Stop the presses: The latest promo spot for season three of Game of Thrones features actual people!
The hit HBO fantasy series, based on the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R.R. Martin, premieres on May 31, and while this teaser trailer doesn't offer up much substance, it definitely sets a grim mood—which is kind of the only mood there is in Westeros. (Did you hear that winter is coming? Just FYI.)
The spot treats us to extreme, shadowy closeups of the major characters—with a voice-over by one of the titular game's most adroit players.
"Chaos isn't a pit," intones Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidan Gillen). "Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, never get to try again. The fall breaks them. But some, given a chance to climb, they cling to the realm, or the gods, or love. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is."
We get it, Littlefinger, you're ambitious. Anyway, while this is going on, we see the solemn visages of...(deep breath)...Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), Sansa (Sophie Turner), Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), Sandor (Rory McClane), Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Cersei (Lena Headey), Arya (Maisie Turner), Robb (Richard Madden), Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) and Jon (Kit Harington). Then a quick spin through all of them again, ending on Tyrion—giving us a good look at how they decided to just give him a sexy scar from his Battle of the Blackwater injury, rather than removing half his nose, as in the books. Easier on the eyes—and the CGI/makeup budget.
Excited yet? Month and a half to go until the official return to the Seven Kingdoms, people. Valar morghulis.