We have been waiting more than a year for season eight and we still have to wait a tiny bit more… but how much more, exactly? I, for one, cannot take this excruciating limbo for any second longer than necessary. Though we do know the final season is coming back to our screens on April, a return to the classic Game of Thrones premiere month, beyond that we have no clue, and we won’t… until this Sunday, that is! What a twist!
HBO cheekily announced via a tweet that we’ll learn the season eight premiere date just before the third season of True Detective begins this Sunday, January 13th, at 9PM EST:
I’m asking the important questions. pic.twitter.com/dYDiI11d1c
— HBO (@HBO) 11 January 2019
Does this mean we are getting more than a date? Many fans have suggested the True Detective premiere would be just the place to surprise us with a Game of Thrones trailer, though others believe HBO will wait until the Super Bowl, as they did with the trailer for Westworld’s second season. In either of those cases, nothing is confirmed or even rumored; it’s just the best guesses of the fandom. Do you think we’ll get another teaser, or perhaps even a trailer, along with the premiere date, or will it be a more sober affair?
Yes! Looks like they want to give the TD premiere a ratings bump lol.
Btw, Hibberd said don’t expect the trailer with the date. He said not to expect 2 big GoT things at once.
Great news. We can finally have the countdown clock up and running then.
The countdown clock! It’s been soooo long.
We will get probably an official trailer ..but not until the end of this month or the start of the next one.This week we had already a teaser/footage who get us on chills and leaded the spoilery things too far [with Sansa and Danny meeting] ..so i dont think we will get an official trailer along with the premiere date otherwise this will go even more too far and probably will make the fans more worried and too anxious and nervous for this season..not happy ..We need to be relaxed a bit before the great day …..We will have maybe a symbolical teaser[ as they did with the Dragonstone teaser] showing the premiere date ..but not yet official trailer.Patience and relaxing are the better things to we do for now before the season 8 arrives in April.[April 21]
Can’t wait!!!
1st New GoT trailer will drop Feb 13th or 14th if the premier is April 7….feb 20th if April 14th…if premiers are later adjust by wed thurs accordingly
2nd trailer March 13-14 if a April 7 premier…march 20-21 for April 14 premier…if premiers are later, adjust by wed thurs accordingly
7 weeks and 4 days out for trailer one….and a month later for trailer 2, 3 weeks and 4 days out from premier for trailer 2.
Thirst are my best educated guesses….
The Wolves of Winter,
Can we get a countdown clock to the countdown clock?
I hope it’s revealed in a melting ice block
This could backfire for HBO and TD. “Lets pull in viewership by announcing the GoT premiere date before the start.” — and then everyone quits watching to go online and excitedly discuss the GoT date. 😛 If there IS a trailer… yeah, no, I’d be too busy to watch TD.
I’m going with April 28th!
Luka: Thanks for the accompanying photo of Arya smiling. I guess she’s also happy we’ll soon be able to start the countdown clock.
This wait between seasons hasn’t been unbearable, thanks to WoW.
An anxious and impatient friend (who doesn’t post here) responded to my text that within a few days we’d learn the start date, by texting me a five second audio that turned out to be a snippet of Led Zeppelin:
🎼 “It’s been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.” 🎶
21st for me
LOL. 😆
These pretzels are making me thirsty.
good news. probably we will get a teaser like ” Sigils” teaser for season 7 and the premiere date at the end of the teaser which in my opinion will be :April 28th. don’t look forward to first trailer before February.
Gosh, long wait. Maybe in an island here, but feeling indifferent. I think the initial anticipation, then thought of waiting, then waiting, and waiting, and nada … minus the spoilers of last year’s degree, just feeling meh now. I hope the season premiere trailer amps things up for me again.
If I’ve been able to wait this long without a trailer, I can make it another few months, but it would be nice to see something new. I kind of wonder if we’ll get a trailer at all based on how tight HBO has been about season 8, but I assume we’ll still get one.
Maybe HBO will troll us all with a trailer of nothing but Sansa welcoming the S.S. Boat Sex at different angles for 2 minutes. It would be worth it just to see the twitter meltdowns.
Yessssss 🙂
Me too. It also doesn’t make THAT big of a difference to me whether it’s the 14th or 21st, or 7th. I just want the date for a focal point. (for various reasons I still say the 28th is out of the question). I would love to see a trailer though, even knowing that it won’t give us anything spoilery. It’s still better than 4 seconds. Hell, I’d be content with a bunch of set pictures that are cropped to eliminate giving anything away.
We already had that non trailer teaser, then a 5 second Dany clip. You’re telling me we’re getting another non trailer teaser or 5 second clip with the premiere date? They need to drop a 30 second trailer with the date
Mr Derp,
😂 Hey, you said it first. 😜
Mr Derp,
You are Doctor Evil.
Woo-hoo! I have to agree with others. I don’t think HBO will show a trailer with the release date because it will detract too much from the True Detective premier. Since it’s the final season, I imagine they’ll make a spectacle of it like showing the full trailer during the Superbowl.
Jack Bauer 24,
Way too long. 🙂
If the announcement isn’t going to happen with a short teaser, I hope we at least get an official poster for season 8.
She looks so pretty in that shot!
Clob,
agree – the 21st is easter and thats when it all started!
Clob,
I always thought that 28 was out of question but I read the rules and they gave an example, 2/3 need to be released.
“if the series consists of 6 episodes, and 4 episodes aired within the eligible year, then this season of the series is eligible in the current year.”
The only downside is, the episodes shown after 31 May cannot be nominated. That means that if they show premier in 28 april there are a couple of options:
– We get a double episode one time: The last episode will be released 26 April. Everything is being nominated. But I don’t see HBO releasing 2 episodes on one date.
– We get a double episode in one week. Maybe only the last episode will be released on 31 May. Everything can be nominated. Also very unlikely because there’s a big chance people will forget it. And there’s also a reason why for instance Lost waited 10 days between the one before the last episode and the last one, so they could broadcast the final on Sunday, which result into bigger ratings.
– HBO will get special treatment. Result everything can be nominated. But I don’t think the Emmy’s will give them the option, because it will not be fair to other shows.
– Just as every season 1 per week. This results in having the final on 2 June. This will result in that episode 1 to 5 can be nominated for the Emmy awards, but the final can’t. Which I think would be very stupid because if the final is a master piece they want it nominated, and also it give the impression the ending isn’t really that good (if they don’t want a nomination for it)
For me that make it clear, that I’m with you, 21 is the latest it can be released. And maybe we even get a 14 if they want one break week.
And if they really wanted the 28th so they had more time I think they would have announced it when it was announced it was April. I think they didn’t announced it because they were still deciding on the premier date because of the rules of Emmy nominations against getting everything done on time.
Clob,
This is my exact plan!
Being in Britain we won’t find out until Monday but at least now, finally I can count back 67 days and my re-watch can begin for the last time 😭it’s such a bitter sweet moment 😊
I think trailer is coming too.
Not a chance. Last 2 seasons the first trailer dropped 50ish days from premiere. Season 6 premiered April 24th and the trailer dropped March 8th. Season 7 premiered July 16th and the trailer dropped May 24th. I think we’re looking at an early March trailer.
kevin1989,
Months ago I had written some lengthy posts in a couple places regarding my interpretation of the rules. Most are aware of the standard rules of eligibility for the ten episode seasons, and how remaining episodes that aired after May 31st were included in the eligibility as “hanging episodes.” However, there is that one clause that I personally think sounds like it applies to the shorter S8:
GoT is an “ongoing series” that is being “discontinued” (ending). It has six episodes available to air, but if it only airs “five or less (fewer) episodes (in the) “current eligibility year” it would not be eligible for the current Emmy season.
I had one person elsewhere simply state that it does not apply without any evidence. Without clarification directly from the rules committee I would tend to interpret it exactly as it’s written.
Finally!!! I don’t really care about the date as it seems I’ve been waiting forever anyways. A definite start date will only help me plan my watch party feast, food and drink menu for the finale.
However, I do just need to get this over with and move on with my life. I’ve stopped smoking, started to get up early and almost started to take exercise and go on a diet in hopes of extending my life long enough to see who will finally rule the Seven Kingdoms. I pray to the the Old Gods and the New in hopes my prayers regarding this will be answered for this Night is really long and dark and full of terrors!!!
Rules may be rules but there are issues with all the dates. Easter comes late…it’s April 21st. That is always a bad night for ratings.
If the 7 is used, the much heralded third episode (the gigantic battle scene) will be held that night.
If it’s the 14, then it will be the second episode and ruin the flow.
If it starts on the 21, well it’s not going to get the big numbers.
But if the rules make it tough to get it all in, the 28 has problems.
One suggestion: Start it on the 7, then do the second episode on the 14, then on Easter run either the two together as a catchup or run some other special. Do a nice trailer for the battle scene on the 28.
But it will be tricky.
Rabelais,
In that post of mine a while back about them airing on the holidays I also included ratings info. From what I remember there was no significant decline in the numbers for GoT on Easter Sunday. I believe one of the four was actually higher than the episode before or after and the other three were very slight drops, like 0.4 or something. The seasons they aired on Easter were also 1-4 when the fandom was just building to the level of crazy it’s at now. I’m fairly certain that any episode they’d air on Easter in this final season is going to get huge ratings, especially if it’s the premiere.
Great news, now we’ll know when to book our therapy sessions 🙂
Enharmony1625,
• I just wanted one, 1-2 second teaser of Arya saying to someone off-screen: “It’s me – Arya.”
• I am trusting that the show will do justice to the Stark sisters’ jaw-dropping reaction when they see Sandor strolling into Winterfell.
That’s all. I can do without a trailer.
No way. It’ll be the opposite this year. They’ll totally show the date through the flames.
We’ll all be sitting and staring at our computers while Samwell Tarly tries in vain to start a fire until Gilly comes along and moves things along, so we can finally get the date 🙂
Thank you, Luka, and thank the gods. So many sweet summer children have been demanding instant gratification–at last we’ll know. I wager it’s April 14th. I thought it would be April 21st until hearing Big Little Lies would be postponed.
Clob,
That rule I didn’t know, and your right that apply to GoT. And I understand the reason behind it too. So 28th can’t happen.
Rabelais,
I don’t think it matters if it was the first episode of the season. HBO also look at the first reruns how many people watch that, and they add that. And the first episode is only a reminder of what happened last season, and probably things we already suspect will happen. We will talk about how Jon and co react to the truth and some white walker action.
But Easter would also be a smart move, because people can reminder it easily. When is GoT coming back? Easter day.
But having a week of would be smart too, especially if episode 2 ends in a big cliff. White walkers at winterfell, Dany losing her shit (if it happens) or something else big. They can have a special building up that moment.
Clob,
And the timeslot is helping here, when GoT airs everybody is already at home. Also in my country we are free that monday (don’t know if thats in every country with Easter), so people don’t have to worry about going to work.
And HBO is viewing it in more country’s live. So some country’s it’s already day time and can watch it.
kathy,
I already started. Lying awake about the possibilities that could happen. Dany dying because she’s flying dragon without a safety hat or without a seat belt, falling off Drogon to her death. Safety first ladies and gentlemen.
Or the feeling that GoT will end in a bollywood fashion where everyone is dancing like a maniac with a strange song. Brrrr
Clob,
What if the premiere date is revealed by one of the characters IN True Detective during the show itself? That would be cool.
IT will be great if they announce the date with a trailer, but propably its gonna by a teaser or not even.
Cannot happen, True Detective season 3 timeframe is 1980, there are timeshifts but only that of 10 years, we don’t know yet if that is 1970 or 1990.
only 2 more days. Countdown is begun to the real countdown.
That could be kind of neat… I think one of the timelines in TD3 is current day. I suppose many people would be upset having to chase the carrot into the show.
I always like references to GoT in other shows. The very first I remember was in what went from my favorite show to second favorite in 2011, Chuck. They showed Chuck reading a magazine with a Jon Snow/GoT back cover.
kevin1989,
Oh, there isn’t a current day then. Good to know.
I’d bet on the date this Sunday (thanks for the time!) with maybe a little something extra surrounding it…and trailer during the SuperBowl just because that would seem to make lots of sense. (And hopefully repeated during Westminster, which is MY major sporting event!) *praying for April 7*
They said before True Detective, so it’ll probably be something like they did with the Hall of Faces teaser for Season 6 before the Vinly premiere in 2016.
FWIW, my money is still on a full trailer dropping during the Super Bowl — if for no other reason than it’s a maximum viewing audience.
February 3rd is way too early for a full trailer.
Ten Bears,
Ditto! And Sandor’s reaction to seeing his “Little Bird” in control of Winterfell and his “Wolf Girl” all grown up and ready to fight to protect her family.
“I don’t need saving.”
“No, not you. With your water-dancing and your Needle.”
Enharmony1625,
Sansa: “No one can protect me.”
Arya: “I sure can.”
Yeah definitely no trailer Sunday. They want people to watch the TD premiere lol. Also, I see you’re going with the 21st as the premiere. I know you’ve provided proof and prior stats why an Easter premiere would be fine I just don’t think they will premiere the final season on a holiday. I also think the first Sunday of April is out of the equation so that leaves the 14th and 28th. I’ve seen a lot of chatter on twitter for the 28th, but I obviously want it as early as possible. I guess we’ll know soon enough! It’s just fun being back here more often and with a new season on the horizon. It’s going to be wonderful getting that countdown clock back up.
Rewatch! – Yet another one 🙂
Did you not see the complete rerun of GoT on Sky Atlantic Carole? Started around Dec 15th (S1 Ep 1) and ended a couple of nights ago (S7 ep7). Must have been about the 10th time I’ve seen a rerun of the series now!
It wasn’t my intention to watch it again over the Christmas period, but sorry to say my will power wasn’t that strong and clicking through the channels it inevitably ended up on Sky Atlantic most nights. I missed a few episodes during the period, but watched most of them.
I’m now content to sit back and wait until S8 airs. Its been a L O N G wait 😛
Curious as to what drama is going to air between TD and GoT? BLL would have been the perfect fit schedule wise, but Kidman thinks it’s going to be around June. Not sure how if Watchmen is ready yet either. I wonder if they’ll pair the final season of Veep with GoT. Since they are going back to the April premiere and Veep/Silicon Valley used to air after GoT for a few years there.
Jack Bauer 24,
Correct!
True Detective S03E01 – 13 January 2019
True Detective S03E02 – 20 January 2019
True Detective S03E03 – 27 January 2019
True Detective S03E04 – 3 February 2019
True Detective S03E05 – 10 February 2019
True Detective S03E06 – 17 February 2019
True Detective S03E07 – 24 February 2019
True Detective S03E08 – 3 March 2019
Big Little Lies S02E01 – 10 March 2019
Big Little Lies S02E02 – 17 March 2019
Big Little Lies S02E03 – 24 March 2019
Big Little Lies S02E04 – 31 March 2019
Big Little Lies S02E05 – 7 April 2019
Big Little Lies S02E06 – 14 April 2019
Big Little Lies S02E07 – 21 April 2019
……………………………….- 28 April 2019
Seeing the countdown clock once more is going to be beautiful.
lol Love the countdown to the countdown, ty guys.
Love your “countdown to the countdown” – this is how important the show is now: the coming of announcements is a big announcement of its own. At the same time, most people can’t even find Syria on a map. Jeez. What has the world come to? 😉
I really hope it’s going to be on the 21st because like that I’m going to watch GOT and Avengers Endgame in the same week!
As for the trailer… if we’re getting 2 of them, then my guess is that it’s going to be before the end of January (and the second a month before the premiere), if it is only one trailer then I’ll say beginning of March… anyway, YAY, we’re going to get a release date soon!
Jake,
mass,
No more likely we’ll get a promo like “the long walk” which was after the sigils promo last season which was Cersei, Dany and Jon walking to their thrones aka probably see the characters without actual footage of the new season so something they did just for advertising
8×01: 04/28/19
8×02: 05/05/19
8×03: 05/12/19
8×04: 05/19/19
8×05 and 8×06: 05/26/19
Just a guess. 🙂
Jack Bauer 24,
Agree people are getting ahead of themselves probably since it’s being too long as we never get a actual trailer this far ahead of the season, we still have another promo, the offical poster, character posters and promotional images of stills of the season before the trailer, we probably get the trailer around 2 months before it airs
Great call!!!
Also I’m guessing they’ll show a teaser and the date will be April 21st…almost there everyone!!! Let’s have a bowl of brown to celebrate!!!
As far as I know, I read that it was set in 1980 and a second timeline 10 years different. Maybe there’s a third timeline that we don’t know about, so who knows.
Jack Bauer 24,
Veep isn’t returning before June, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was diagnosed with breast cancer, so they started filming later. And it was stated that June is the soonest it can air. (yes a fan so I’m waiting for it to return haha)
Iul,
Big Little Lies will be shown after GoT. They aren’t even stopped filming the season yet. And why would they show 3 of their biggest shows in one go. They need something to show in the last 6 months of 2019 or they are going to Lose subscriptions.
TD: Januari. GoT April 21th-May 26th.
BLL and Veep end June (Those 4 weeks they don’t need to air any show without losing subscriptions, saves money for the same income)
And another big show can be shown around august.
Mel,
Still it can happen, it’s the last season, look at other big shows and Movies at how their advertisement was for the last season or movie, it started earlier and more. I Remember Harry Potter having 25+ clips of around 15 seconds each which were all a little bit different.
Black Raven,
Hello Black Raven😁 Yes I saw it was on and looks like it’s being repeated again from Sunday! But I didn’t watch I wanted to watch the whole lot through ending when the new series starts, so I’ll bang the dvds on, one a night and wallow in GOT, oh and get the cleenex ready 😭
Iul,
Your schedule mock-up is off right from the start. True Detective is airing TWO new episodes on premiere night. So, even if BLL were to air after TD it opened up the 21st for GoT. Kidman’s comment about a June start for BLL though has people thinking the 7th and 14th are now also available.
For everyone who are waiting for a trailer, no way we are going to get a trailer before March. HBO doesn’t need a trailer to hype up the audiance: everyone is already going to see it – its Game of Thrones for crying out loud! Just wait till 28th, no need of trailers.
Agreed. Last time it premiered in August was April 24th 2016 for Season 6 and the first trailer didn’t drop until March 8th. Even Season 7’s first trailer was less then 2 months from premiere. Season 7 premiered July 16th 2017 and the trailer dropped May 24th.
Well, these days we have teasers for teasers and trailers for trailers. So yeah, why the hell not.
Yeah still a bit of things before the actual trailer with in season footage. Just rewatched the Hall of Faces Season 6 and Sigils Season 7 teasers and I’m definitely expecting something akin to those tomorrow night. Hopefully it’s better then the Long Walk teaser really didn’t care for that one. Either way I’m excited!
Enharmony1625,
Much has been written about the teaser of Sansa saying “WF is yours, your Grace” to Dany echoing the same words Ned said to Robert in S1e1. I like such parallels.
Which is why I’m praying to the Old Gods and the New that the very last scene of S8s6 mirrors the very last scene of S4e10: Arya on the deck of a ship with soaring music in the background.
For me, this show started with that little girl, and ought to end with her as a young woman.
Sounds good to me. Actually, when I saw the picture next to the headline of this article of Arya and Sansa (Maisie and Sophie?) grinning I thought of:
Arya: “Thank the gods Season 8 is finally arriving! ”
Sansa: (sighs) “Yeah, now they won’t have me quarreling with anyone.”
Arya: (puzzled look) “But… “
I’m thinking April 7th or 14th (probably 14th). And it doesn’t matter what day any episode of the final season falls on, the ratings are going to be HUGE. It’s the final season of the biggest television show the world has ever seen.
No teaser, no trailer, no poster. Nothing else tomorrow. Just the date. That’s all the hype GOT needs to get people talking like crazy.
S8 titles –
Honor Bound
Blood of the Dragon
The Light that brings the Dawn
A Song of Ice and Fire
Lightbringer
A Dream of Spring…
I agree! Plus, photographs and brief snippets of scenes from past years’ trailers have had us speculating like crazy – and those snippets usually don’t signify anything important. (I remember that photograph of Arya peeking under a bed… and it turned out to be nothing special.)
To be candid, I could’ve done without the snippet of Sansa telling Dany, “Winterfell is yours, Your Grace.” It kind of excluded the possibility that something crazy would happen to Team Boatsex on their way from White Harbor to WF. *
* Although I’m still hoping for Clob’s scenario, i.e., incognito Arya deciding to greet the entourage upon disembarking at White Harbor or on the journey over land to WF. Then I could hold onto my own fanfic scenario of Dany, Jon & Co. being ambushed — when from out of nowhere a diminutive hooded ninja warrior carves up the attackers like a piece of cake.
Ten Bears,
That would be amazing! Although I would expect it would be tinged with a bit of sadness in that she’s leaving and won’t ever see her family again. So there’s that mixed with the optimism of Arya sailing off to see what’s west of Westeros. That whole b*****s**** thing. 🙂
In any case, I completely agree with the sentiment. This story began with the Starks, so it should end with them. Some will of course argue that it began with the WW at the wall, but that’s just a prologue. The story itself began with the Starks both emotionally and logically.
Episode 1 title will be something that is about Jon being the true heir or something that refers to Dany and Jon both or the White walker invasion.
Possibilities: The prince that was promised. The last dragon. Azor Ahai. The pack.
My favorite: Cold winds Rises
Meaning: Double meaning, The White walkers are down south, and more humanly, Dany and the Dothraki, for them the north is even more cold because they knew only warm climate.
Episode 2 title will be something about Jon and Dany reacting to the truth, about the north not being satisfied or something about Theon and Euron. (I think Theon will skip the first episode and the second episode will be more about him)
Possibilities: The Kraken, The North distress. The pack.
My Favorite: The Lone wolf
Meaning: Jon snow is the Lone wolf. If he chooses to keep following Dany he will be the Lone wolf without the support of the north.
Episode 3: Something about the battle.
Possibilities: Azor Ahai. Prince that was promised. Fire and Ice.
My Favorite: The Long Night.
Meaning: We can assume the battle is all in the night and the end is about the White Walkers, it is also the longest battle in GoT history.
Episode 4: Something about Jaime (if he survives episode 3), or something that refers to the survivors, or about finding their safe haven. Maybe a part of the battle will be at the beginning of the episode. Or maybe something of a new region that we will visit.
Possibilities: The Crypts of Winterfell. Lightbringer. The pack survives.
My favorite: Greywater Watch
Episode 5: Something about Cercei is my guess. Or something that we think is about her.
Possibilities: The Mad Queen. Dream of Spring.
My favorite: The Valonqar.
Episode 6: Depends if the endgame is Cercei Dany or the Night King. And if they want something that is a nod to the books or nod.
Posibilities: A Song of Ice and Fire. The Prince that was Promised. West.
My Favorite: The God’s Eye.
For me the story begins with the WW, but that doesn’t mean I think it is the most important part of the story. Lord of the rings begin with the treat of the ring but for me it was all about the journey the people in the fellowship undertook and that’s why the last 20 minutes of the movie is not about the ring anymore but giving closure to our heroes.
Same need to happen with GoT. The last episode need to have a final say in the white walkers or another treat (Cercei maybe, I don’t dare to say Dany for obvious reasons), but the last 20 minutes of the final needs to be about how those characters. If they win against the WW it needs to be about what they are going to do now when they found peace. Do they lose it needs to be about finding the place where they could live happily ever after.
Personally I don’t like the ending with Arya sailing of west alone and that it ends there. For me that feels to much like the ending of Lotr where it ends with Frodo, bilbo and Gandalf sailing west. I think they will get a shit storm from critics if they do that.
kevin1989,
My favorite hoped-for title: “The Dragon Princess.”
I wouldn’t mind “The Warrior of Light”; “The Bird and the Dog”; or “The Last Hero.”
Enharmony1625,
Well, Arya doesn’t have to sail away forever. She could just take a vacation or explore the frontier – and as another commenter suggested – bring back chocolate.
The family has been flung apart for so long that I wouldn’t expect any of them to yearn to be far away for long.
For me, Arya made her choice when was at the Crossroads in S7e2 and decided to head North, and announced her heart’s desire to Nymeria: “I’m finally headed home. Back to Winterfell.”
Ten Bears,
Maybe we should do Disney movie titles:
1. Snow white and the seven dwarfs: the night king get 7 new wights that aren’t that tall.
2. Sleeping beauty: after a long trip north Dany will sleep for a week. Reluctant dragon: at the same time drogon is being a little bit naughty and Jon has trouble getting him to listen.
3. Frozen: winterfell is frozen by the night king. Or the rescuers: if they get rescued in the end.
4. The fox and the hound: sandor gets a little love interest. Or brother bear: mormonts family dinner.
5. Beauty and the beast or dumbo: Jon snow still knows nothing
6. Lion king: tyrion will be the one sitting on the throne. Or jungle book: Sam reading an interesting interview how to survive in the jungle on the summer isles.
A countdown clock – the site is back in business. 🕰️
Off topic, but GRRM is in the latest episode of the PBS show “Finding Your Roots”. Andy Samberg is featured too.
How nice would it be if they were like you waited this long we’re premiering on the 7th or 14th instead of the 21st or 28th.
Jack Bauer 24,
Yeah they have being rumours that it will be stone figures of the characters in the crypts of Winterfell after Sophie said at a recent con that there was a large stone figure of Sansa she wanted to take home but it was implausible for them to deliver it to LA
I saw on twitter some dates floating around for promo stuff and they had the 11th listed as an “Etched in stone” teaser. We didn’t get the promo yesterday, but we got the announcement that the premiere date is being announced tomorrow night. The tweets also has April 21st as the premiere so it’ll really interesting to see if the promo is the stone promo and if the date is the 21st. If those align, some of the other stuff might be accurate. It said the official poster was January 13th, promo pics February 14th-15th, first trailer March 10th and second trailer April 4th.
The weird thing though is the Sansa stone statue the person linked in the tweet was a bust you can buy. http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.com/2016/11/mu90-queen-of-north-nutsplanet.html?m=1
No spoilers, just speculation based on stuff I’ve read here (not under spoiler bars).
My season 08 episode title guesses….
Episode 1 – Winterfell – The first episode was called “Winter is Coming.” This would be a play on those words since winter is here, thus winter fell (as in snow fell). Also, the title of the first episode of last season was “Dragonstone,” so it could mirror that. And it’s pretty obvious that a huge chunk of the episode has got to take place at Winterfell based on the characters left in the show and where they were or headed in the S7 finale.
Episode 2 – We Do Not Sow – Getting pieces into place and what-not, this episode will likely feature Euron and the Golden Company, as well as Theon and the Ironborn going after Yara more heavily than any other episode simply because it makes the most sense time-wise. The first episode is getting everything set up, the third episode is when the action has to start happening since we only have six episodes and that’s literally the half-way point of the season.
The show has used the words of the Houses before as titles, it would be a good time to use one here, and these are the words of House Greyjoy. Plus, they would fit the Night King’s wave of destruction and inability to plant life, they only destroy. Ooh, and if Cersei has a miscarriage, it would have an added layer there as well! Now, they could go with ‘The Golden Company,” but I don’t think that’s all encompassing enough.
Episode 3 – A Song of Ice and Fire
– I don’t think they’ll go for the full ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ but I can’t imagine they can’t not go for at least a partial use of the book series title at some point before the end of the television series.If the big battle begins here between the Dragon Queen, her children and the living against the Night King, his Ice Dragon and the dead, I can see them using this title for this episode. Hmm, you know, they actually might use “A Song of Ice and Fire” as in the cries of the dragons. In fact, I’m changing it to that. So, I’ll make my maybe: “Ice and Fire.”Episode 4 – Hear Me Roar – Which brings us back to Cersei/King’s Landing. Cersei took the throne as the Queen of Robert and the mother of his two sons. With her downfall truly happening (or beginning to happen) here, the words of House Baratheon — the “me” applying specifically to Robert’s ghostly holler of triumph — just might apply. Also, if Gendry were legitimized by Jon or Daenerys, it could also signify the Baratheon line roaring back to life. I just don’t think he was brought back solely for “fan service” reasons or only as Arya’s potential love interest. He’s going to play a bigger (more Baratheon-y) part, I think.
Episode 5 – Lightbringer – Basically whatever is up with the whole Azor Ahai, Nissa Nissa, The Prince/Princess that was Promised happening here. I mean, it’s gotta happen, right?! If they hadn’t said that it could be “prince” or “princess,” I’d go with “The Prince That Was Promised,” but since they did make it ambiguous, I don’t see them revealing the answer in the episode title.
Episode 6 – The Dream of Spring – They changed “A Dance of Dragons,” to “The Dance of Dragons,” so they’ll probably do the same thing to GRRM’s proposed final book in the series title, “A Dream of Spring.” I can’t really see the final episode being anything other than ADOS or TDOS though.
Fair enough. But you could then argue that there would be a shit-storm from critics if they end it with the well-known theory of Sam writing “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Perhaps it shouldn’t be the last scene of the show, but it would absolutely work as the last scene for Arya.
I actually think there’s a good chance (and it would be quite fitting) for the last scene to involve Bran in some way since he has the first chapter in the books and it’s through his point of view that we see most of the opening scenes in Winterfell in the show. I don’t think Bran will necessarily be alive in the end (at least not physically), but maybe his spirit will live on in the Weirwoods or something.
Ten Bears,
I hope you’re right. I guess I’m just bracing myself for the expectation that most characters will get that bittersweet ending, so I can see it being a mix of optimism and melancholy.
JenniferH,
I like your list of episode titles. I think there’s a good chance any of those could show up in season 8. “Winterfell” would also work as the title for episode 3, as winter will “fall” at Winterfell by way of a huge, epic battle. If I had to place bets on the title of 8×06, “A Dream of Spring” would be it. Personally, I would love if “A Time for Wolves” was the title of an episode. It could work for 8×04 I think. Perhaps after the slaughter at Winterfell in 8×03, it’ll be the time for the wolves to fight back. 🙂
Ooh, I’d be so down for “A Time for Wolves.” I could see that for episode 4 or 5. I really do think 1 will be “Winterfell” and 6 will be “A/The Dream of Spring” though.
Enharmony1625,
Meanwhile, the episode titles that seem mundane often hold the biggest surprises. I’m thinking specifically of “The Door.” I don’t know anyone who wasn’t stunned when that episode ended; the last 15-20 minutes were almost as nutso as “Hardhome.”
Yet, when I first heard the episode title I thought to myself “sounds blah.”
As a non-book reader, I’m curious if there are there any familiar, oft-used quotes that haven’t been used for episode titles yet? I was familiar with the iconic “Broken Man” speech from the books, so I wasn’t too surprised to see that as an episode title.
I doubt they would change the day-of-the-week for airing for the last season. I also doubt they would premiere on Easter Sunday.
So that leaves the 7th, the 14th, and the 28th.
My bet is the 14th. That would wrap up the show on Memorial Day weekend (right? Am I counting correctly?). Seems like a good weekend to air the finale and give everyone a day to recover before going back to work ;).
I want to believe we will get a trailer this month. It’s the final season of what is the biggest show ever, and given the amount of effort they put into the last season, you’d imagine they would try and hype it up as much as possible.
S5 premiered on April 12 and the 1st trailer came at the end of January. So, an April release and Jan. trailer has happened before, for one of the worst seasons too….
Anyone seen the article of odds for key characters to die in the final season according to bookmakers? They are using the UK odds system which I believe differs from what I’ve seen in the US but essentially they have Cersei, Jamie and Dany odds on to die, meaning they are hugely likely to die. They have Sam and Gilly as by far the least likely to die.
Highest Chance Of Death (75-100 Percent Implied Probability Of Death):
The characters who have the highest probability of death are some of the ones with the most power in the Seven Kingdoms—but also some of the most enemies. Among the biggest names on that list are Cersei Lannister (1/25), Jaime Lannister (1/12) and Daenerys Targaryen (1/3). Other names that fall on that higher spectrum are Euron Greyjoy (1/50), Jorah Mormont (1/7), Varys (1/6), Melisandre (2/9) and Beric Dondarrion (1/3).
Full article
As for the original topic in the article I was super excited until James Hibberd confirmed we won’t get the full trailer so looks like another teaser with the premiere date which we already know is very likely to be in the second half of April anyway.
So it seems the superbowl predictions for the first trailer appear right and they will make us wait until next month.
14th would be good. They’ve premiered on the 14th before. The finale would be May 19th so they would avoid Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is May 27th this year. So they either avoid Easter by premiering April 28th or Memorial Day by premiering April 14th if they plan on airing the 6 episodes without skipping a week.
I didn’t realize premiering Easter 21st would put the finale on Memorial Day weekend. I didn’t think they would premiere on Easter to begin with, but now I definitely don’t think so. With 6 episodes I think they would want to avoid having 2 air on holidays. Especially premiere and finale.
So 14th or 28th. I’m still going 28th..
I love that the countdown clock is back with a countdown of the countdown…
My own countdown is that I’m on Season 6 Ep 3 today… i’ve been re-watching an episode every 5 days which leads me to April. If they premiere on April 7, it would be perfect! But I may have one week in between (like the super bowl week!) to watch my favorite episodes again.. I’m hoping for April 14. The memorial day and Easter points make sense to me!
It’s unfortunate that the promoters of HBO can’t tell when enough is enough. Countdown of a countdown? They’ve gone from being irritating to abrading. Between GRRM aka The Procrastinator of the Seven Kingdoms, and HBO’S “you will just have to wait to wait.” I’m sure that more than a few fans are hating on both.
I’m planning to do the same Carole. I started watching S1-S3 with audio commentaries at the end of last year, they are fairly interesting but hard to watch regularly, I’ll watch S4 audio then start the proper re-watch once we get to 67 days or so and I’m also planning to read World of Ice and Fire before S8 airs.
If the premiere is on the 14th, that puts the finale on May 19th, which is Victoria Day weekend for us Canadians giving us a day off to recover. 🙂 I’ve been planning to book the Monday off anyway even if the finale doesn’t air that weekend, because I’ll definitely need a day to mourn.. Ha!
I remember back in February 2016 it was around 8:57pm est about 3 minutes before the Vinyl premiere they showed the Hall of Faces teaser for Season 6 with the date April 24th.
Tron79,
Reminder from Mr. Buzzkill:
Once S8e1 airs, it’ll all be over in five short weeks.
I still wish they’d stagger the episodes every two weeks, or that I had the fortitude to watch half an episode and save the second half for a week later. If, as I think the HBO executive commented, each episode is like a full length movie – and if some run over 60 minutes – I wouldn’t mind breaking up six episodes into twelve.
Considering that many one-hour network shows are really closer to 35 minutes when you subtract the interminable commercials and the introductory jingle, breaking up S8 of GoT into twelve parts wouldn’t be so terrible.
Of course, I don’t have the self-discipline to stop watching an episode at the midpoint; and that’d also mean I couldn’t come here when the episodes end to dissect them (and if necessary, kvetch about Arya’s lack of screen time 🤭.) Besides, unlike some scripted network TV shows, GoT doesn’t construct scenes in segments in anticipation of commercial breaks.
Sorry for sounding like Mr. Bummer. Five weeks goes by in a flash.
Jack Bauer 24,
When it airs I’m asleep because it’s night here. And I already know what the first thing is on my to do list tomorrow. Check watchersonthewall.
My prediction:
April 14 if they skip one week. Or April 21 if they don’t skip a week. Having the final on may 26th
So if those 2 are my prediction big chance it will be 28th or the 7th
Lourdes,
A little bit I agree with you. I told my boyfriend today that hbo told that the premier date would be revealed tonight and he looked at me if I was crazy that I cared.
They could have easily told it Friday because they already knew it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they would make a teaser trailer. Of a teaser trailer that is about the reveal of the date of the first real trailer.
Or having teaser trailers where we will found out the runtime of each episode and another 6 for the titles.
They did the Westworld trailer last year because it could have used the Super Bowl rub. GoT doesn’t need that. It’s already a phenomenan.
We usually only get a couple trailers so it’s just too early for one. First one in March and a second shorter one in April sounds about right. That’s what they did for Season 6 and for Season 7 they did the first late May and then late June.
Enharmony1625,
Mourn? Though I figure Sandor’s a goner, it still won’t be much consolation knowing that I’ll never hear him say “F*ck the [insert monarch’s title]” ever again. I just hope they don’t kill him off in one of the early episodes, and that when he does go, he goes out in a blaze of glory. (E.g. no X-Acto knife to the back and instantly keel over like Areo Hotah (?) in Dorne.)
I know there’s a large contingent of Theon fans hoping his story has a satisfying ending too. He did get minimal screen time in S7. Let’s hope he overcomes his Reekness and has some kickass scenes in S8.
Why would they skip a week if they premiere on the 14th? May 26th is Memorial Day weekend so why skip a week to air the finale then? They can air the finale May 19th and avoid the holiday. April 21st-May 26th would have 2 episodes airing on holidays. Easter and Memorial Day weekend.
Wait. Is there really a “Countdown Clock”? I’ve never seen one. Maybe I don’t see it accessing the site from a mobile phone.
You have to be on desktop or viewing the desktop version on mobile.
They announced Season 8 would be premiering in April in November so they milked that for 2 months to get to here and announce when in April. I figure they’ll milk this for another month or two before we get anything else.
Ten Bears,
Theon’s story is one of my favorite in the books and Alfie is killing it with his performance, he’s just amazing for the role. I hope they do them justice in the last season.
Jack Bauer 24,
I think they will try to finish the story on May 26th because later means problems with Emmy nomination. Sooner means less time to make the CGI the best it can be. I remember those guys saying a while back that they worked till the last week of may.
Question for Americans here, is Memorial Day something that’s celebrated with big parties late at night, or more till 8 and off home?
Because I think HBO doesn’t matter if people watch the premier one day later, but I think they want that people watch the final on the day itself.
And about Westworld, personally one of the best shows of the moment in my opinion, can’t wait till season 3.
Jack Bauer 24,
Where is the countdown clock? on HBO or watchersonthewall?
@Kevin It’s on top of the page here at Watchers.
We’ll know here in a few hours, but I don’t think they want premiere and finale both being on holidays and I think the 7th is pretty much out of the equation so still going 14th and 28th. Seeing how we’ve waited so long already I’m going 28th.
Jon Snowed,
I’m audio booking ASOIF at the moment and doing the mash of Feast for Crows and Dance with Dragons which was suggested on this site a while ago and I have enjoyed it so far. I have certainly enjoyed it more than I did the last time I read it. Anyway the sky + box is set for TD at 2am and when I get up in the morning I’ll know when to start my re-watch 👍
Ten Bears,
That would take a TON of self denial to only watch 1/2 an episode!!!!
I couldn’t do that.. and I would challenge anyone here on WotW to be able to do that. I have to watch the whole episode live, and then watch it again on HBOGo later when the house is quiet…and then hopefully listen to some behind the scenes, come here to WotW and also listen to some other folks like Mallory Rubin talk about the episode.
It actually seems to be a bit of self denial nowadays to have it drop once a week. I watched all 10 episodes of Maniac in one sitting (a well done series by the way). So in a way HBO is forcing us to having some self denial by stretching out to 6 weeks.
Jack Bauer 24,
Nice I see it, 4 hours left.
The problem with the 28th is that the final will be in june, so the final can’t be nominated for the Emmy awards. And I think they want that episode to be nominated.
Carole H,
Is that version better? I want to read it before season 8 air, and I want to know the better way to read it.
Ten Bears,
Well, mourn for the show. No more episodes of GoT. No more Arya, Jon, Dany, Sandor, Brienne, Jamie, Tyrion, Sansa, Bran… Despite whatever criticism it gets (some of it deserved, but much of it not), there will likely never be another show quite like it.
Re: Sandor, sadly you may be right. I have faith that they’ll do the big guy justice. He’ll either go out in a blaze of glory, or have to be given mercy by his wolf girl. 🙁
At least once the show is over we will still have (hopefully) the books left! And who knows…. there might even be a sequel down the road…..
HBO just posted about TD premiere and 95% of the comments are about GoT lol.
Jack Bauer 24,
Even when I’m a big GoT fan, I feel sorry for the makers of TD, it’s an amazing show with amazing writers and directors, and being overshadowed liked that even when you put something great on TV (even when season 2 was a let down it was still one of the best out there)
Yeah I watched both seasons and was looking forward to the premiere tonight even before they announced the GoT premiere date reveal. Looking forward to seeing what Ali brings . They’re just hoping people stick around and watch the premiere and like what they see. I wish we could see what the ratings are for the first couple minutes are compared to after the announcement.
Melting block of ice … and the fandom howls with rage.
I’m with the teaser trailer (no new footage) with premiere date theory. Whether like the map of Westeros animation or the Three Rulers/Come Sit Next To Me teaser from last season remains to be seen.
Premieres in relation to Easter. The date listed is Easter itself.
S1: week before (4/24)
S2: week after (4/1)
S3: on Easter (3/31)
S4: two weeks before (4/20)
S5: week after (4/5)
S6: month after (3/24)
Easter is 4/21 this year. Seems like when Easter is the end of April they go 1-2 weeks before. So likely April 7 or 14. All I know for sure is I’m out of town the first Sunday in May, and I made sure the hotel carries HBO. I’ll have my wireless devices for backup.
Guys what are your feelings about a premiere on April 21?
Seems like some folk think they’ll premiere on Easter and others don’t. Problem is if they premiere on Easter that puts the finale on Memorial Day weekend so both premiere and finale on holidays. That’s a third of the season. Not likely.
Jack Bauer 24,
Why does it matter if it’s on a holiday
I just don’t want April 28!!’n
Networks like to avoid holidays. GoT only skipped a holiday once though and that was for Memorial Day back in Season 4. There was an extra week between Mockingbird and Mountain vs The Viper. I really hope it isn’t the 28th either. As far as April premieres go, the 24th was their latest for Season 6.
Enharmony1625,
Oh no. I couldn’t bear it if Arya had to euthanize the Hound. I’m 70% certain he’ll have to conquer his fear of fire, probably to save one or both sisters. But let him die with a smile on his face. “At least I have one happy memory.”
(Sansa and Arya sob)
P.S. It’s no secret I’m a Sandor fanboy. A while back, I started scribbling out – but haven’t yet typed – a post tentatively titled “Sandor = unNed.” They’re really two sides of the same coin. The more I rewatched, the more convinced I was that I wasn’t just making sh*t up.
I figured I’d have time to type (and condense) what I started outlining. Time is now running out. 🙁
I saw parallels to an old (1966) Star Trek episode titled “The Enemy Within”, written by science fiction/fantasy legend Richard Matheson. In a nutshell, a transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two identical-looking beings. The first to materialize has all of Kirk’s intellectual and compassionate qualities – but he’s also so worried about doing the “right” thing that he becomes paralyzed by indecision and unable to take necessary risks.
The “other” Kirk to materialize is aggressive, daring, and almost animalistic.
With some of his crew marooned on a planet and freezing to death, the “nice” Kirk is rendered impotent by self-doubt and unable to make command decisions. Meanwhile, the “bad” Kirk is roaming around the ship getting into fights and satisfying primordial urges.
Long story short: Eventually the two Kirks are merged back together, but Dr. McCoy observes that Kirk needs his “negative” side to be a confident and competent leader who can effectively safeguard the welfare of his ship and crew.
In many ways, Ned was naive and unable to protect his daughters. His “honorable” reputation was belied by his omissions and concealments, whereas Sandor was often brutally honest to a fault – when a little white lie would’ve served him better.
There’s more to it. There are at least eight “mirror image” scenes of Ned and Arya replayed between Sandor and Arya. (Even little details like taking Needle – and handing it back to her and letting her keep it.) Coincidence? Perhaps if there’d been only two or three…
Then of course there are three separate scenes in which Arya and Sandor are posed as “father” and daughter, e.g., Arya making up a story and apologizing for her “Father” when they encounter the farmer and Rabbit Stew Sally, and scolding him at dinner (“Father!”) when Sandor interrupts the pre-meal prayer.
If you ignore the nasty and cruel things that came out of Sandor’s mouth, his actions were those of a guardian – some might say a surrogate father – rather than a villain.
Ned could’ve used some of Sandor’s pragmatism and decisiveness, e.g., Ned worried so much about Cersei’s children that he neglected to get his own children out of harm’s way.
I’ll say this: For all of Ned’s love for his daughters, he was unable to protect either of them – despite telling Arya (S1e3; repeated S7e7): “we must protect ourselves, look after one another.”
Sandor protected both of them and saved their lives – multiple times. (S4e10, Brienne: “And that’s what you’re doing? Watching over her?” Sandor: “Aye, that’s what I’m doing.”) They’re both alive and home – instead of gang raped and murdered – thanks to Sandor Clegane.
For all the time spent on Sansa & Sandor and Arya & Sandor throughout seven seasons, I sure hope S8 devotes “high thread count”, character-driven, bookend scenes to cap off their stories.
I really don’t think they care about Easter as it pertains to airing their shows on Sunday night. They’ve proven that by not skipping it in the past and appear to view it as a regular Sunday. They realize people are home by then to watch – same with Mother’s Day Sundays. They have aired on Memorial weekend and have not, but that’s one they’d more likely avoid (if they can) because that ‘event’ is on (carries through) Monday.
That made me think of Arya’s line about the Hound to the Waif…
Waif: Why? Didn’t she want him dead any longer? Arya: She did and she did not.
She sounds confused.
Yes, she was.
Well, the confusion will end in a few minutes! I wonder if Vegas had odds on this…
I wonder how they’re going to do the intro this time since there’s not that many locations left?
April 14th! Yes!
That was was cool!! 14th, can’t wait!!
Yup, so that was my best guess, April 14th indeed. That was pretty cool. I love how the Starks were front and center all the way (I know, no Bran, but even Bran says he’s not really a Stark anymore, but the 3ER). I got chills!
So that was supposed to be the three of them in stone at the end, but that so did not look like Jon/Kit at all.
It’s on people!!!! April 14 🎉and the cold winds are rising in the crypts if Winterfell!!!
Jon kinda looked like Ned for a second there.
Yay! Countdown Clock ON!
Exactly 3 months away! HBO has a countdown of 90 days.
Wow that person on Twitter was right about the stone promo. They said trailer March 10th so we’ll see….
Even for that I’m surprised they had Jon and Arya together. Fun to see though.
Was hoping for the 28th, but oh well. I’ll just have to stay up longer every day now, to make time go by as slowly as possible.
Why?
Because I hate the end of things I love. Anticipation is sometimes the best part, no matter how long it’s already been. 🙂
Tron79,
Let me raise my hand.
I have managed to abandon more than one episode of GOT in mid-episode.
Most recently “Beyond the Wall” lost my attention. The stunt work, set design, art direction was good but the whole plan/script was awful. After the group settled on the frozen lake, I attended to other matters as boredom set in. I saw some snippets as the TV remained on, but it was a piss poor effort by GOT. Next day, I caught up with recaps in the press (and some youtube/film clips) to see how the whole mess ended.
I expect Season 8 to keep me riveted.
OK. I guess there is at least one person then. I have to admit, I get much more out of the episode after watching behind the scenes. Just seeing how they created the man-made lake and some of the other elements of the behind the scenes package made the episode better for me after re-watching. It was a stupid plan, but Jon was never known for his smarts. The problem was it was actually Tyrion’s plan. I doubt GRRM will include that plan in the book version. It just seemed out of character for Tyrion. And in the end, it didn’t really convince Cersei, other than her thinking she could let the Army of the Dead take care of her enemies. BTW, the crypt promo was awesome. It was on YouTube just about immediately, so I re-watched it 3 or 4 times. I loved getting to see Arya again. The scene was reminiscent to the scene in the House of Black and White when Arya saw her own face. I guess there still is some truth to Ned saying that Jon had his blood, but it’s really Ned’s sister’s blood. It would be cool if someone would add an overdub for Lyanna to the promo saying…’you mean my blood”
I hope you are wrong about delaying the trailer to March Jack. You mentioned the trailer usually drops about two months before the premiere so a Super Bowl timing appears to work nicely.
On a personal note 14th April means I can watch the first four episodes before I leave on family vacation but I will miss the final two unless I can find a way to watch in the USA.