Game of Thrones: Dame of Thrones Edition



1 / 6 Chevron Chevron Courtesy of Marc Hom for EW.

As they did last year, Entertainment Weekly has unveiled a series of lavish covers to ring in the new season of Game of Thrones. Once again their man in Westeros, James Hibberd, visited the set of the series to get the inside scoop on 10 new episodes full of intrigue, political maneuverings, and heartbreaking deaths. Only there’s a big difference this year. As has been the case since Jon Snow lay bleeding in the courtyard at the end of Season 6, HBO and the powers that be behind Game of Thrones have decided to be especially mum about what to expect this year. This added layer of secrecy has been evident in convention panels, lack of press screeners, guarded interviews, and even in the marketing. And—even if the casual fan might not notice—it’s evident in every inch of these new covers.

First of all, HBO chief Michael Lombardo explains away the lack of male series stars—e.g., Peter Dinklage or Nikolaj Coster-Waldau—on these covers by saying, “It’s the women that are the hope that we’re watching as the chess pieces move this season, and it’s very exciting.” And while we’re sure that’s partially true, it’s also true that leaving all the men off means Entertainment Weekly and HBO don’t even have to touch the Kit Harington mystery. Jon Snow’s dead (or mostly dead) visage may be splashed all over the Season 6 advertising, but Harington can hardly pose for the cover if his character’s not supposed to be coming back, can he? Taking an all-female approach, HBO can say, “Jon Snow’s missing, sure, but so are Tyrion and Jaime Lannister—so what?”

As for the women themselves, eagle-eyed fans of the show will notice that they are, for the most part, wearing their costumes from Season 5 or before. Sansa’s gothic dress and over-size necklace, for example, haven’t been seen since she returned to Winterfell at the beginning of last season and started to wear clothing more like her mother’s. Arya, Daenerys, and Margaery are also wearing last year’s fashions, Brienne has just the one look of late, and only Cersei is sporting something new to go with her freshly cropped hair.

This is a big departure from last year’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, where Game of Thrones unveiled Arya’s big Braavosi transformation alongside other new Season 5 costumes.

One reason for these retro looks may be that the women of Westeros (and Essos) aren’t looking especially magazine-ready this season. Margaery and Dany, for example, are expected to spend at least some of (if not most of) the season all mussed up and captive to the Sparrows and Dothraki, respectively. The pair do look pretty rough in the Season 6 trailer. But Sansa has an incredibly glamorous shot in the trailer. At some point she stops mucking about in the snow with Theon, finds some lip gloss and mascara, and strikes a pose so regal it had many Sansa hopefuls crying out “Queen in the North!”

What a stunning cover a full-length photo of this fur-draped look would have made.

If there’s one Season 6 revelation to be gleaned from the covers, it’s that Maisie Williams isn’t wearing her blind-girl contacts. True, she had them on in the Season 6 promotional photos, but they were also absent in a blink-and-you-might-miss-it moment one minute into the most recent trailer. Book readers already know why.

The covers as they stand are still quite gorgeous and the magazine is doing its best to provide exclusive scoops despite the unilateral lockdown on the part of HBO. But these covers make one thing very clear: Game of Thrones is trying to stay extra unpredictable this year. After five seasons of having to grapple with meeting book-reader expectations, can you blame them?