EGNER It’s kind of like Chekhov’s Gun: You don’t have a zombie ice dragon in the first act if you’re not going to use it by the third. So I think there’s definitely going to be a clash between the dragons, and, again, I’m leaning toward Daenerys going the way of her father to a certain degree, in which case the dragons become weapons. In which case, you have to figure there’s a lot of people looking to bring them down. Long story short: I know you’re in love with them, but I don’t have high hopes for their future. But I’m happy to be proved wrong.

[Read why “Game of Thrones” has become a “dragon-delivery device.”]

DEB Let’s talk about some characters. When we first met Cersei in Season 1, she seemed, if not loving, at least very protective of her children. But by the time Jaime turned his back on her last season, it seemed like she had been consumed. Is there any humanity left in Cersei at this point?

VINEYARD I think that strain has always been there with her; she just never had the ability to do certain things. She was always trying to rule through her husband, or through her children, and now she’s finally having a chance to do what she wanted to do in the first place. She’s never actually cared about people other than her own immediate family. She only cares about the acquisition of power and being able to do whatever she wants. So it’s not that she’s lost her humanity — this is just her chance to actually express what she’s always wanted to do.

EGNER It’s the purest expression of who she is and her values. That said, she has been a caring mother in her own twisted way, and there is the mystery of whether or not she is pregnant. Because she said that last season, but she’s also very calculating and it was something to use as leverage with Jaime and Tyrion. So that’s one of the questions that this season is going to have to answer pretty quickly: whether or not that’s even a legitimate thing.

[Read about how Northern Ireland has been remade in Westeros’s image.]

DEB How much do we really know about the Night King?