The tension-filled first teaser for Game of Thrones’s seventh season only focuses on four characters out of the show’s sprawling cast. We saw Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Cersei Lannister walk to their respective thrones while the Night’s King loomed over all of their petty mortal squabbled. The teaser seemed like it was setting up the major players in the season to come, but based on how the last season ended, it feels like there was someone missing: Sansa Stark.
There are definitely other major players in Thrones, but, for the most par, they’re all aligned with one of the three royals highlighted in the first teaser. Yara Greyjoy, for example, is the would-be queen of the Iron Islands, but she’s firmly on Team Dany. Sansa, though, is a little bit different, given where we left her last year. After being reunited with her “brother,” Sansa embarked on a righteous quest to reclaim Winterfell from the Boltons who had wronged her. She was out to reclaim the throne that belongs to her by right, given the deaths of all her brothers (Bran is presumed dead). Even as Jon led the North’s troops into the Battle of the Bastards, he was doing this on her behalf rather than to take Winterfell for his own.
However, after they win, all the lords of the North unanimously pledge loyalty to Jon, calling him their new King in the North. Jon wasn’t actively seeking this title, but he doesn’t seem to quick to reject it, either. Sansa, meanwhile, looks kinda pissed that her bastard half-brother just throne-blocked her. The look she shares with Littlefinger amidst all the cheering suggests that maybe the two are going to be at odds with Jon during season 7. It wouldn’t be the first, second, or third time that Littlefinger has stabbed someone in the back.
However, since the teaser doesn’t feature Sansa at all, it doesn’t seem like this potential sibling rivalry is going to be a major plot point in the grand scheme of the upcoming story. Chances are she and Littlefinger will indeed have some sort of conflict with Jon (or amongst themselves), but these internal Northern squabbles will work themselves out in short enough order for the show to focus on the real war. The penultimate season only has seven episodes, after all. There’s only so much time they can spend on various subplots, and the teaser suggests that Sansa’s storyline isn’t ultimately that important to Thrones’ endgame.
Game of Thrones Season 7 will premiere July 16, 2017.
