The finale of Season 3 of “Game of Thrones” was perhaps the most shocking season ending of a TV show since Season 4 of “Dexter”. At the Emmy’s this past Sunday, actors from the extremely popular HBO series hinted that the upcoming season will be filled with even more drama and surprises.

“I’m just going to say: The stakes are higher than they ever have been, and it’s getting better and better and better,” stated Lena Heady, who plays Cersei Lannister.

One of the big appeals of “Game of Thrones” is the political intrigue that results from the show’s feudalist/warring nature. With the stakes being higher than ever, viewers can expect bigger shake-ups in the political landscape of Westeros. However, despite the brief lull in tensions last season, Cersei and Tyrion will not be finding mutual ground anytime soon: “That’s pretty much gone, any sense of that. It’s pretty effed up,” said Heady.

Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister, also took some time to give some thoughts toward the upcoming season. In speaking about his character’s relationship with Cersei, Dinklage stated “Anybody who’s read the books know that that relationship disintegrates quickly, but there’s a lot of fun in that.” Tyrion’s relationship with Sansa, on the other-hand, will seemingly fare slightly better: “It’s respectful. It’s not filled with passion.”

The passionate relationship on the show currently belongs to Jon Snow, who is played by Kit Harington. The Night Watchmen’s relationship with wildling Ygritte will continue its steamy beginnings, with Harington promising “plenty of sex”: “Me and Rose, who plays Ygritte, we’re as close to a love story as you get in the show.” When speaking about love in “Game of Thrones” in general, though, Harington was not optimistic: “Love? In ‘Game of Thrones’? Really? You think they’d be that nice?!”

Harington’s character, Jon Snow, was last seen in Season 3 being attacked by an Eagle and shot at by his love-interest Ygritte. In Season 4, Snow will be wearing the memories of this encounter: “My face is not OK. It’s far from OK! I have to have scars this season… I’m asking to keep one of [the scars]. In the books he’s got a scar that runs (down his face), and so [one] side is going to disappear, but on [one] side I’m gonna have a scar. I thought that would look quite sexy. They’re quite sexy if done in the right way.”

Unfortunately for the show, the Sunday was not a terribly successful night at the Emmy’s – “Game of Thrones” only won 2 awards out of its 17 nominations. The big winner of the night was “Breaking Bad”, finally winning Best Drama. And if George R.R. Martin is any type of prophet, “Game of Thrones” will lose to “Breaking Bad” again next year: “There’s no way in hell that anyone is going to defeat ‘Breaking Bad’ next year, when their last season is the one in contention.”

While the statement by Martin may be true, it doesn’t mean “Game of Thrones” is out of the running forever. Martin still has to finish the series, so there will be more years of awesomeness to come. We fans just have to hope that Martin speeds up his writing – something us book readers know will never happen.

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