It might not feel like it, given the 431 days that have elapsed since the Season Seven finale, but Game of Thrones is actually returning. The eighth and final season is expected to premiere sometime in April, and EW has published some of the first details about the last six episodes in its new cover story. One thing is certain: They wanted to make these last episodes really goddamn big. And it sounds like they absolutely did that.
All the way back in 2012, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss were outlining what they would do with a final season, according to the EW report. Their idea was to make a six-hour, two-part movie that HBO would put in theaters. HBO didn't go for the theater idea, but they did give the guys a massive, movie-sized budget to pull off this final season. What EW describes is an expanded set of Winterfell that is something like a theme park, bigger than ever, in order to accommodate the biggest battle scene ever put on television. As writer James Hibbered describes of the set, "I look around at a meticulously constructed set that I’ve never seen on the show before. Several actors are performing, and I’m stunned: There are characters in the finale that I did not expect."
And though Hibberd can't go into detail, he does explain the general outline of the season:
Season 8 opens at Winterfell with an episode that contains plenty of callbacks to the show’s pilot. Instead of King Robert’s procession arriving, it’s Daenerys and her army. What follows is a thrilling and tense intermingling of characters—some of whom have never previously met, many who have messy histories—as they all prepare to face the inevitable invasion of the Army of the Dead.
He explains that Sansa isn't happy that Jon has bent the knee to his new bae Daenerys, and "the drama builds to a confrontation with the Army of the Dead that’s expected to be the most sustained action sequence ever made for television or film."
This battle filmed for 55 nights for all the outdoors scenes and continued for weeks after that in the studio.
As Peter Dinklage told EW, “It’s brutal. It makes the Battle of the Bastards look like a theme park.”
When we last left Game of Thrones, Jon and Daenerys were hooking up in their love boat, the audience was finding out that these two were actually related, and The Wall had fallen. What we can gather from these new details is that Jon and Daenerys arrive at Winterfell, and hopefully—HOPEFULLY—someone promptly tells them they're related. But, if Sansa is angry? Well... maybe not. Meanwhile, it appears that much of this season will take place in Winterfell, if that's where the humans gather for their final showdown with the Army of the Dead. Who are these people that are back? Could it be the long rumoured Catelyn Stark? Ned Stark? Hodor?! (Please: Hodor!)
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
