"Game of Thrones" Season 3 Images Show Off New & Returning Characters

One of the major stepping stones for (and one might say, roadblocks to) the enjoyment of Game of Thrones is its gargantuan cast of characters. Newcomers to the HBO series can easily become lost in the web of dozens of names, family allegiances, secret agendas, and sometimes difficult-to-parse backstories. No matter how many characters the show seems to gleefully kill off, there always seems to be a new face or faction waiting in the wings. Things will only get more complicated for Game of Thrones as it kicks off its third season. As if in celebration of the show’s ever-expanding cast list, HBO has released a bevy of new images from the production of season 3 to highlight all the faces new and old we can expect to see this March. EW has shared a small army of new images from the upcoming third season of Game of Thrones. These consist of 23 character portraits, including many first-time looks at faces new to the series. You can browse these brief glimpses of the show’s future in the gallery below.

With the hype machine for Game of Thrones running at full tilt, these images are only the latest evidence that production on season 3 seems to be going well. The number of new characters is slightly worrying, as the show’s second season sometimes had difficulty juggling the rapidly multiplying number of faces and plotlines. Hopefully, the show’s newly acquired extra runtime and the move into a season that showrunner D.B. Weiss describes as, “…the place we needed to get,” will help smooth any clunkiness caused by a much larger cast.

 Game of Thrones, much like winter, is coming to HBO on March 31, 2013.