his actors when they aren’t necessarily speaking – reaction shots. And when you’ve got the level of actors that you had on that beautiful wooden platform in that extraordinary location, who know their characters so well, and you’re watching them, you wanna see what their reactions are to what they’re hearing.

And when you go from that intimate scene at the beginning with these characters speaking for their lives, and then you get to this epic quality at the end with the dragon blowing the Wall apart — a la the biggest Hollywood epics you’ve ever seen – when you’ve got an arc of an episode like that... I think it was absolutely remarkable and I think the fans were delighted with the quality of it. It was a joy to be a part of.

What are your expectations for Season 8 with an ending like that? How quickly do you think things will escalate now the walkers are through the Wall?

This is exactly it; obviously, from what I can say, logically, where we’ve left it, the Wall has come down — we haven’t finished this season with the guy on the other side of the Wall, they’ve blown the Wall apart, they’re through, they’re into the Seven Kingdoms. And we’ve got the information, this bombshell that Bran has confirmed about Jon’s lineage. What the hell [is that] gonna do to Daenerys when she finds out that she’s just fallen in love with her nephew, and she is no longer the queen of the Seven Kingdoms — her nephew that she’s just fallen in love with is entitled to be king of this Westeros world. What’s that gonna do to her? That information, it looks to me like it has to come out pretty quickly.

I say this with the proviso that I have not seen one word of the new scripts; the actors have not been given them yet, we haven’t even been given a start date, and I mean that honestly. So everything’s up for grabs, and the fact that you’re asking the question of where do you think this is gonna go — and I do not have an answer for this, and neither do you — is testament to how good the writing is on this. After seven years, everything’s still up for grabs.

As you said, the finale revealed that Jon is the rightful heir to the throne ahead of Dany, but he’s always been fairly uninterested in ruling for power’s sake – do you think this information would change that?

It’s the old saying that some people have greatness thrust upon them; what he’s going to do with that information, we just don’t know. Is it gonna suit him? What’s Daenerys’ reaction? What is Cersei’s reaction to this going to be?

As well as that, we have the small problem of one hundred thousand undead coming through, as well. It’s an extraordinary embarrassment of dramatic riches... It offers a magnificent kicking off platform for where we’ve got to go with these last six episodes.

Nothing good can come of this. Image: hbo

The one thing that I want personally — as a typically selfish actor — when I started on this, my ambition was to get to the last season. Now I’ve got to the last season, I want to get to the last episode. Fingers crossed, I don’t know what the hell is gonna happen, I haven’t seen a word of the new season yet, and I’m living in hope.

Popular consensus among members of Team Mashable is that Davos is one of the few pure, good things left in Westeros, and that if he ever died, we’d riot — so we're rooting for you.

It's funny you say that; I’m involved in the Twittersphere and the amount of people who have used the word "riot" – the different people who’ve gone, "if Davos dies we riot" … What we know with this show is that the lord giveth and the lord taketh away. Nobody thought we’d have a character like Ned Stark – a decent, good man who was trying to find his way in a nest of vipers – and he was taken from us, which was a game-changer. Nobody’s safe.

I have no idea whether the last season is going to be a bloodbath of well-loved characters or whether they make it to the end; who knows? I really thought with the season we’ve just finished that there would be a higher death count of major characters, and yet we only really had Littlefinger and Olenna Tyrell... It’s been one of the lightest seasons of deaths of big characters. I was astonished at that. What’s gonna happen in the next one, god only knows.

How do you think we’re supposed to read Daenerys and Jon's sex scene – the show is telling us the two are related, and yet it’s this long-built up moment of consummation; how did you feel about it from an audience perspective?

It’s that build-up; it’s Tyrion outside the door, which gives it incredible gravitas. It’s a remarkable moment: just as perhaps the two of them have found real love, it’s going to blow up in their faces, and that’s what good drama is.

You’re seeing one thing, but don’t forget that as an audience member, we know more than they do. That’s a fantastic fly on the wall situation for an audience to be in. Where it’s gonna go, anybody’s guess.

Davos was clearly exasperated that Jon didn’t tell him about the King in the North's decision to bend the knee to Dany in advance; what’s his take on their alliance at this point, good idea or bad idea?

Here’s what logic would tell you: The priority here is going to be disposing, if it can be done, of this Night King and his one hundred thousand undead, and it’ll be game over for everybody if that doesn’t happen. I go back to Ramsay’s telling statement, “If you think this is gonna have a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.” And I go back to the clue that George R. R. Martin gave where he said “the end of this is gonna be bittersweet.” What the hell that means is anybody’s guess.

Stuck in the middle with you. Image: hbo

At the moment, the Daenerys/Jon predicament is not gonna be the priority. They’re on their way to Winterfell in a boat, and the priority is to dispose of this common enemy. After that, if and when that happens, then they’re gonna have to deal with their “personal issues.” And we’ll have to see where that goes, but it gives a fantastic opportunity for wonderful drama, and that’s all we can hope for.

The show is so huge in scope that there have always been multiple storylines taking place that your character isn’t involved in and will likely never intersect with. Which narrative thread, aside from your own, were you most intrigued by in the finale?

My son has been screaming at me for Cleganebowl, the infamous Cleganebowl — and to watch the wonderful Rory McCann walking up to his reanimated nemesis sets up wonderful stuff. I wanna find out about Tormund and Brienne; there’s so [much] stuff! What the hell’s gonna happen with Gendry? Where is Melisandre, is she gonna come back in? I’m just dying to get my hands on these new scripts.