The Five: Game of Thrones

1. Look of Thrones
Costume designer Michele Clapton—whose pieces will be on display in the International Game of Thrones Exhibition in New York from March 28 through April 3—explains her process for creating the style of the wildlings.

Photo: Courtesy of HBO Canada

1. “Continuity was impossible. You need to see the actors’ faces, so they have to be exposed; they can’t wear hoods or masks. You’d cut away from an actor and ten minutes later his beard is frozen. Jon Snow went through a lot on those shoots. And I get lots of letters saying, ‘Why can’t they wear hats?’ ”

2. “We found these huge, long leather needles that are eight or nine inches long. We used them to sew the costumes with these rolled-up leather ropes, so the clothes look like they’re held together by animal guts.

3. “The costume takes a long time to put on—about 25 minutes. So we have to make discreet keyholes for the male actors.

4. “We had to make crampons—and we didn’t want to get modern crampons—so we ended up getting modern gear and then modifying it with antlers to look real. It was quite a lengthy process to make that work.”

5. “We filmed them in Iceland, so the clothes have to work in the Arctic temperatures and not just be a big pile of fur. But the actors are able to wear their normal Arctic thermals underneath.” —As told to Alex Yablon

2. Episode Guide
A very speedy refresher course.

Photographs Courtesy of HBO

3. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
On whether Jaime Lannister will finally get a chance to redeem himself.

Photo: Helen Sloan/Courtesy of HBO

Do people shout at you on the street? Call you Kingslayer?
The only time that happened was at a bar in New York. It was outdoors at a beer garden, and they were happy and drunk.

Jaime’s been perceived as the villain so far. Would you like to see that change?
Jaime’s not a villain at all. A villain to me is someone who actively seeks to hurt someone or does things for his own gain. It’s not okay to push a kid out a window, but you can understand that in his mind, “It’s this kid or my kids and the woman I love.”

How does season three up the ante, as far as big, shocking episodes?
Sometimes it’s kind of funny, the secrecy involved in this show. You can just read the books or Google it, and you’ll know in seven seconds.

As someone who has read the books, I have to ask, have you shaved your head?
I can say this much: I still have my hair now.

There’s a scene this upcoming season where you and the character Brienne take a bath together.
We had the one bath, and that’s not going to happen again. [Laughs.]

You needed it, after all the mud.
I know! Season two was very much about being tied up, and with season three, the mud didn’t stop. You don’t even know how many places mud can go!

How many places can mud go?
I’ll let your imagination guide you.
Interview by Jennifer Vineyard

4. A Plea for More Male Nudity

Photo: Courtesy of HBO

Game of Thrones? That’s the show with the boobies, right? Well, yes; like so many HBO dramas (including True Blood and Boardwalk Empire), Thrones serves up female flesh in situations both dramatically integral and superfluous. Some viewers have a problem with that. Since its 2011 debut, Thrones has been attacked for “gratuitous” nudity and labeled sexist for stripping its women more often than its men. These are two different complaints, though; intertwining them muddies each. The first concerns the appropriateness of graphic sex and/or nudity; the second is about the show’s “gaze,” which is undeniably heterosexual and male. But it’s possible to enjoy sex and nudity without guilt or bluenosed justifications while simultaneously pointing out that the scales of spectatorship are out of whack. I’d like Game of Thrones to enlarge the scope of its fantasy­—to show more same-sex couplings and male nudity—as Starz’s Spartacus series has done with such panache. For all its tough, complicated women characters, Thrones is rightly perceived as too much of a ­sausagefest. The producers could change that perception by adding more sausage. —Matt Zoller Seitz

5. How to Kill a White Walker
A step-by-step guide for surviving the biggest threat facing Westeros this upcoming season.

Illustration by Kagan McLeod

1. Make sure you’re dealing with a White Walker (and not your garden-variety wight).*

*White Walkers are supernatural beings typically seen riding dead horses, mammoths, or ice-spiders. They have white hands and speak in screams. Wights are humans killed by White Walkers and serve as their minions.They have rotting flesh and are clumsy.

2. If dealing with a wight, set it on fire. If no flame can be found, hack off its limbs with a sharp weapon. This may not always kill them, but it’ll debilitate them long enough for you to seek safety behind the Wall.

3. If facing a White Walker, obtain a dragonglass dagger. Deposits of dragonglass (also known as obsidian) can be found on the island of Dragonstone or the port city of Asshai.

4. Stab. Any White Walker flesh that comes in contact with dragonglass will smoke and melt away into a puddle. But beware: White Walkers are quick and have weapons of sharpened crystal. If they kill you, you might come back a wight. —Elisabeth Garber-Paul

The Five: Game of Thrones