EMILIA CLARKE AIDAN GILLEN

Rolling Stone interviewed Clarke, who plays Daenerys, for a story titled Emilia Clarke, the Queen of Dragons, Tells All. Of course, she didn’t.

“Spoiler alert — I normally don’t spend very much time in Belfast, but this last season I spent a little more time there,” she said. This was a pretty savvy tidbit because fans would logically obsess over what she meant, though it’s most likely just evidence that she’ll end up in King’s Landing, the interior shots of which are shot in Northern Ireland. We knew that’s where she was headed though, anyway. She has always said the Iron Throne is where she belongs, and where else would she be sailing at the end of last season?

But she also used such empty phrases as “it’s a really interesting season in terms of some loose ends that have been tied” and “rumours are going to be confirmed or denied.”

But then — then — she also revealed that she’d be around for another season. So she makes it through season 7!? That’s not the kind of thing she was probably supposed to reveal, even if we had already figured as much. Gillen, who plays the puppet master Littlefinger, used an interesting tactic designed to both generate headlines and give us nothing in the way of new intel. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he revisited a scene from season 2 in which he bumped into a disguised Arya Stark, who had somehow managed to score a gig as Tywin Lannister’s servant.

The question at the time was whether Littlefinger recognized her. Well, what do you know? Years later, Gillen gave us an answer.

“It was unclear if he recognized her or not, but I have my own thoughts on that,” he said. “Yes, I did recognize her — I just didn’t say anything or do anything about it.”

There you go — mystery solved! Only not really, because it’s just the opinion of the actor. Also, it has no bearing on anything to come. Very crafty!