Game of Thrones fans were bummed that Highgarden and Casterly Rock didn’t make it into the opening credits during the past two episodes, but a major new location did grace the opening credits in the fifth episode of Season 7, “Eastwatch.”
Mild spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 5, are below.
GoT followed up one of the most epic battles of the entire series with an episode that set up an equally high-stakes showdown beyond the Wall to come. Jon Snow, Gendry, the Hound, Tormund, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, and Jorah Mormont headed to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and went north of the Wall to capture a wight in order to prove to Cersei that, yes, the White Walkers are real.
As you might’ve picked up from the name, Eastwatch is the easternmost castle along the Wall, and one of only three that are currently in operation in the current day timeline of the show. It’s close to Hardhome, so that’s where the army of the dead is headed, according to Bran Stark.
Eastwatch is an important enough location to merit an episode title, so it stands to reason that it would make an appearance in the opening credits, especially since it looks like next week’s episode will take place close to Eastwatch.
For what it’s worth, this change to the intro credits undid another, earlier change to the credits. Previous episodes of Season 7 showed that the ocean to the east of the Wall had frozen over, leading fans to believe that’s how the Night’s King and his army would make it down south. The water isn’t frozen over in the new credits that feature Eastwatch, so, expect this castle to be even more important going forward, if this is how the White Walkers are going to enter Westeros.
Game of Thrones Season 7 continues on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO.
