Fashion photographer Miles Aldridge shoots the cast of Game of Thrones for Time Magazine

This Monday Game of Thrones returns to our screens for its penultimate series. Time magazine has dedicated a whole issue to the most popular TV show in the world and commissioned British fashion photographer Miles Aldridge to shoot the stars for the cover.

For the shoot, which features Kit Harrington, Maisie Williams, Peter Dinklage and more, Miles sought inspiration in Renaissance portraiture and combined them with pop-art and psychedelic colours. In an interview with Time he cites Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach as influences for the photos, stating both artists worked with “bizarre super reality of detail” with top notes of “Protestant Lutheran purity. These sort of images were fascinating because of their insane attention to detail.”

For the cover image the photographer “looked to stripped-back interpretations of The Last Supper for composition and Cy Twombly for colour.” Due to the commitments of the cast, Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) had to be photographed two days later and Photoshopped into the image.

The latest issue of Time is available now.