HBO certainly plays the long game. Earlier this year, a Game of Thrones reunion special was filmed in Belfast, hosted by Conan O’Brien. However, it has recently been announced that there are no plans to air it on HBO’s network. Rather, it will be exclusively available on the Game of Thrones complete series box set due for release at some point in 2019.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the reunion special will heavily feature the cast members who made it to the final season. However, actors who departed the show years ago will also be making an appearance, though HBO is being tight-lipped as to who exactly that will be.
Sean Bean has been confirmed (as befits the literal poster boy of season 1). Jason Momoa was also spotted in Belfast earlier this year, though no information has come to light as to whether that had to do with the reunion special or if he was just visiting friends on the set of season 8.
In other news, if you are fortunate enough to be in São Paulo, Brazil this December, be sure to stop by CCXP (Comic Con Experience). Sophie Turner and John Bradley will be there, as well as D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. Weiss and Benioff don’t often attend comic cons so this will be a rare and exciting opportunity to attend, if you get the chance.
Send a raven.#GameofThrones co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be at #CCXP for #GOTXP next week. pic.twitter.com/puNnMGJmG1
— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) November 27, 2018
— John Bradley (@johnbradleywest) November 27, 2018
Hodor! And I want to see the reunion, but I’ve got all the individual seasons, so don’t want the whole box set!
That’s awesome news! I was hoping for something like this for the box set. Now here’s hoping they release the box set in 4k as well.
And great that Sean Bean is a part of this as well.
I won’t be buying another full set. I could have waited to buy the seasons until the end but I always lend them to friends to watch so I get them the day they come out. I assume this special will end up online pretty quickly anyway.
Roberta Baratheon,
Having spent a tidy chunk on the individual season steelbooks I wholeheartedly concur. HBO shouldn’t consider screwing over those who have already made purchases and make sure any ‘exclusives’ are available in season 8 sets as well as complete series sets!
I bought all the seasons on DVD so I’ll probably splurge on a bluray set of the whole series with all the bells and whistles. I hope there are lots of goodies.
Money grab. HBO is screwing up not airing it to subscribers. I’ll be watching it when it is inevitably posted online. 🙂
And then a year later another anniversary box with more exclusives will be announced, and after five years another, after ten years.. and so on. Just like other big tv series or movies such as Friends/Harry Potter/etc.
This is strange decision. Should definitely also be available with the eventual Season 8 Blu ray set and/or for HBO subs.
Of course after I already splurged on the DVD and/or Blu-Ray box set (technically twice, some of the Season 2 discs on the DVD version were damaged preventing playback of the last few minutes of said season.)
Still buying it because of course I am.
Look HBO/AT&T will milk every halfpenny possible out of this franchise. Wait till HBO Go goes 4K, that will be another tier. Don’t forget that 4K HDR Blu-Ray remasters are coming, most likely as individual seasons then a box set collectors edition, then an anniversary edition, and so on.
I own every season on DVD and/or Blu-Ray as it is and will naturally be getting the S8 set as well, so for me, buying the complete series set is a waste of money.
Why not include it with the Season 8 Blu-Ray set, or even as a retailer-specific bonus for the Season 8 box set, as they’ve done with bonus material in the past? Attaching it exclusively to the complete series set is the kind of transparently cynical, money-grubbing move I don’t appreciate.
Sorry, HBO…love you guys, but you’re pushing me to Youtube for this one.
Azor Asshai,
Agreed. Everything about them is money now because pretty soon this cash cow is going to be gone. And yet they wonder why they are the most pirated show ever.
For those who may want a more, uh, aboveboard option to watching the special, keep an eye out on your local library. Sometimes they’ll buy a complete set to replace missing single season sets. Or just check it out as a complete series version. If they don’t have it directly, they may be able to borrow it on your behalf from somewhere else.
They’d have to include a dinner date with Iain Glen to get me to buy another complete set of seasons.
A blatant money-grab from HBO.
They are screwing over all of the loyal fans who bought each individual season on blu-ray. There is no reason not to include this on the season 8 blu ray (which with six episodes has less content than the average season) except to milk fans of money.
But I guess we can all watch it online for free.
Not saying it is good that they will only include it on the whole series box-set, but to the ones that bought each season up till now. Did you really think they wouldn’t do such a thing? I mean, I alway’s expect it to happen whenever I want to get a dvd/bluray of series. I’ll wait for the complete box-set. Lots of people probably have HBO while they’re not watching anything else besides Game of Thrones. Unless you unsubscribe to that, or it’s not available in your country, why would you even buy each season set if you can watch it any time you want on HBO? I’m just curious by the way.
Ehhhh…hadn’t really considered buying it on disc because we have HBO and can therefore watch any episode anytime we want, without having to somehow make room for yet more discs. The bonus commentaries I’ve listened to on YouTube; think I’ll wait ’til this reunion special is inevitably uploaded there as well. ;p Kinda silly to buy physical copies for one thing that you’d probably only watch once…
In the UK we have to watch it through Sky or NowTV, and the episodes are only available for limited (although quite frequent) time periods.
Not that having HBO would stop me from buying the blu-rays though to be honest. I have Daredevil seasons 1 and 2 and Fargo seasons 1 and 2 on blu-ray despite them being available on Netflix. I just like collecting blu-rays. And the Game of Thrones sigil steelbooks are awesome collectibles to own.
@ watchersonthewall
Do you have any hints if Benioff and Weiss being at CCXP means they have something to announce, perhaps the exact premiere date or the poster – or even a teaser trailer?
I wouldn’t expect an exact premiere date until after True Detective Season 3 premieres in January.
Yeah, despite never having bought them for any other tv series I’ve never hesitated to run out and buy the box seasons the morning of release day for GoT. Even though the show is always available on HBO I still just have to own it. It would make more sense for series that aren’t easily available but I just haven’t cared enough.
So, the reunion special will “heavily feature the cast members who made it to the final season.”
Let’s see which characters were in Episode 1 of Season 1 who are still alive as of the end of Season 7….
I count eleven:
1. Arya Stark
2. Jon Snow aka Aegon Targaryen
3. Sansa Stark aka Sansa Bolton … or is she
a Lannister? I’ve heard conflicting reports.
4. Bran Stark nka 3ER
5. Daenerys Targaryen
6. Jorah Mormont
7. Theon Greyjoy
8. Sandor Clegane
9. Cersei Lannister
10. Jaime Lannister
11. Tyrion Lannister
We can make that thirteen instead of eleven If we include Ghost and Nymeria.
Las Vegas takes wagers on just about anything. I wonder if the bookmakers will start formulating odds of each of those eleven characters being alive the very end of Season 8.
If Vegas doesn’t, we should.
It would be cool to see the original pilot episode too. Hopefully someday
Anyone think there is a chance we will get a trailer or even just a teaser (like the long walk for s7) in December that will debut at the comic con?
Ten Bears,
I’d think they’d consider those that have been a big part of the series since the first season and not just the first episode (Sam, Varys, Bronn, Yara, Gregor) and also those that showed up in S2 and even early S3 (Davos, Tormund, Melisandre, Brienne, Pod, Missandei, Grey Worm, Qyburn). Others that have been in and out or around for most of the series – Edd, Beric, Gilly, Gendry, Hot Pie, or others that are alive, Meera, Jaqen, Daario…
Actually, ignoring all that breakdown garbage, everyone except Euron that’s in S8 and a few that could be have been around since the first few seasons, so a majority of the series, and probably consider themselves as having “made it to the final season.”
Clob,
I’m not suggesting they’d necessarily focus on actors who appeared in S1e1.
I was just thinking to myself that in the 63 episodes over the past seven years, there must have been hundreds of actors and yet, only a handful will make it from the very start to the very end.
Ten Bears,
Yeah, I get ya. 🙂
I wonder if those that showed up in S1 wish the story had unfolded for them to appear in the first episode. I mean, they were filming the season at the same time as those that did but can’t say now that they were actually on the show from the premiere episode.
So the GoT twitter announced Maisie will be joining John and David and Dan at CCXP, but no mention of Sophie? I don’t see anything on her social media pages about it either.
If Maisie is there it doesn’t matter if anyone else shows up. ASNAWP!!!
Awww yes! Getting it at soon as it comes out!
Given that I already own S1-S7 on blu ray I don’t like that they expect me to buy the complete Seasons set (duplicate purchase) in order to watch this. Shame as I’d have liked to have seen it but it has to be a no from me.
I wouldn’t get too excited about 4k, from everything I learnt it’s not a significant difference from Blu-Ray and you need a very large TV to really notice the difference.
I’m sure you could get odds pretty easily here in UK (Gambling is big here and not restricted to casinos like the US). For what it’s worth I’d wager no more than half of those eleven will be alive come the end of S8 (Jorah, Jamie, Cersei for sure, likely Sandor, Dany or Jon go with them).
Is none of this going to air on Conan’s show? Seems strange that Conan would take the time to do this, but not have any of it on his own show.
He’s a fan of the show and I imagine he will have been paid a tonne by HBO to do this. Also HBO probably guaranteed a lot of cast members appearing on Conan in the leadup to season 8.
Jon Snowed,
Well I am excited about 4k because I have a large TV and notice the difference. 🙂
But you’re absolutely right that in terms of resolution the difference between standard Blu-Ray and UHD isn’t that significant compared to DVD to Blu-Ray and VHS to DVD. As you say it depends on the size of your TV and also the distance you sit from it and your own eyes (some people have a better eye for this stuff than others). It also seems to depend on how the studios handle the transfer. I recently got The Matrix Trilogy on UHD and the increase in detail is quite phenomenal (as is the Atmos soundtrack). Where as with other titles it’s there but more subtle.
IMO the big selling point for UHD is HDR. It’s there that you see a significant upgrade compared to standard Blu-Ray. I have Planet Earth II on UHD (benchmark title for the format) and the Blu-Ray looks outright dull compared to it. Though to be fair HDR is still in it’s infant stages and studios are still coming to grips with it. And according to the DP of Westworld HDR doesn’t always play nice with 4k grain regarding movies/series shot on film.
Jon Snowed,
TB, shouldn’t Arya be “aka ASNAWP” ?!? By the way, if you want to see I and You it’s available for 72 hours. I think you need an Instagram account and then go to the Hampstead Theatre website. I’m social media-averse but may get an account temporarily so the spouse (and I) can see it. By the way, have you looked at YouTuber bridge4? He’s an admirer of our favourite duo and has had some fascinating recent videos about them (some including G).
I can see why dedicated blu-ray/DVD/box/set buyers get upset. And I’m just glad I do not usually buy single seasons, if anything I would only buy the Game of Thrones complete series box set.
Stark Raven’ Rad,
I am a subscriber of bridge4s some months now. And as to the duo…it’s really sad what he has to say. And with G you mean Gendry? But bridge4 really is more of a book guy, is he not?
Stark Raven’ Rad,
You are absolutely right. I should’ve referred to “Arya Stark aka ASNAWP” in my list of S1e1 characters still alive.
I was tempted to refer to “Daenerys Targaryen aka [all of her titles]” but my thumb would start cramping.
I was also going to list Sandor Clegane “fka The Hound, aka The Warrior of Light aka The Last Hero aka The Worst Sh*t in the Seven Kingdoms aka The Lord’s Chosen”, but that would be a bit presumptuous.
Likewise, listing Jon Snow “aka Aegon Targaryen aka The Valonqar” would have required a long tinfoil explanation.
I know, right?
I swear, she could probably run for Prime Minister of the U.K. and win, she’s so well-loved. Plus, she’s a well-rounded. socially conscious woman.