On where the characters are headed: "These characters are so detailed and so rich, you can feel that you've got a pretty good handle on your character. You can predict how your character will react in any given circumstance, but when you place these characters in a new environment, it's always putting them under a microscope, and you constantly have to reexamine your character. Each of the characters this year is placed in a completely alien environment at some point in the season that they've never been placed in before. The thrill is seeing how they react to it and how they respond . . . This season, I think, more than any other is stretching these characters."
On the pressure to deliver a perfect season: "The stakes definitely feel ramped up. We know that we've got a real job to do. This has been a part of people's lives for so many years. This is our eighth season, and we are kind of feeling the pressure to get it right because we want to satisfy people. We want to give people a payoff that they're going to be happy with. We know how militantly passionate the fans of this show can be — in a good way — and we just kind of want to give them an ending that they deserve."
On trusting showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss: "The show has always been in the hands of two of the greatest helmsmen in TV. And nobody cares more about the show than those guys. Nobody feels that fan pressure more than they do. I think people are going to be delighted with the results."