On the premiere date: "We started in October, so we're maybe like a tenth of the way through. [Laughs.] No, no we've got six or seven months left. Game of Thrones comes in 2019."
On Sansa's life post-Littlefinger: "It's going to be tricky for her, because at the end of last season, she felt that she had everything set up. She had her family back together. They were in control of the North again. This season, there's a new threat, and all of a sudden she finds herself somewhat back in the deep end. And without Littlefinger, it's a test for her of whether she can get through it. It's a big challenge for her, without this master manipulator having her back. This season is more a passionate fight for her than a political, manipulative kind of fight."
On the emotional series finale script: "We had the read-through a while ago and at the end of it, we were all on our feet, applauding and crying. We had everyone there, everyone who's had any part in this. It was amazing . . . We closed the blinds and shut ourselves off from the rest of the world and had six hours in this room just reading it through and crying and laughing. We had our emotional bit and then we thought, 'Well now we've got eight months. We've still got a while to get through!'"
On how it's essentially going to wreck us all: "I can tell you that there's definitely a coming together of people. Everyone is coming together to fight the impending doom. There's a lot of tension between these little groups, battling for what they think is right. It's Game of Thrones, so it's going to be bloodier and more death and more emotionally torturous than all the years before."