Warning: this article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 7, episode 3 'The Queen's Justice'.
After years of waiting, we finally got the meeting we all wanted on last night's Game of Thrones as Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen came face to face.
The meeting of ice and fire, however, didn't exactly go down as most had anticipated – although, given Jon and Dany's different priorities by season seven, the rather tense encounter was not hugely surprising.
As the King of the North arrived at Dragonstone, the Mother of Dragons demanded he bow the knee to her, though Jon would rather she gave him a hand with defeating the White Walkers.
Dany takes a while to be convinced that the army of the dead exist in the first place – the whole of the episode 'The Queen's Justice', to be precise – but she does eventually acquiesce to Jon's request to mine the dragonglass at Dragonstone.
Following the episode's airing, stars Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke opened up about the meeting in a new interview, revealing that they had to divorce themselves from what the viewers wanted.
"I predicted, like everyone, they would meet this season, but I don't think I predicted it quite as quickly," Harington told Entertainment Weekly.
"But then again, you've got to take yourself out of the mindset of the viewer. As far as Jon knows, he's just meeting this queen he's heard of and trying to negotiate with her — he's not meeting Daenerys, who the audience has been watching for so many years.
"That helps with the surprise of it. He walks into the room and doesn't expect to see such a beautiful young woman of similar age to him. Any young man's reaction is going to be, 'Okay…' but he puts that aside, because he has to."
Clarke added: "I had an idea it was coming this season, sure. It was fun to play — she doesn't like him and she doesn't believe him."
Showrunner David Benioff further explained: "It was really fun to watch that scene and I thought they did a great job. There isn't instant chemistry. He's annoying and she's annoying and they have to figure out how to make peace."
