This may not be shocking but it’s certainly surprising: Almodóvar del Río Castle in Córdoba, Spain will return in Game of Thrones season eight, which means we will revisit the (formerly) Tyrell stronghold. But what role could Highgarden play in the last season?
Highgarden’s return was reported yesterday by local Cordoban newspaper Cordópolis, and Los Siete Reinos told us they confirmed the veracity of these news independently. Almodóvar del Río reappearing in season eight isn’t the strangest part, however: though we will see the castle, Game of Thrones is not filming there again. Come again?
According to Cordópolis, multiple sources confirmed to them that the production will use leftover footage from the first Almodóvar shoot in 2016 for season seven. This means we won’t see any new scenes shot at Almodóvar del Río. Instead, what we’ll see is probably aerial footage used as establishing shots of the Tyrell castle. If an indoor scene is needed, it could be filmed on an interior set in Belfast, just as it was done for the confrontation between Jaime and Olenna in the last scene of ‘The Queen’s Justice.’
The question that opened the article remains: in which context will Highgarden return? Without new footage, this can’t possibly be a scene as intricate as the previous one, and the main plot likely won’t take us as far south as the Reach ever again, so there are very few circumstances in which I can imagine the show going back to the Tyrell home.
Could this footage be involved in a ‘Winter is here’ montage throughout Westeros? Or as part of an epilogue, with some surviving character ending up in charge of Highgarden? (Sam, please!) Or is it something else entirely? Share your best guesses in the comments!
HOE
DOOR
Bronn finally getting his castle in the last episode?
P.S. Hodor!
Looooong shot – Olenna knew she would be poisoned, and brought some antidotes from Dorne. And has been hiding for quite a while. Hey, I said this was a long shot.
Good for him, if so!
Yep, Bronn’s castle.
I think it should be Sam´s castle, he is a Tarly and his family became Lords of the Reach after Olenna´s death. It would be fitting to his character to become a far more important person than his own father.
And please, please, make the castle a little bit more ESPECTACULAR, it´s supposed to be the mightiest castle in westeros (after CR)…
Bronn is going to get the Twins, isn’t it obvious?
I love the Twins castles but I’m sure the weather would be much better at Highgarden. Good for Bronn.
I mean Bronn was promised a castle, Tyrion said he was going to double the offer and the only ‘double’ castle is the Twins.
Could be Sam’s castle for sure, but I thought it was odd how they made Horn Hill look 10 times more impressive in season 6 than Highgarden was in season 7. If I were Sam I’d try my damnest to keep Horn Hill.
MaxYronwood,
Yep, the should-have-been-Horn-Hill castle wasn’t nearly as grand looking as should-have-been-Highgarden castle. If Sam were to be named Lord of that region he should stick with his family home (by the looks of it, not going by what is suppose to be). 🙂
If/When the Lannister side (Cersei) loses do you think Bronn is still entitled a castle? I guess it depends on the role he and Jaime fill in the end and whether or not Jaime gets himself into a position to be able to get one for him. I suppose Tyrion could give it a shot if he’s able, otherwise nobody else owes Bronn a lordship and castle.
*
Ninja’d by a great thinker!! 🙂
Clob,
* I realize Cersei isn’t the one that promised a castle to Bronn. Jaime has also lost his influence with her if by some unthinkable chance she does remain queen. His ability right now is zero to give Bronn a castle. So yeah, I guess it would be up to what Tyrion and Jaime can do the rest of the way (if they end up on the winning side). I think most are just expecting Bronn to leave and follow Jaime to the ‘good side,’ but what if he doesn’t?
Clob,
Yea, I assume it would have to be Tyrion who grants Bronn the castle(s). I don’t think anyone else would care enough for Bronn to do it. Besides, I doubt Jaime will be alive to be handing out castles in the aftermath anyway.
Ah yes, there’s that point too that temporarily escaped my thinking. Well, if Bronn lives he better hope his old friend Tyrion does as well and can pull some strings.
Yep I’m also guessing this is Sam getting a castle.
Why on earth would Bron want the Twins if he could have the riches of Highgarden?
Or Winterfell by marriage to Sansa!
Colin Armfield,
Why on Earth would Sansa want to marry Bronn? Besides, I doubt Bronn wants to be living up North anyway. He seems more like a warm weather kind of guy to me, but I could certainly be wrong.
Speculation of course but surely Bronn won’t survive this series whilst Sam is he most likely character to survive.
MaxYronwood,
Highgarden isn’t the second mightiest. They Eyre is built on a mountain. Storms End was built and rebuilt eight times and his curtain walls are legendary. Even Winterfell in the books is impressive since it can fit inside the whole Red Keep.
I guess my comments are spam now and just disappear. 🙁
Clob,
Except for the one where you say that your comments aren’t getting through. I hate that. It feels like someone is purposely screwing with you when that happens.
Mr Derp,
Yeah! Luka sitting there giggling… 😛
Eonwe,
oops, sorry, I though Mightiest meant the richest, sorry.
Anyway, Highgarden is pretty impressive by itself.
Mr Derp,
That’s because they screwed up the Highgarden and Casterly Rock parts of Season 7. Both were huge disappointments. Horn Hill was awesome in Season 6, and they vastly underestimated the interest in both Season 7 castles. That was one of my biggest problems with season 7, how badly those two were done.
MaxYronwood,
Regardless, Highgarden books description is impressive. It sounds like an amazing resort community of sorts with gardens everywhere, entertainers performing, taking boats out on the Mander river. It’s always been my first choice when I’ve seen the question of where would you want to live in Westeros. Obviously I’d then want someone good on the show to end up with it, like Sam for instance.
Joey,
I think Casterly Rock wasn’t toooo bad from the sea angle. What was weird is that it didn’t match with the view from land as the Unsullied began their attack. From the water it looked like a high, tiered castle while from land it appeared more like a single-walled fort or something.
from sea: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gameofthrones/images/a/a8/Casterly-rock.png/revision/latest?cb=20170731025431
from land: https://typeset-beta.imgix.net/elite-daily/2017/07/30214204/Clipboard143.jpg
I’m calling it now.. Ollena will rise again as a wight and we’ll see a half decomposed, purple faced, blue eyed QOT pricking some Lannister soldiers! The prize rose will rise from the dirt!! 😝
Catspaw Assassin,
I reckon he will get the Twins. After all Tyrion did promise to double what he was offered elsewhere.
Joey,
Agreed.
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/0/0e/Ted_Nasmith_A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire_Casterly_Rock.jpeg
Casterly Rock in A World of Ice and Fire.
The Rock is Martin’s Erebor or Moria. A mountain mine turned into a fortress. It’s higher than the Wall. When Queen Visenya first saw it she thought that it would have been quite difficult to take it even with three dragons.
Apollo,
And she’ll still have a wight cheese boy with her to serve the cheese when she damn well wants it to be served 🙂
Bronn is going to get all the castles. It’ll be a house-hunting montage.
Eonwe,
In comparison to books descriptions they’ve all been somewhat diminished imo, except for Horn Hill and possibly the Eyrie. The Eyrie too though was seen more impressively through my mind’s eye. Like I said, Casterly Rock on the show as seen from the water was ‘okay’ to me even if quite far from accurate, but yes, artist renditions we can find make it much more impressive and in line with descriptions. Having said that, while I might have thought CR wasn’t what I expected, Highgarden was my biggest “that’s not good enough,” especially after seeing their Horn Hill.
In all seriousness though.. what if we get several shots of various Westerosi locations having succumbed to the White walkers? Including Highgarden. The NK is fairly mobile after all – and we know his control extends from beyond the wall as far as KL. I’m wondering how close by he (or his generals) needs to be to actually raise the dead.
This “surprising” ending could indeed be quite the surprise..
Clob,
Nobody was more disappointed with HG than me. I was at Almodóvar just before they filmed, and whilst it’s a beautiful castle and location, I was convinced they’d CGI the crap out of it. And all they did was just airbrush out the surrounding land! 🤦🏼♂️
Apollo,
That would be a visually stunning ending. And a powerful one. Fingers crossed you’re right.
AWOIAF Highgarden
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/c/c7/Ted_Nasmith_A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire_Highgarden.jpg
Yup, the same as the show.
_____________________
The Night King throwing masquerade balls in Highgarden? That’s an ending I could live with.
Carefull with what you wish for. Or we may have the NK bringing back the sand snakes.
Mr Derp,
Bronnsa!!!!
Well, if I get my wish of the final scene being Sam presenting Tyrion with a (beautifully illuminated) finished copy of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ as they sit in a lush garden sipping flagons of Imp’s Delight, the lead-in could be an aerial establishing shot. I just wouldn’t have guessed Highgarden becoming Tyrion’s retirement villa. But maybe he’s visiting Sam and not vice versa.
That’s my wager as well. You don’t keep inserting references to Bronn wanting or getting two castles without a reason. And the Twins have a serious shortage of male heirs to take over at the moment.
How about this?
1) Jon/Dany win.
2) They get Qyburn to develop a cure for wight-ism.
3) Cure Hodor.
4) Hodor opens a resort destination in Highgarden, becomes a gazillionaire.
End credits
But wouldn’t a cured wight just become a garden-variety corpse?
I really hope the castle ends up in the title sequence as well. I’d prefer to see Storms End and Casterly Rock there too.
If they get brought back just to get killed off again, I would be okay with that. 🙂
Speaking of… It might be kind of cool to have a new opening for the final season or finale that is essentially the same but uses ‘film magic’ to replace the usual with flying above actual land and the castles.
Bronn, please! 🙂
Even more than the opening, the show definitely needs a special end credits sequence for 8×06. Similar to what LotR had at the end of RotK maybe. Just something different and special besides just rolling white text.
Since Sam is from the Reach, and the Tyrells are gone…..I expect the surviving characters to rebuild Westeros, meaning some family will need to take on Highgarden. The Tarly are the biggest family remaining in the Reach, and I expect Sam to live. So, Sam or his mother/sister along with Gilly could move to Highgarden as a Hope for Spring as the new wardens of the Reach as they help rebuild Westeros.
Catspaw Assassin,
I sure hope not!
I get a bit confused by this; surely Arya wouldn’t have killed all the male Frey children? So presumably, they are going to grow into the next heirs (or one will already be Lord, as it doesn’t seem to be a problem to have children as head of a house in Westeros – Lyanna Mormont). I think having Arya kill all the Freys (possibly as a way to cover what will be LSH’s plotline in the books) in the way she did, leaving child male heirs and all the women, would be the perfect breeding ground for the Freys to eventually get revenge. I have a feeling they have closed that door and won’t revisit the Freys, but I do feel it wasn’t a very good way to end that storyline – they seemed to be going more for a shock-moment that would satisfy or horrify lots of people.
Maybe some scene about food shortage. Highgarden is the breadbasket of Westeros, no?
I hope somebody found Olenna’s body and buried it. I definitely don’t wanna see that.
I’m thinking aerials mean a dragon flying over the castle
Better to have a living Tyrell take Highgarden than stupid overrated fanserviced Bronn taking Highgarden for some reason.
Armin,
Ha! Glad to see I’m not the only one who feels Bronn is overrated. I don’t hate him, I’m just very indifferent towards him. He’s entertaining, sure, but I don’t find him very interesting.
That being said, there are no living Tyrells left on the show, so the castle will have to go to someone else.
Enharmony1625,
Bronn is filled with mystery! You may not like him very much, but we really don’t know much about him. He’s been North of the Wall for business and his past is pretty vague… my personal favorite theories point to Bronn being the last living Reyne, an escaped wildling or even a Faceless man. All speculation of course rooted with minimal facts, but there definitely is evidence to point towards him being somebody secretive.
Also, he is hilarious and entertaining af 🙂 I will always miss the moments with him and Tyrion in the first couple seasons.
Jaehaerys,
His past has only really been brought up in passing a couple of times on the show that I can recall and never goes anywhere, so at this point I doubt we’ll get any answers in the show. Maybe we’ll get a reveal as to his family name or something next season.. Who knows, but I’m not invested enough in him to care. 🙂
He’s got some good lines, though, I’ll definitely give you that!
Lysa: “You don’t fight with honor!”
Bronn: “No. He did.”
Jaehaerys,
Thinking of Bronn; who is one of my favorite characters, where is he??? Is he still in Kings Landing?
Clob,
What do you mean by “film magic”?
Shay,
As far as I remember the last time we saw Bronn was during the beginning of the Dragonpit parlay when he and Pod slipped off into the shadows for a pint or two.
I don’t think we know exactly where he’s supposed to be right now, but I would assume King’s Landing.
My personal assumption is that he’ll catch up with Jaime and they’ll both head North together. At some point Bronn will have to realize that his days are numbered with Cersei in charge.
Mr Derp,
I hope he doesn’t end up stuck in King’s Landing. I feel like his story line has a dead end there. Unless, the writers can make something happen with the Golden Company.
Shay,
Mr Derp,
Remember, as Bronn and Pod left the Dragonpit Brienne got a questioning look on her face, as though something was tickling the recesses of her mind but she couldn’t identify it. And Cersei asked Jaime if he was going to punish Bronn for meeting with Tyrion. Things do not bode well on that front…
This is exactly what went through my mind at that scene. Pod is near and dear to Brienne (of whom Cersei is aware Jaime thinks highly of), also to Tyrion and Bronn prior to Brienne. Bronn is a ‘friend’ of Tyrion, and of Jaime, who has now walked away from Cersei. When they went to go find a pub I pretty much figured that would be the end of them, but was told I was a pessimist. Which I am, because GAME OF THRONES???? 😂 Really though, I would hate for that to happen. I love them both.
Neon will have his happy ending in his castle!!!! Lol