After seven seasons, not only has winter arrived but so has the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. And as the series reaches its epic conclusion, you might need a drink, and you’ll definitely want to know things.
We’ve parsed through all the available details about the final outing based on George R.R. Martin’s unfinished A Song of Ice and Fire book series, and devoured the extensive Entertainment Weekly coverage… Here are the top takeaways to know before watching the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones.
THE FINAL SEASON HAS EPIC FX
The final season is dragon-sized and costs no small amount of Lannister gold. With the six episodes ranging in length from 54 to 82 minutes, fans are looking at more than seven hours of story, or about three feature-length feature films. To pull this off, HBO gave the allotted $15 million per episode, tripling their Season One episode budgets. The actual cost of the final season might be much larger, but that’s a perk of having a show that can command 30 million viewers, making it the biggest show in the world. So what might showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss do with all that cash? For one, Winterfell has been drastically expanded, and Emilia Clarke said the “costumes are a bit better, hair and makeup a bit sharper.” Also, the bigger budget means more visual effects. Huffington Post reported Jon Snow’s direwolf Ghost gets to do some “pretty cool things” after being absent the entirety of Season Seven. And there will be a lot of White Walker action, and probably a lot of dragons (and maybe even a dragon vs. dragon battle?). Speaking of battles…
MASSIVE BATTLE SCENES
Game of Thrones has distinguished itself with epic battles (with the Season Six Battle of the Bastards being the high water mark). That one took 25 days to shoot, but this upcoming confrontation with the Army of the Dead at Winterfell took 11 weeks of night shoots to film, and that does not include interior scenes at the new Winterfell, which EW reports took weeks longer. Although we don’t know when it occurs in the season, this one episode promises to be the “most sustained action sequence ever made for television or film” (longer than the 40-minute Helm’s Deep battle in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) with focus split between different characters on their own struggle to survive. Peter Dinklage called the action brutal, and that “it makes the Battle of the Bastards look like a theme park.” And the shoot was apparently so brutal that crew were given jackets emblazoned with “We Survived The Long Night.”
FAN FAVES FINALLY COME FACE-TO-FACE
Characters who have never met before face one another in the final season, as they gear up to face the Army of the Dead. The final season begins at Winterfell with Daenerys and crew arriving, echoing King Robert’s procession in the series pilot. And Sansa Stark is initially none-too-pleased to learn Jon Snow has bent the knee to the Mother of Dragons. As for the battle of Winterfell, we know it involves 20-some characters, including at least Jon, Sansa, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Arya Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Ser Jorah Mormont, Samwell Tarly, Grey Worm, and The Hound – bringing “the largest number of GoT major characters together since the show’s debut episode in 2011.” If I were a betting man, I would place this as the penultimate episode.
CREATIVES COLLIDE
While many characters meet for the first time in Season Eight, behind the scenes is likewise a fan-favorite coming together of writers, and directors. David Nutter (“The Rains of Castamere”) directs three episodes, including a “calm before the storm” episode with “play-like intimacy.” The episode battle of Winterfell episode is one of two directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who previously helmed “Hardhome,” and “Battle of the Bastards.” Also returning for the final season are writers Dave Hill (“Home,” “Eastwatch”) for the first episode, co-executive producer Bryan Cogman (“Stormborn,” “The Broken Man”) for the second, and the showrunners wrote the final four. Benioff and Weiss will also direct the series finale. Absent from the final season will be George R.R. Martin, who declined a cameo in the final episodes, and hasn’t contributed a script to the series since Season Four (and the show passed Martin’s books after the Season Five finale).
A SHOCKING FINALE
Details behind the series finale of Game of Thrones are wrapped up so tight (and possibly guarded by possible fake endings and on-set “drone killer” guns) it is safe to assume fans know less than Jon Snow. But the cast has revealed a range of insights about the end. Emilia Clarke told Vanity Fair her character’s final moments “f***ed me up.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sophie Turner said it is “overwhelming,” and told The Wrap, it was satisfying for her, but “a lot of fans will be disappointed and a lot of fans will be over the moon.” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said, also to The Wrap, the finale is “shocking and surprising,” but that all the pieces fit together. Kit Harington, who refused to look at the script until the table read, wept – twice. Long ago, Martin revealed the ending of the book saga to Benioff and Weiss, but who will ultimately take the Iron Throne shall remain a mystery for now. Interestingly, there is a tease in the EW story that the final episode involves a “meticulously constructed set” not previously seen on the show. Perhaps, as some fan theories posit, this means no one will take the throne — or maybe the Night King is the ultimate winner, and the power plays of Westeros were all for naught while whoever is left alive must retreat to a new land. The speculation is wild, but so is this show.
The end begins this April. Meanwhile, Martin’s sixth and seventh books, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, will arrive … well, we’ll get back to you on that.
Enjoy the next season of Game Of Thrones with KFC.
