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Game of Thrones’ new episode preview teases uneasy alliances and “the last war”

Dany is preparing to challenge Cersei for the Iron Throne, at long last. But will her alliance with the Starks hold?

Aja Romano
Aja Romano wrote about pop culture, media, and ethics. Before joining Vox in 2016, they were a staff reporter at the Daily Dot. A 2019 fellow of the National Critics Institute, they’re considered an authority on fandom, the internet, and the culture wars.

With just three episodes left in Game of Thrones’ final season, and the series’ big bad — well, one of them, anyway — finally defeated in episode three’s epic Battle of Winterfell, the show is now shifting its story focus away from the north and toward King’s Landing.

And as we can see from the new teaser for episode four, even though the Night King is no longer a threat, there’s still plenty of drama to come.

In the teaser, Daenerys Targaryen promises that the “last war” is coming to Westeros, and is clearly preparing her decimated army to march against Cersei Lannister in the capital city. But though Dany seems to have united the remaining northern lords behind her banner, Sansa Stark is clearly not comfortable with her family’s alliance with Dany. (We’re guessing she doesn’t know Jon Snow’s true parentage yet.)

Meanwhile, in King’s Landing, Cersei seems to be preparing to fight while fending off advances from the odious Euron Greyjoy.

Game of Thrones’ return to King’s Landing means we might soon see a number of additional character reunions, including Cersei reuniting with her brothers Jaime and Tyrion (just after enlisting Bronn to kill them, awkward!) and the much-anticipated Cleganebowl between the Hound and his (now kinda zombified) brother the Mountain:

But now that Daenerys has lost most of her vast continental army while fighting the White Walkers in “The Long Night” (c’mon, Dany, you couldn’t have dragon-scorched a few thousand wights before they eviscerated the Dothraki?), she’ll have a distinct disadvantage heading south. She and Jon will have to put aside their differences over his newly revealed claim to the Iron Throne and work together if they want to defeat Cersei — but Dany isn’t exactly thrilled by the news that Jon is actually her nephew, so once they get to King’s Landing, all deals previously struck in the north might be off the table.

Oh, well. At least Arya and Gendry are still making it work, as we can see from a brief shared kiss in the teaser. Hopefully theirs won’t be the only alliance left standing in the end!

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