It appears the floodgates for last month’s press junket have opened, as we’re being barraged by so many interviews with most of the main Game of Thrones cast. As usual, don’t expect them to accidentally spoil anything about season eight—they’re all old pros at this, after all—, but damn it if their stories from the set aren’t hilarious—and when they aren’t, they’re quite affecting. Take a peek of these interviews below the cut!
Speaking to news.com.au, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner are hesitant to discuss their feelings towards their characters’ fates. Though Williams concedes she is “of course” satisfied, she does add that “it would just make yourself feel sad if you were negative about what happened to you.” Or, as Turner more bluntly puts it: “It’s like ‘tough luck,’ we filmed it now. That’s the end.” She adds: “I’m at peace with it. That’s a good way to say it. We’ll say it like that from now — I’m at peace with my ending.”
As for how their sisterly relationship will look like in this final season, thankfully conflict is behind them. “They’re both mature enough now to not ever go back [to mistrusting each other],” Maisie claims, and Sophie agrees: “Instead of seeing each other’s differences as a threat, they appreciate it and they want to utilize it together to make them stronger … I think they both start to see a lot more of the challenges one another faces and I think for both of them, they have the utmost respect for each other.”
At NewsAsia, the Stark women are joined by Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion), Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane) and Kristofer Hivju (Tormund), who look back to their first and last days on Game of Thrones, and reveal which item they brought home from their characters, including a spoilerific scroll and an… “eye thong”:
Meanwhile, Emilia Clarke revealed to Movistar+ she will miss Dany’s “clear-sighted, straight-backed calmness” most of all, and that, despite the many green screen scenes her character had, “when you do a scene that is genuinely in front of 300 people, that is powerful. It’s empowering! And you can’t hide from it. The camera sees everything.”
Clarke also told Associated Press, via Independent, that she “walked around London for three hours aimlessly” after reading the scripts for the final season. “It might as well have been raining and I would’ve just walked in it not knowing what to do,” she jokes.
Finally, at Harper’s Bazaar, she discusses how the season will begin for Dany: “She starts feeling pretty cocksure and confident, and then stuff happens,” Clarke teases regarding her arrival in Winterfell. “You play into what it feels like for the character, because it’s new and it’s odd, and you’re coming into someone else’s turf,” she says. “A lot of actors that you know really well were like, ‘This is our home,’ and you’re like, ‘I know this only from the television; I’ve never been in this space here before in my life.’ But also I must admit for the character… I felt for her. I was like, ‘Yes! Here we are! We’re in, we’re speaking with Sansa, we are that much closer.’ It felt great. Very, very exhilarating.”
Speaking of Sansa, Emilia says “it was lovely” to finally film with Sophie Turner, who she considers a really good friend. “It was very silly, like, ‘Oh! We’re doing this now, we’re having like an actor discussion,’ as opposed to just me and Sophie. With all of those scenes meeting new people, it felt like every day was a little party.”
As for her final shoot on Game of Thrones, Emilia admits she “started to do a little speech, not because I’m a pretentious actor, but because every time we said goodbye to a character, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], the showrunners, would give us a gift and the crew would be around and everyone would stop and you’d sort of say a few words and it was really beautiful,” but it didn’t go quite as planned: “I got three words in before I just completely broke down. You just hold it in and you’re holding it in and you’re holding it in, and then I just burst into tears like a complete idiot.”
FYI, Emilia Clarke’s name is mentioned twice in the heading.
I’m seeing double! 🙂
Mr Derp,
Oops.
33 days! #ForTheThrone
I am SO hyped about Daenerys and Sansa´s meeting! yes there will be tension at first but I think they will come closer, friends? I would love that, but maybe just really good allies, I guess Sansa will convince the (stupid) northern lords to bend the knee or propose a marriage alliance between the two of them, maybe if they both survive the battle of WF (and Misandei dies) Sansa will become a trsuted advisor of Daenerys.
They need each other, they are literally the only two political women in the “good guys side”, I hope they see each other not as Targaryen and Stark but as Daenerys and Sansa, two amazing women who have been through hell and back and find themselves in positions of power against all odds.
Por cierto, ¡Luka! ¡maño! ¡eres un grande! que nunca he tenido la oportunidad de hablar nuestra lengua en esta página hahaha
They were in tears? Wait till we all finish the series. I took the day off after the finale because I will definitely be in mourning!
Don’t know if anyone commented on this but the guy on reddit who guessed when the 1st trailer was coming is now saying that the 2nd one is coming March 28th and I’m pretty excited since 2nd trailers have always been longer.
Roberta Baratheon,
I’m thinking of doing the same!!!
Saw that too. Second trailers sometimes are spliced with footage from the first trailer, so longer doesn’t necessarily mean more footage then the first.
Ey, ¡otro hispanohablante! Está bien volver a escribir en la lengua natal de vez en cuando 😉 ¿De dónde eres?
Yep, we’re just inside of 5 weeks. Before you know it, it’ll be 3 weeks to go.
What’s his username?
Started my series rewatch today. Damn, season 1 is so damn good. If the final season can be even half as good, I’ll be happy.
Just approaching the end of season 5 in my series rewatch. It does get flak because of certain scenes and the high standards of seasons 1 – 4, but damn there are still many great moments, like when Cersei gets owned by the High Sparrow to name just one…
marvin123450
Yeah, but we might get more insight to the footage we have already seen, but nonetheless I have always liked 2nd trailers more, they are just more hype IMO.
Thx I saw his/her posts and comments. I thought the person who posted about the first trailer was someone else…but maybe I’m misremembering.
steff666,
Awesome about a second trailer. I’ll definitely watch it 100 times, but if it drops March 28 that will be about two weeks out, I’ll be ready to just watch the real thing by then. I won’t need the trailer anymore to keep me going. But I had to laugh at myself browsing YouTube on my Roku yesterday for yet another breakdown of the current trailer. I was thinking, “Ancient astronaut theorists believe….” as the person in the video was showing a teeny little blurry blob in the darkness of the background and swearing he knew what it was… I knew I had gone a video too far!
Anon,
He also predicted the BTS video so I would say it’s pretty much guaranteed we are getting the 2nd trailer on March 28th.
You’re not the only one. I am also pretty sure the 2nd one will be way more spoilery than the 1st.
Luka Nieto,
Hahaha te prometo que me he enterado de que eras hispanohablante hace dos minutos, escribes tan bien en inglés que pensaba que eras americano o algo, madre mía.
Pues soy de Zaragoza, España, ¿tú?
Dany’s fate is a huge enigma to me. It’s one of those things where I have absolutely no inkling of what’ll occur so I’m trying to suspend any guesses on the subject.
I am excited to see how she pairs with Sansa, and Arya as well. It seems like once they get beyond the initial awkwardness of the eventual parentage reveal, they could be great allies and confidants. But maybe that’s being too optimistic.
Isn’t that the truth. I read the first four books before the show started and ADwD when it released after S1. At that point I had no beliefs that Daenerys would die at the end of ASoIaF. I got to the point where I assumed (assume) she will get together with Jon and together they would “save Westeros.” Even after watching the entire series I don’t know that I would think Jon and Daenerys would die… if not for the internet. It’s all the people on the internet theorizing reasons for Daenerys to die, for one reason or another, good or bad, that has gotten me considering it a greater possibility.
Well hello Richard Dormer… excuse my squee-ing, which is normally reserved for Sexy Jesus, but Beric is looking so handsome in this video! Same with all the other fellas and the ladies, especially Gwen, are looking very lovely too!
Very curious about Sophie’s scroll as well. I wonder what it could be that would be of significance to her character personally as well as a huge spoiler for the show? Who is really left to be sending ravens? Maybe it’s a raven she sends to the maesters @ Oldtown? Or one that arrives for her from King’s Landing? Very very curious.
Clob,
Exactly! People feel like since Martin, and the showrunners love to subvert cliches, she’s bound for some unruly or disgraceful fate. And while it’s possible, it’s just hard to see an outcome where she isn’t in a favorable position at the end. I know things won’t be too easy for the budding queen in the last season, but her destiny has always been too abstract. Even speaking as a character, I think Dany thinks she knows what she wants, but we’ll end up seeing a stark paradigm shift as the last episodes go on.
What if it wasn’t for her, but like Roose did she reads the scrolls before she gives them to the intended party, and she finds treachery a foot?
Her Political skills have to be more impact full for S 8.
The way Maisie and Sophie are talking, it definitely sounds like one of their characters will not survive the series. The way Sophie was more “blunt” with her answer makes me think it’s Sansa that doesn’t survive and Maisie statement seems kind of lack sisterly “therapy” to help Sophie deal with it.
As for that scroll that Sophie took, I’m completely at a loss as to what it contains. Is it the rumored storyboard of her last scene that was given to her? Was her last scene her death? She says it took a long time to film. I imagine it would have been hell to film your character’s death scene over and over and have to keep your emotions in check. That could definitely be the cause of one of the “younger actors” emotionally breaking down and having to be consoled by Tyrion and others.
Richard is kind of ridiculously good looking. I mean, Rory is still my #1, but….
Augh, Liam kept the stags, my heart!
MaxFowler,
¡Yo pensé para meses que Luka era inglés, porque escribe mejor que la gran mayoría de americanos que conozco!
(Mis papás son americanos, nací e fuí creída en Brasil, y ahora tengo 38 años en los EUA. Luka es muy amable, pero pienso que lo espanté el año pasado durante Con of Thrones…)
Oooo I too am curious about Sophie’s “scroll” that’s a huge spoiler for Season 8? I wonder if it’s a raven or perhaps something Sam comes across? Did someone send it to her with new titles or is it a raven she sent to someone with a more permanent “Lady of Winterfell” title? Maisie, Sophie and Lena did confirm in the vogue interview that women take the centre stage and it was GRRM’s plan to “upend the patriarchy,” as Lena put it.
Also, Richard Dormer can get it. I never jumped on the Sexy Jesus bandwagon, but Richard Dormer in his civilian clothes? Yes please.
P.s. The chismosa I am reading the Spanish convo 👀🍿☕️
Nyke ȳdra daor gīmigon skoros jeme issi nūmāzma kesrio syt ñuha spanish iksis quba
MaxFowler,
“…I hope they see each other not as Targaryen and Stark but as Daenerys and Sansa, two amazing women who have been through hell and back and find themselves in positions of power against all odds.”
_________
I hope Dany realizes that through Rhaegar’s son and now-deceased wife, the Starks are her only “family.” If she has a bun in the oven, that’d be another connection to the Starks of WF. Aside from Sansa, Arya, Jon and RoboBran, she’s got no living relatives; and aside from WF she’s got no family “home.”
At least that’s how I see it, and how I interpreted Bran’s words in the trailer spoken to some unidentified person.
Re that scroll, I’d put my money on it being a scroll Sansa sent to someone, the logic being that the prop person thought she’d want it, so it must be personal to, and likely authored by, her character.
I’ll miss the Dragonqueen too when this is over. Dany is the character I found most inspiring. There is much to admire in her. I did not care for the mousy girl we met in the first episode, but Emilia did a great job of fleshing Dany out into a powerful woman.
Dark Sister,
“Also, Richard Dormer can get it. I never jumped on the Sexy Jesus bandwagon, but Richard Dormer in his civilian clothes? Yes please.”
——
I’m 99% straight on the gender fluidity spectrum, but if there’s anyone who could recruit me to play for the other team with just his voice, it’d be Richard Dormer.
I’m so glad Beric Dondarrion has lasted this long on the show. Ever since that S3 scene preceding Sandor’s trial by combat in the BwoB cave, when Sandor asks [something like] “… or is the little girl the bravest one here”, and Beric replies, “Aye. She may be. But it’s me you’ll fight”, I’ve been mesmerized by his voice.
I’ve also loved the repartee he’s got going with the Hound, especially in their theological discussion in S7e1.
Jeg for en er til fordel for det forente nasjoners stilforum…
Jon is Targaryen, not Stark. The baby she’s presumably carrying is uber-Targ in that it’s her and Jon’s child. Dragonstone is her family home, even though she said it didn’t feel like home because of the storms that greeted her arrival. If she doesn’t like Dragonstone’s decor, or it’s weather, she has King’s Landing which was built by her ancestors. Too bad that Cersai blew up the final resting place of all the Targs. Dany, or Jon won’t be able to pay their respects.
Dany is a queen and Jon is a king. I don’t know what the Starks are at this point.
I find it inconceivable that Dany will turn her back on her family’s proud history to take up an alien family in decline. That being said, of course she’ll be pleased for her child to have ‘aunts’ and an ‘uncle’.
I hope Sansa doesn’t blow it.
Ha! Leave it to Davos to think of backing in a U-Haul to try to cart away memorabilia from the set! Good to hear that he got the carved wooden stag for his daughter.
After hearing the comments of Maisie and Sophie about the relation between the Stark sisters in season 8 I am really looking forward to that aspect of the show!
Sansa and Arya who respect each other, understand the challenges the other has faced and see their differences as an advantage and not a threat are a force to be reckoned with.
Well, I have to say, that may be the last thing I would want to give my daughter.
Anon,
Jon is half-Stark by blood*, and full Stark by upbringing. I consider my sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law to be my “family”, and they consider themselves to be my family. Their children – my nieces and nephews – are our family’s next generation, regardless of their last names.
Dany’s got no real connection to Dragonstone, other than being born there. KL is a foul-smelling dumb according to everyone from Olenna to Davos to the S7e1 friendly Lannister soldiers – and ought to be razed if it’s not destroyed in the upcoming Great War first. That’s not Dany’s home either: It’s where her father was slain and where her two young cousins were slaughtered and mutilated by the Mountain.
That’s why I surmised that Bran is talking to Dany and about WF when he says (in the trailer) that everything that (unidentifed) person has been through brought her to where she belongs: home.
*Ned to Jon, S1: “You may not have my name, but you have my blood.”
Myr,
Sansa & Arya. The Dynamic Duo. I’m on board.
👸🏻➕🕊
“…Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner are hesitant to discuss their feelings towards their characters’ fates. Though Williams concedes she is “of course” satisfied, she does add that “it would just make yourself feel sad if you were negative about what happened to you.” Or, as Turner more bluntly puts it: “It’s like ‘tough luck,’ we filmed it now. That’s the end.” She adds: “I’m at peace with it. That’s a good way to say it. We’ll say it like that from now — I’m at peace with my ending.”
__________
“Feeling sad” if you’re “negative” and “tough luck.” I’m trying not to read too much into these statements. 😩
Ten Bears,
10/10 would buy ASOIAF audiobooks if Richard narrated them.
Well, remember they are not allowed to spoil anything, and they could be misleading in their statements – its happened before – reading all these interviews really gets me depressed, like Sophie said “we filmed it now. That’s the end.”
… need to resist reading them. I hope the next book comes out after the show finishes, I’ll need it to recover and renew my hope that maybe it will end a little differently in the books for some of my favs… see they are not dead (yet) 🙂
I feel pretty certain that Sansa will definitely survive. Arya I’m 50/50 on. I hope she does obviously as she’s my second favorite character. I feel good about Bran’s chances as well. Aegon/Dany/all Lannisters will perish.
Edit: I also think most secondary characters will fall Missandei/Grey Worm/Jorah/Varys/Gendry/Tormund/Edd/Beric/Melisandre
MaxFowler,
Pues no estamos tan lejos. Soy de Donosti, Euskadi 😉
Wolfish,
¡No, no me espantaste! You didn’t scare me off, seriously. I remember you, I think! (I’m bad at names, but I do remember I met a woman who introduced herself as Wolf girl or Wolfish or the like?). I’m just not a very social person until I get to know someone more. A con is a high stress situation for me. I’ve enjoyed both times a lot, but I couldn’t make it through the 3 whole days either time. Had to take a morning of alone time, both years.
Clob,
My Valyrian is worse 😛
In a typical family, there’s full disclosure on identity. This is no typical family. In the absolute, blood doesn’t matter so much…unless it’s deliberately kept a secret in a world where identity is everything, and that identity was kept away from Jon. It’s not enough that he was proximate to the Starks, it’s how he was treated and the decisions that were made on his behalf.
I’m not suggesting that Jon won’t feel affection for his sisters, but there’ll be some bitterness about being treated with scorn by Sansa and Cat, in particular.
Yes, KL has turned into a stinking cesspool of murder and betrayal, which in Westeros, is otherwise known as a fixer-upper. Dany’s family was deposed through rebellion by Robert and his buddy, Nedd Stark; still, she doesn’t appear to hold that against his presumed son, Jon. This level of intrigue would put a great strain on the typical family that you describe at the top.
Jon is a Stark. His mother is a Stark. He has Stark blood running through his veins.
Edit* Nvm, TB got it
Interesting posts of late, getting very excited (it’s spring break so I started my rewatch Sunday ) thinking what ending would make me happy would be passing on the torch to the next gen and start rebuilding. Sansa and tion reunite and become reagents to babes of dany and Cersie breaking the wheel and starting anew. All the living work to create a new world.
Probably not bittersweet enough, but a girl can dream.
Oh and arya kills cercie wearing Jamie’s face
Back to rewatchin, starting on 3
Oh, I don’t doubt it. I hope he/she comes through with a time.
Waarom spreekt iedereen in een anderen taal vandaag? Wat heb ik gemist?
Che,
Hoi! Dag medetaalgenoot! Maar jij bent van Nederland dacht ik he? Ik woon in Vlaanderen.
Che,
You missed nothing, don’t worry 😛 Someone got excited to discover I’m a native Spanish speaker, as they are, and it escalated from there.
Chilli,
Hoi! Ik was daar geboren and woonden in Zuid-Holland tot ik achtien was. Mijn ouders zijn Engels, maar ik ging naar een Nederlandse basis school – dus mijn Nederlands is dat van een elf-jaar-oud kind die niet gesproken heeft in twintig jaar of zo- niet zo goed!!
Chilli,
Sjonge Che en Chilli, dat had ik nooit geraden. Lekker bezig in het Engels ;-).
My name’s a little bit more telling.
Luka Nieto,
Pensándolo bien, el apellido es claramente hispano, jejeje! Cómo no se me había ocurrido antes? Saludos desde Santo Domingo 😀
I’ve got my list of the living going and at this point (it changes often) these are the characters I expect to live: Dany, Missandei/Grey Worm*, The Hound, Arya, Bran, Brienne**, Gendry, Tyrion***, Davos, Sam, Gilly, Theon, Lyanna M – pretty much everyone else will probably die. Or I’ve got it backwards, or multiple other possible outcomes… I will really miss this show when it’s gone. Trying to figure it all out is more than half the fun 🙂
* We need one happy ending and everyone’s expected him to die for at least 3 seasons now so letting him live would actually be the shock, not killing him
** I’d like to think we get a scene of Brienne filling out the many pages detailing Ser Jaime Lannister’s heroic deeds in the book of the Kingsguard
*** I think he will live but he will be banished/lose everything because of whatever deal he made with Cersei.
ash,
I don’t know. They’ve fired the face-peeling “gun” three times already. I don’t want the show to turn into the old “Mission Impossible” TV show, where every week some character – usually the villain – peeled off a face mask to reveal one of the M.I. team members underneath. Nor do I want to watch every scene in S8 thinking that the character I’m looking at is really Arya in disguise.
Using the face-peeling trick in the S7 cold open should be the last time we see that. It’s time for our Warrior Princess to show off her martial arts skills – which I presume was the purpose of her sparring scene with Brienne in S7e4, and Brienne’s report card to Sandor about Arya’s progress in S7e7.
I agree about Sam. I think he’s the safest character right above Sansa. So I believe Gilly will survive as well. I agree about Brienne and would LOVE that ending for her you mentioned.
I just can’t see Dany/Missandei/Grey Worm all making it out of this.
Night King is a goner as well as Undead Viserion.
Euron will fall.
I can’t see Theon surviving either. He will die rescuing Yara.
I’m uncertain about Davos and The Hound, but I’m leaning towards both falling.
What do you think are the fates of Drogon and Rhaegal?
Oops?
GoT goes Babylon?
:oD
Che,
Chilli,
Dutch Maester,
We zijn met zoveel nederlandstaligen hier! Stel je voor!
Jack Bauer 24,
Ok, so the “easy way out” for Theon is death, His character has certainly earned it. But we can’t have 2 characters with exactly the same arc (Theon and Jaime) of redemption/sacrifice. For Theon, the harder path would be as the last surviving Greyjoy (show only), eking out respect morsel by morsel from the hardened Iron Islanders who have nowhere else to look for a leader. So many great houses have been wiped off the map. I’d love to see Theon rebuild his house, brick by brick though there is the messy business of an heir… eh, we’ll figure that out later 😛
I think the dragons are all toast 🙁 Dany will have used them to get the throne, but will have to rule without them. Either that, or all the legendary dragons (of Winterfell, Dragonstone, and the Wall) will all hatch and it will be dragon mayhem! But yeah, Dany and her 3 dragons, who lived less than 10 years will be the stuff of legend for generations of Westerosi/Essosi. You’ll have Old Nan type figures 80 years from “now” saying they even saw Dany riding her dragon when they were small and little noble children rolling their eyes like the Starks did during Old Nan’s tales 🙂
Pigeon,
Hey, that’s Norwegian. I used to be able to speak and understand it when I was young. I can still recognize it, but I have no idea what you said. 🙂
_________
That’s a good assumption. It’d make sense that the scroll was authored by Sansa and as Sophie T. hints, contains vital information.
But to whom would Sansa send a scroll (presumably, via raven)?
As far as I can remember, she knows some of the NW brothers at CB; Robyn Arryn in the Vale; possibly Tyrion if he’s not with Team Dany in WF; or, heaven forfend, Cersei in KL. Maybe the skeptical Maesters at the Citadel who disregarded Sam’s urgent request and didn’t take Wolkan’s ravengram seriously, dismissing it as a possible ruse by Dany or the imaginings of a crippled boy talking to magic bird?
Unless… Jon and Dany have decided to go on a dragon-riding sightseeing tour north of the Wall and Sansa has to notify them “Hey you two! Now might be a good time to cut short your little honeymoon. The Army of the Dead is on our doorstep.”. Nah, that doesn’t make sense. Dany and Jon are more aware of the imminent threat than anyone – even without knowing about the breach of the Wall.
So, who could it be?
Laura,
Your #2 (Brienne recording Jaime’s historic deeds) brought tears to my ears. That would be wonderful!
Jack Bauer 24,
Yeah, I agree that Sam has a 90% chance of surviving. Just so long as S8 doesn’t end with Sam sitting in front of a desk trying to chronicle the events that just took place – but he’s paralyzed with writer’s block and can’t finish the tale.
I will firmly stand by my conviction that both of them survive until proven wrong by seeing it happen on screen. Interviews and quotes and piecing together foreshadowing can all be misleading. I still think one of the better ways to predict character fates is to look at the journey they’ve been on and try to get some insight into what the writer(s) are trying to say with their story and how that relates to the overall story and tone that they want to achieve.
Awesome! I have never been able to speak it well at all, words on a page are much easier for my very limited understanding! I think that second languages are often that way – I can read French fairly well, but conversational…nope. You kind of need to be immersed in it I think. I’m Canadian with Norwegian roots, and took very informal Norwegian language classes when I was younger. I was much better at the traditional folk dancing. 😜 I would so love to go back to Norway someday, it’s been 25 years and I was just a kid.
Anyhoo, I don’t know if I even remotely got my phrasing correct, but I was meaning that I liked that we had a real United Nations theme going on here today. 😁
Laura,
I am very surprised that you think Theon and Jaime have exactly the same arc. I have never understood it that way. I will need to consider that.
Bufferzone,
I really hope that Brienne’s arc comes to an end that is much more satisfactory than the sad, lonely woman in tower writing some sentences in a book. I suppose she would be writing in a book as she has settled to a life as a servant/security guard to the Starks/Targs. She could at least go back to Tarth to take up her role there. She is the only woman in the story that was actually brought up/trained to rule her house/island.
Clob,
😂😂😂
Ten Bears,
Ser Davos would’ve succeeded where Liam Cunningham failed in getting that U-Haul past the gates and smuggling half the props department out of there.
They’d probably be uploaded to PornHub.
Luka Nieto,
Totally understood!!! I absolutely loved Con, but I had to take some alone time as well. All that humanity is exhilarating for a short while, and then it’s exhausting!
Bufferzone,
I’m reminded that I’m looking forward to a one-on-one scene between Jaime and Jon. Though they saw each other at the Dragonpit summit, I think the last and only time they spoke to each other was in S1e2. (Link to scene below.) Back then, Jaime was a pompous swordfighter goofing on an inexperienced, NW-bound Jon. Now, the dynamic is completely different. Jon’s a battle-hardened leader, and Jaime may be asking to serve with him or under him. (Though I’m hoping Team Jon & Dany realize that Jaime is the best battle commander amongst them, and that they put aside past animosities and let the “Good Jaime” regain his honor,)
She could give Baby Bear some pointers before heading home. 🙂
Wolfish,
She could. She smiled in approval when Baby Bear spoke up in the meeting. Bearbaby may has some lessons to share as well.
Baby Bear runs Bear Island now but was not necessarily expected to do so. I think Baby Bear got into the job because of a series of Mormont deaths due to war.
Mango,
Addition to previous comment:
Plus she is too young to have had sufficient prep. But she is doing ok. I hope she makes it out alive.
I wonder how she feels about bending the knee.
Pigeon,
Ha! Same — Canadian with Norwegian roots. I used to be able to speak Norwegian fluently when I was young, but it’s almost completely gone now. I recognize words here and there, but I couldn’t for the life of me keep a conversation going. 🙂 Being immersed in the language helps immensely to learn it. It’s been ages since I visited, but when I did it didn’t take long for the basics to come rushing back.
Rewatched twice now this year! Seasons 3-4 were decidedly AMAZING edge of seat. Took a dip in 5-6 with confusing stories that didn’t tie in as nicely as a GRRM work.
Did you notice all the darker hair in earlier episodes of season 1? Ned had almost black hair, then it lightened up later in season. A few other characters hair was dyed dark at first too. Made me wonder if they spliced in some of the pilot scenes to save money back then.
One of the great aspects of the show is this deep in, there are so many ways the story could end for each character. Based on some of the comments Emilia Clarke has made about her ambivalent response to the end of her character arc, some hints Iian Glenn has made, and her vision in the house of the undying, I predict Jon and Daenerys will both survive and rule over a wrecked but reforming Westeros, with Daenerys focused on being the Mother of (human) Dragons and renewing the Targaryen line, as opposed to being the Queen of the Andals etc. This return to a more traditional female trope will disappoint many of her fans (and me for that matter). Maybe I am just bracing for that!
Luka Nieto,
Pues tontea que yo voy muchísimo a Sanse jajajajaj, que mi tia vive practicamente ahí y suelo ir todos los veranos unos dias.
Podriamos quedar y hablar de Juego de Tronos y Canción de Fuego y Hielo, sep, estoy un poco solo con mi frikismo jajajajaja.
Espero no espantarte, que esto queda un pelín raro lol.
Clob,
Emilia had an interview last year where she said of Dany in S8 that it “f*cked” her up to think that “ this is the taste that people will be left with in their mouths of who Dany is…” and that they had her doing a lot of “ weird sh*t”….it sounded ominous. Coupled together with the fact that she seems most likely to win I fully expect her to die in “subverted tropes fashion.” I’m prepping myself for her death to be the Ned Stark shocker of Season 8
Ten Bears,
I was rewatching season one this week and I too realised how intrigued I am by the reunion with Jaime and Jon. Jaime had negative interactions with many Starks when he was last in Winterfell; I really am intrigued to see how his reunions with many of them are going to go – most notably with Bran of course.
Episode Title Predictions
S8 E1 – “The Things I do for Love”
S8 E2 – “I am the Storm”
S8 E3 – “The Enemy Always Wins”
S8 E4 – “Seven Hells”
S8 E5 – “You Win or You Die”
S8 S6 – “Now it Ends”
Correction:
S8 E6 – “And now, my watch has ended”
Olli,
I don’t have predictions for all of them, but I would like to see Episode 70 (Season 8 ep 3) to be “Not Today” Most likely it’s going to be “The Long Night”.
I’m also not totally convinced the run time for episode 70 is set yet. I see it on the HBO site with the hidden link, but it’s still an even number and it’s possible the actual run time didn’t come in yet. The only thing that wrecks my theory is that episode 4 isn’t an even number and says 1 hour and 18 minutes…but the others are very even to be correct at 1 hour, 1 hour and 20 minutes and 1 hour and 20 minutes. Anyhoo… I’m voting for “Not Today” for episode 70.
They did. You can tell which scenes were from the pilot too. Ned Stark’s hair is slicked back in the pilot, while his hair looks drier and less slicked back in the later shots. Tyrion’s hair in the brothel scene also makes him look like an oompa-loompa. It’s definitely from the pilot.
The scene with Ned and Robert in the crypts is definitely from the pilot too. Same with the dinner feast. Though, the scene with Jon and Tyrion is most likely from a later shot because Tyrion’s hair looks more normal.
MaxFowler,
Si te pasas por Donosti dime. Por Twitter, mejor.
Thank you, Mr. Derp, for confirming my suspicions! And that D&D are probably wise to make sure the pilot is never seen!
The skill set acquired along their journey as producers has been amazing.
The regular link will show on Sunday, so who knows, maybe it’ll change. Or it could change even later. Or it could be exactly 60 minutes as it’s listed now. I’m not sure if the runtimes have changed in the past after showing on the schedule, hidden or not.
https://twitter.com/JamesHibberd/status/1105868346036273154
HBO exec said comment referred to quality, not length. Said if they were going to do 2 hour episodes they would have just done 2 episodes instead.
Tron79,
I have the same feeling about the espisode lenghts, and it’s quite possible that Davit Nutter who directed Ep 1,2 and 4 has already finished his final cut, while Miguel Sapochnik and D&D are still working. That may especially be true in regard to Miguel’s episodes. Both of his episodes are supposed to be action packed and he seems to be very determined not to overfeed us with action. So, indeed he might be still cutting seconds here and there and polishing his masterpiece(s) to the state of perfection.
Inga,
I like your theory about David Nutter finishing his final cuts. I can go with that… It makes alot of sense.
Maybe the French channel will be more correct with episode 3 being closer to 80 minutes, but maybe not… I have a feeling though they won’t be exactly 60 or 80 minutes.
I think Sansa is toast, perhaps dying to save Arya in an interesting twist from the start of the series, where she could absolutely not stand her sister. She’s changed so much from the silly, tournaments-and-love-stories obsessed little girl that she once was. The entire future she saw for her self just blew up in her face during this story, time after time. I don’t see how she moves forward once all the fighting settles down and all of her former ideas about what she wants out of life have been proven so false. The tricky part for me is what that means for Arya…she has insisted from the start that she is no lady, but considering who remains of the Starks, the death of Sansa would make Arya the best candidate for “the Stark always in Winterfell”. Perhaps she will accept the role of Lady of Winterfell, but it she will own what that means in a way that’s more true to herself? I guess a lot of this hinges on how much we can trust that the will of the characters has any role in their actual destiny. I’d prefer if we could trust that, but I’m not sure that’s how it’s gonna play out.
Tron79,
IMO, the French channel made some error regarding the lengt of Ep 3: other sources (like Vladimir Furdic his Majesty the Night King) always said that the battle will be about an hour and it was hard to believe that Ep 3 will include some other story line. And I concur that the exact time is still being adjusted, though the exact length may become known only after the episode airs: if Miguel Saposhnik is cutting out some minutes, he’d better keep it secret as fans are already freaking out;).
Anyway, it all looks reasonable. Ep 1, 2 and 3 can be seen as one movie focusing on the battle of Winterfell and they make about 3 hours in total, which is a rather standard runtime for a movie. Ep 4 and 5 also can be seen as a movie focusing on King’s Landing – again with a rather standard runtime of 2 and a half hours +. And the finale will wrap the aftermath. So, all in all we still get like 3 movies, just as promised.
One tinfoil thought to explain Emilia’s worries about how her character will be seen:
The Army of the Dead suffer heavy losses at Winterfell, but stagger south, with the surviving humans having fled Winterfell ahead of them. Sam has learned, partially from Bran, how to unmake the Night’s King, but they need to lay hands on him for it and can’t reach him. As the reduced Army of the Dead approach King’s Landing, Dany and Cersei confer and decide the only way to prevent the million-strong population of King’s Landing from becoming wights is to — wait for it! — “Burn Them All.” Dany goes all Dracharys on most of King’s Landing, blowing up the caches of Wildfire underneath the city, making the Sept of Baelor look like a misdemeanor. At the end, she double-crosses Cersei, by also detonating the cache of wildfire under the Red Keep.
As all this happens, Sam grapples the Night’s King and removes the dagger of dragon glass from his chest, unmaking him back into a First Man, and rendering the destruction of King’s Landing unnecessary. Oops, so sorry!
Re: Sophie’s scroll, first thing that jumped to my mind is something declaring her heir to the throne, simply because Sophie would LOVE that lol. (That’s not a dig, would be a super cool thing to have framed on your wall)
Winterkat,
I wonder if it’s not the scroll she sent Little Finger asking for help against Ramsay? That was a defining moment for her in the series…having the Vale army show up to support her and defeat the man who tormented her. It was a real turning point in her character arc – she went from victim to Lady of Winterfell and is finally in control of her life. That being said I like your theory too!
Inga,
Your logic makes sense. I really have a hard time guessing what episodes 4 and 5 will be about, but the way you outlined it is probably right. I guess I’ll check on Sunday and see if HBO updated anything.
Tensor the Mage, Who Loves How Much Sophie Turner Loves Trolling the Fandom,
Ha! I like this scenario!
kathy,
She said it was a spoiler for Season 8, so that’s probably not it.
1. As the marketing heats up – I hope that Peter Dinklage does some more media work for this season. He often just vanishes into the privacy of his own life and other projects. Dink is the lead actor – in the objective sense of his name is up first on each episode and his 3 Emmys. I imagine that NCW will start appearing in some group interviews. He is also doing some individual cover stories in print.
2. The marketing has a lot of GOT product promotions as should be expected. Some very nice things. I think they are doing a good job.
3. On the deaths – I do not expect many deaths/exits, well not more than 33% of the name characters. That magic characters are at the highest risk in my view.
I deciding to try not To look for more spoiler, I think I am happy about the absence of confirmed spoiler at this point, in fact I find the NK actor a bit to revealing I was happy To know we will learn about their motivation but it is just that the target seem to specific so now I am a bit unsure to read all interview I do it with caution eyes to see the risk. Lol! Dany is one of my favorite and I do fear she will die in a big sacrifice and see her weiring so much white do not help to erase this feeling! Will see! I Also like jon, arya and tyrion so yeah basically I am like a casual watcher! But, I did read some of the book and the lack of complexity does brother me a bit now.
Nick,
You mean Arya “I Don’t Want to Be a Lady/I’m Not a Lady” Stark compelled by circumstances to become Lady of Winterfell?
That would be a … b_____s___t ending for her.
Nick,
Sansa dying at this stage would feel like nihilistic nonsense. Anything is possible, but it wouldn’t ring true, as far as I’m concerned.
I can’t see how it would move the plot forward or change any other characters’ perspectives this late in the game. I mean, would it make Jon want to kill the Night King or Arya kill Cersei any more than they already do? It seems a rather redundant plot device at this stage.
I don’t think there’s any need for her to prove or redeem herself at this stage either. She and Arya are reconciled. She’s validated and apologised to Jon. She’s experienced nothing but sacrifice and suffering to get back to where she belongs. Martyring herself for her family also seems redundant at this stage.
The main crux and irony of Sansa’s journey has already been fulfilled. She was the least Stark of the Starks. “Prayed to be somewhere else” than Winterfell. Lost her direwolf, permanently, long before any of the other Stark kids, which began a prolonged lesson in not taking home and family for granted.
Yet of all the trueborn Stark kids it is she who finds herself the head of House Stark and with the responsibility of overseeing its future. More so once Jon is revealed to be a trueborn Targaryen, even if he personally stays true to his Stark roots.
“I am a Stark. I will always be a Stark”
“No, but I do (have the Stark name)”
“Winterfell is your home… Always. You’re a Stark. Dyeing your hair doesn’t change that. You’re Sansa Stark. Eldest surviving child of Ned and Catelyn Stark. Your place is in The North.”
“…they repay me by trying to steal the key to The North out from under me…. The Young Wolf has lost half his army. His days are numbered. Theon Greyjoy killed both his brothers. That makes Sansa Stark the heir to Winterfell.”
*builds Winterfell out of snow*
It’s been pretty heavily implied throughout the seasons that the point of Sansa’s arc is to take the place at the head of House Stark with a greater appreciation of her role.
Of course, there’s still the possibility of further twists. There might not be a North left by the end of the season. And I’d be a fool to state with confidence that any character will survive this show. I’m just outlining how Sansa’s death would appear narratively redundant at this point.
It’d feel particularly cruel to throw away all that characterisation at the final hurdle for what would be little more than cheap shock value.
firstone,
Nice job.
I have no suggestions myself..
Tensor the Mage, Who Loves How Much Sophie Turner Loves Trolling the Fandom,
Nice job!
How is an arc starting with the ‘ugly’ woman stuck in a deeply flawed, celibate order that progresses to the woman understanding the nuances of oaths and loyalty and hearing why the Kingsguard is such a terrible organisation whilst simultaneously experiencing a mutual love that shows her she doesn’t have to settle for serving others because she can never get love for herself, only to end up stuck back in said celibate order somehow satisfying? It’s tragic!
Brienne stuck in the KG utterly undermines her entire arc. Brienne’s story has been all about reconciling her identity as a warrior to her romantic desires and wish to be recognised as a woman, as well as exploring the pitfalls and dangers of unthinking loyalty. Ending up in a celibate organisation that demands blind obedience is not a good conclusion to that arc.
Mango,
This! So much! How is an arc starting with the ‘ugly’ woman stuck in a deeply flawed, celibate order that progresses to the woman understanding the nuances of oaths and loyalty and hearing why the Kingsguard is such a terrible organisation whilst simultaneously experiencing a mutual love that shows her she doesn’t have to settle for serving others because she can never get love for herself, only to end up stuck back in said celibate order somehow satisfying? It’s tragic!
Brienne stuck in the KG utterly undermines her entire arc. Brienne’s story has been all about reconciling her identity as a warrior to her romantic desires and wish to be recognised as a woman, as well as exploring the pitfalls and dangers of unthinking loyalty. Ending up in a celibate organisation that demands blind obedience is not a good conclusion to that arc.
Ramsay's 20th Good Man,
I see things totally different. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really been into Sansa’s character and I have only seen minimal character growth from her, I would be very satisfied with her sacrificing her life for Arya, Bran, or Jon. Clearly you feel differently but I still think she has a lot to still prove on the family loyalty subject.
The scripts from last year showed that Sansa was still under Littlefinger’s influence up until his execution (despite D&D doing a terrible job of making that clear). So much so that I cannot be 100% certain that Jon’s parentage reveal won’t have some negative impact on Sansa… In the promo, they showed Sansa & we heard Cat saying all this pain because she couldn’t love a motherless child.
That could be foreshadowing that Sansa will face one last test of whether she can accept Jon’s rule/leadership once she finds out he’s a Targ and not a Stark by name. Will she try to press her claim? If Jon is captured or in need of help, would she risk or give her life to save him (like he did with Rickon despite the odds) or will she abandon him and see it as an opportunity to press her claim (as she semi did with Rickon; namely the abandoning him part)?
In fact, I feel she still has to reconcile her callous abandonment of Rickon to die and lack of emotion when his dead corpse was wheeled into Winterfell. Her risking giving up her own life for someone other than herself (namely her family) would be a great closure for her character arc in my eyes. I couldn’t think of a better way for her character to meet her end. As Sansa Stark with no qualms or hesitation about it.
Because I assure you that Jon, Arya, and even Bran (before he became the full fledged 3 eyed raven & maybe even still) would all give their lives to save her. No one can say for certain that Sansa would do the same because her character has never shown herself to be willing to sacrifice herself for her kin.
Aegon the IceDragon,
So sorry I only read this thread today (sodding flu!). You’re right–she had no family loyalty until she ran the family, which means she expects loyalty from them. GRRM partly blames her for Ned’s death (in the books). Hopefully she has it now. But I find her unworthy of being the head of House Stark due to her cumulative choosing to favour herself over every other Stark. The script also shows that when Bran said he wouldn’t be Lord Stark, she was secretly relieved. How many times did she query Arya if she had a problem with Sansa being Lady Stark? And of course the script also says Arya was right about Sansa wanting power, and Sansa knew it. I don’t necessarily want to see Sansa to sacrifice herself, but I want her to be willing to sacrifice herself and/or her desires. She takes so she needs to give. She was surely willing to sacrifice Rickon. She didn’t even try to save him and certainly didn’t want Jon to try. Not even try.
Aegon the IceDragon,
None of my replies to you are showing up, which is so infuriating.
Ramsay’s 20th Good Man,
I hate that crap too. Keep trying. I could use a good discussion to help get through these next 30 days.
Aegon the IceDragon,
I’ve tried about 10 times now. Tried splitting into multiple parts, which occasionally works. Tried removing all effects like italics and bold type. Tried breaking up words that might be filtered.
I don’t think the site’s gonna play ball and I can’t be bothered to try re-wording everything I had to say.
Basically, she has put her safety at risk for her family (Joffrey, Ramsay) and sacrificed a great deal to re-establish their family. While her siblings have also abandoned their duty to their family at various points. Therefore I don’t think she has anything to prove; nor do I see how sacrificing herself would be a worthwhile end to her story or add anything to the narrative.
The Rickon thing is a particularly harsh interpretation of her behaviour. I didn’t see Jon bawling his eyes out over his death either. And there are multiple other examples of her expressing affection for her siblings and family members. Again, I don’t see what she has to prove, nor why she has to die to do so.
FFS. Typical.
I’ve been away this past week but is anyone else struggling to keep up with all these new articles? Don’t get me wrong I love them but wow we are getting a lot now in the ramp up the red carpet premiere in a couple of weeks.
As for the article itself not too much to go on there. Emilia potentially gives away that there will be some friction but I think everyone had guessed that and I’d imagine it will have calmed down between her and Sansa by episode 3. Still can’t get my head around Maisie with pink hair but glad she feels empowered enough to do what she wants.
I must admit I didn’t expect a second trailer and probably neither do I want one. I just want to go in not knowing what is happening. A 2nd trailer on spoils small pieces of that.
Sansa for me at least is one of the most annoying characters in the story but at this stage I’d be very surprised if she doesn’t survive and end up lady of Winterfell. Agree on the secondary characters some of them like Jorah/Greyworm/Beric have already surpassed their sell by date.
On the other side Arya is one of my favourite characters, I really hope she doesn’t die and feel relatively confident she survives.
whateverdgaf,
WORD.
Sansa’s behavior has often infuriated me—I’m probably prejudiced because I was never a vapid girly girl, and I simply can’t identify with her—but I’m in full agreement with you here. Sansa was, after all, the person who exhorted Jon to fight by forcefully stating, He has our brother. I think her seeming coldness during the face-to-face meeting with Ramsay and after the battle weren’t evidence of uncaring, but rather, of steeling herself to inevitable loss and subsequently dealing with that loss in a far different way than the 13-year-old girl who was forced to look at her father’s head. In any war zone, survival—physical and psychological alike—involves hardening the heart. In Sansa’s case, it also involves letting go of a spoiled child’s naïve tendency to trust everyone. Sansa has done both, and in so doing became a fundamentally different young woman from the starry-eyed child who gleefully left Winterfell for King’s Landing. Perhaps ironically, her character—not by force of will, but by circumstance—is one of the few who has undergone a truly seismic shift (Theon, Jaime and Melisandre have as well).
You’re definitely not alone!!! I’m breaking all sorts of rules (no phone during meals, no phone in bed, no phone after screen time hits the three-hour mark) to try to keep up!
Wolfish,
There’s an eagerness from some (not specifically Aegon the IceDragon, btw) to see the worst in the character, even if it means ignoring context and character development.
Her frank assessment of their chances of saving Rickon is not considered a sign of maturity or pragmatism, as it might be coming from another character. Some are even desperate to see it, without evidence, as her trying to eliminate her competition for Winterfell.
Her numb reaction to the sight of Rickon’s body is not seen, as you say, as a consequence of enduring repeated loss and tragedy, but instead as proof of her being uncaring and self-interested.
Nobody has to like any character, obviously. And criticism is par for the course. But the determination from some people to cast the character in a bad light is rather sad.