Dragonstone (Game of Thrones episode)
The seventh season premiere, the episode was written by series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Jeremy Podeswa.
The episode's main plot focuses on Daenerys Targaryen's homecoming to Westeros at Dragonstone with her vast forces, and Cersei and Jaime Lannister's meeting with Euron Greyjoy for an alliance after the demise of House Frey.
Other plotlines include Bran Stark and Meera Reed arriving at the Wall, Jon Snow making preparations to fight the Army of the Dead, and Samwell Tarly searching for information about the White Walkers at Oldtown.
Thoros of Myr shows Sandor a vision in the flames of White Walkers passing a mountain on the march to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
Jon orders Tormund Giantsbane and the wildlings to fortify the Wall at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and all Northerners of age, male and female, to prepare for war.
[2] The episode, as well as the seventh season as a whole, contains original content beyond what is featured in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels from which the series is adapted.
[7] His casting was first announced in August 2016 by James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly, who revealed that he would play a "significant" role in the seventh season.
[8] In March 2017, Broadbent confirmed in an interview with ScreenCrush that he would be playing a maester and would share scenes with John Bradley, who portrays Samwell Tarly.
[10] Producers had been trying to bring him onto the show for several years as a surprise for Maisie Williams, who portrays Arya Stark and is a fan of Sheeran.
[16] Podeswa discussed his direction for the cold open, saying he wanted to "honor the great writing", and praised Maisie Williams and David Bradley's performance as Arya Stark and Walder Frey respectively, stating "As we got more into it, you knew the audience would have questions coming right into the scene, knowing Walder Frey is dead.
"[16] Podeswa also stated that the scene ending on the eye of the giant wight was not originally in the script, but came from working with the art department for the series.
[16] According to Podeswa, the montage of Samwell Tarly at the Citadel was originally "about seven or eight minutes" due to the amount of material filmed and that the final version was edited down significantly.
[20] In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 3.495 million viewers during its simulcast on Sky Atlantic, making it the highest-rated broadcast that week.
The website's consensus reads: "With a blistering opening salvo, Game of Thrones charts an assured path for its anxiously-anticipated final stretch.
"[24] Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode an 8.8 out of 10, writing that: "'Dragonstone' sublimely set the stage for Game of Thrones Season 7 with some righteous revenge, a new alliance, a dramatic (and quiet) homecoming, and a surprisingly great sequence from The Hound as he began to atone for his old life.
"[26] Jane Mulkerrins of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "One might wonder whether the biggest, bloodiest, most Dragon-heavy show on television would still have the ability to shock and surprise.
"[28] Ed Sheeran's cameo appearance was negatively received by most audiences and caused what Forbes described as "an unusual amount of public backlash".
