Game of Thrones Season 8 Scripts Under Lock and Key — Even for the Starring Cast

707 - King's Landing Dragonpit - Davos 1

The read-through for the eighth season of Game of Thrones begins today in Belfast — the cast will act out three episodes today, and the other half of the season tomorrow, after which there will be a week of rehearsals and then, finally, filming will begin. Despite this, the actors haven’t been able to prepare, due to this final season’s tightened security measures, according to Davos Seaworth himself, Liam Cunningham.

In an interview with IGN, Cunningham continued being just as talkative as he’s been lately, this time discussing the season eight scripts, which he already has … more or less:

“I got six of [the scripts], I got them all,” begins Cunningham. But it’s not that simple. For the last few seasons, scripts moved to digital-only in order to avoid misplaced physical copies, and now the production has gone even further in their efforts to avoid leaks: “I can’t open them, because of all the security,” he clarifies, “and I can’t walk them out.”

Yes, you read that right: as unbelievably impractical as it may appear, these measures are so tight now that the actors aren’t even allowed to open their digital scripts outside the Game of Thrones studio in Belfast anymore — at least not until filming begins, and perhaps not even then, though Cunningham did not make that clear. Either way, these scripts are being treated as delicate weapons, only to be treated with the utmost care. Or, as the Irish actor put it, to open the scripts is “like pulling the pin out of a grenade.”

Hopefully this year we’ll be able to enjoy the off-season with the usual kind of spoilers. That is, casting calls, filming photos, and the like — the kind of little spoilers which allow the community to try and piece together the story, instead of outright script leaks, which just hand us a contextless plot dump, actually spoiling the experience for many.

script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js">

61 Comments

  1. Artemisia:
    So will have released leaks/photos or not?

    We always get photos and videos from filming, casting calls (we’ve already published quite a few), that kind of stuff, whether there is a script leak or not.

  2. I know that these extra security measures make it a challenge for hackers to crack in and pilfer. Hope they can’t do it this time! We know that Russian trolls like to ruin nice things…

  3. Artemisia:
    Luka Nieto,

    ..Thanks… but im wonder if there will be any plot leak released…?

    We don’t know. But hopefully these security measures work (beyond the cast; usually the leaks come from crew members only tangentially attached to the production), and there are no major script leaks.

  4. Good. I would love to go into this season with as little information as possible. We all know this season is going to be casualty filled and hectic, to say the least. That’s all I really need to know.

  5. Gotta love Liam’s enthusiasm! 🙂 I hope the full plot remains secret until it’s released on screen. I like the casting photos and little bits of info but the full blown script leaks are too much.

  6. “Yes, you read that right: as unbelievably impractical as it may appear, these measures are so tight now that the actors aren’t even allowed to open their digital scripts outside the Game of Thrones studio in Belfast anymore — at least not until filming begins, and perhaps not even then…”
    ***
    “Hopefully this year we’ll be able to enjoy the off-season with the usual kind of spoilers. That is, casting calls, filming photos, and the like — the kind of little spoilers which allow us to try and piece together the season together, instead of outright script leaks, which just give us a contextless dump of plot and do actually spoil the experience for many.”
    ________________________

    Hallef*ckinglujah!!!

    I always questioned how distributing “digital-only [scripts] to avoid misplaced physical copies” would prevent leaks. With hackers, unsecure computers, malware, “phishing”, data breaches, filched passwords, and all of the other shenanigans going on these days, it seems that anything on an electric device is accessible to the thousands of anonymous cybervultures looking to steal scripts and disseminate them on the internet. [Rant almost over.]

    And don’t laugh: a certain foreign government dedicated to destablizing Western democracies and pissing off their citizens would relish ruining the final season of the most popular TV series in history. The recent revelation that a widely used anti-virus program manufactured by a company in that hostile foreign country, apparently contains a backdoor that enables that country’s intelligence service to scan computer files to identify targets for its hackers, should make anyone wary of storing, transferring or reading scripts on any device connected to the internet. [Tinfoil paranoid rant over]

    As far as I’m concerned, the showrunners should have a “safe room” impervious to eavesdropping set up in the Belfast studios, and have the cast members use serially numbered, watermarked paper scripts that never leave the room, and are put in a safe when not in use. Strictly limiting attendance to the actors and directors would reduce the risk that faithless or careless production assistants or employees overhearing the dialogue leak it or let it slip.

    It was difficult enough this past season to remain uncontaminated by “the leaks.” Despite my best efforts, a malicious commenter did spoil a minor plot point for me, and an oblivious or careless commenter ignored the “quarantined” forum section and discussed “the leaks” without covering the text with spoiler-coding. [Oops. Rant resumed…]

    I really hope that doesn’t happen this coming season.

  7. Script leaks are fine as long as they keep it to themselves which they don’t. People think they’re so smart because they read the script so spoil it for others. So as a result, it’s better to avoid script leaks. Hopefully HBO does everything it can to maximize security.

  8. A lot of spoiler information came last year just from the set photos. The Daenarsy/Jon meeting as well as the Jon/Theon reunion. I agree those types leaks are fun and don’t totally give it away. I tried to avoid the full spoilers. It’ll be interesting to see if Winds of Winter actually gets released prior to season 8.

  9. Too right, Ten Bears! For their own sake but OURS as well, HBO should batten down the hatches, draw the blackout curtains, constantly sweep the room for hidden mikes and cameras and not allow scripts on Internet-connectable devices. Would it be too expensive to issue ipads with connectabilty disabled? But even so, screenshots are possible. I’d hate to be in charge of IT and security at HBO (or anywhere). Russian and other hackers can get into anything it seems. Hmmm, perhaps the scripts should be written in HIgh Valyrian to which only David Peterson can decrypt 🙂 .

    Ten Bears:
    “Yes, you read that right: as unbelievably impractical as it may appear, these measures are so tight now that the actors aren’t even allowed to open their digital scripts outside the Game of Thrones studio in Belfast anymore — at least not until filming begins, and perhaps not even then…”***
    “Hopefully this year we’ll be able to enjoy the off-season with the usual kind of spoilers. That is, casting calls, filming photos, and the like — the kind of little spoilers which allow us to try and piece together the season together, instead of outright script leaks, which just give us a contextless dump of plot and do actually spoil the experience for many.”
    ________________________

    Hallef*ckinglujah!!!

    I always questioned how distributing “digital-only [scripts] to avoid misplaced physical copies” would prevent leaks. With hackers, unsecure computers, malware, “phishing”,data breaches,filched passwords, and all of the other shenanigans going on these days, it seems that anything on an electric device is accessible to the thousands of anonymous cybervultures looking to steal scripts and disseminate them on the internet. [Rant almost over.]

    And don’t laugh: a certain foreign government dedicated to destablizing Western democracies and pissing off their citizens would relish ruining the final season of the most popular TV series in history. The recent revelation that a widely used anti-virus program manufactured by a company in that hostile foreign country, apparently contains a backdoor that enables that country’s intelligence service to scan computer files to identify targets for its hackers, should make anyone wary of storing, transferring or reading scripts on any device connected to the internet. [Tinfoil paranoid rant over]

    As far as I’m concerned, the showrunners should have a “safe room” impervious to eavesdropping set up in the Belfast studios, and have the cast members use serially numbered, watermarked paper scripts that never leave the room, and are put in a safe when not in use. Strictly limiting attendance to the actors and directors would reduce the risk that faithless or careless production assistants or employees overhearing the dialogue leak it or let it slip.

    It was difficult enough this past season to remain uncontaminated by “the leaks.” Despite my best efforts, a malicious commenter did spoil a minor plot point for me, and an oblivious or careless commenter ignored the “quarantined” forum section and discussed “the leaks” without covering the text with spoiler-coding. [Oops. Rant resumed…]

    I really hope that doesn’t happen this coming season.

  10. I hope there are no script leaks. It actually ruined my experience of season 7, even though I didn’t actively seek them out, they were on this site so I stopped coming here until the season ended. Unfortunately, they weren’t covered while being discussed. I enjoyed this site before the start of season 6 because of the mystery and the little clues we were getting. It really was a lot of fun trying to piece together theories.

  11. I loved the leaks – it really increased my enjoyment this year, to know what’s coming. I hope that the new season does leak.

  12. Wolfish,
    Ten Bears,

    I wouldn’t count on the Russian hackers for the leaks. The best of the best just got behind the bars for hacking and blackmailing persons who happened to be too close to VVP, and the rest… Well, if they were really given a task to get the scripts, they would copy-paste the fan-fiction “leak” which has been floating in the internet for several months: Russian hackers are lazy and poorly paid – it is known. So, don’t put your hopes into them.

  13. Really pleased to see HBO and the show runners have tightened up their security regarding the scripts. I hope they have learned a lesson from recent bad experiences.

    I’ve never had a problem with filming leaks, the paps with telephoto lenses, etc as they’re sure to happen. Especially outside of the studio in Belfast and in other countries. I agree, it is fun trying to piece together what will happen from filming leaks.

    However, that business with leaked scripts, personnel files with the actors addresses, phone numbers, etc and the hackers attempting to blackmail HBO was despicable and sincerely hope that never happens again.

  14. I’m not as spoiler averse as some (and greatly admire their will-power to remain spoiler free!), I like low-level spoilers like casting calls, cast sightings, filming pics. I enjoy trying to puzzle out things from such scraps. For me that builds up anticipation and “hype”.

    However, if and when there are script leaks, I hope I’ll be able to avoid them. Last year I accidentally got spoiled on some of the leaks by people discussing them here in the comments without “greyscale”, or several people “speculating” the exact same thing. It’ll be a real shame if I’ll have to restrict my visits to this great site, because normally I enjoy the articles and the comments and community so much, and we have a loooong wait ahead of us!

  15. Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth. Most of the fanbase were unaware of the leaks, and the viewership was as high as ever. If I were them, I’d release a bunch of different, fake, but convincing sounding leaks to muddy the waters in case that the real leak ever come out. Seems more practical than inconveniencing the actors, which may not even be helpful if the hackers get into their computers.

  16. Yaga,

    Each to their own, I suppose 🙂

    I don’t have a problem with people liking high-level spoilers like leaked scrips. Just as long as they keep them in their own “spoilerophilic” community and don’t impose on others who’d rather not know too much in advance. Yes, I know it’s like herding cats, well-nigh impossible 😀 but I hope the “spoilerphilics” amongst us here on WotW show consideration to the “spoilerophobics” amongst us and appropriately greyscale spoilers, or take them to the quarantine section. Oh, and no “speculation” which is just thinly-veiled spoiler talk.

    I’m not saying you, Yaga, have ever been guilty of this, I just responded because I fully understand why some people, like your good self, want all possible spoilers. By the same token, people should understand some do not want any spoilers at all, and respect that.

  17. “Today” being Sunday? I wondered if the post meant Monday, because that’s only a few hours from now in Belfast, but still only midnight. So they work on Sundays?

  18. Wolfish,

    Thanks for that article! Scary stuff: it looks like Vlad’s hacking and shutting down the power grids and commerce in the Ukraine was a dress rehearsal for a bigger target (U.S.) 😕

    Councidentally, that article linked to another more recent (10/5/17) Wired article by the same author, Andy Greenberg, “The NSA Officially Has a Rogue Contractor Problem.” Its third paragrapb refers to what I was describing above: the widely-used antivirus softwar that scans files for malware – but also has a backdoor that transmits the scan results to Russian intelligence for analysis and targeting.

    (I’m not sure how to incorporate links in my comments; I’m going to see if I can cut and paste a link to the 10/5/17 article below.)

    https://www.wired.com/story/nsa-contractors-hacking-tools/

    Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past TeamVlad to find a way to hack into “digital-only” scripts for GoT stored on a computer. In their approach, as demonstrated in the Ukraine. they are the real-world equivalent of Littlefinger: “Chaos is a Ladder.”

    The real troublesome part (aside from the ability to spoil S8 of Game of Thrones), is that they’ve got a head start; they’ve got the expertise; they’ve got the wespons; and they’ve got the troll armies. Meanwhile, on our end, warning bells are being ignored or dismissed as “fake news”*, and those in power aren’t acknowledging the threat exists, let alone doing anything to defend against cyberattacks.

    * This us NOT a political rant. But if it turns out that those downplaying prior attacks or dismissing the threat of further attacks were complicit in the prior attacks, then hacks of GoT S8 scripts turning up on WikiLeaks will be the least of our problems.

  19. Inga,

    Yes, quite. This “Russian hackers” “hysteria” is beginning to look like political propaganda, and I’d like to keep politics away from this site. Sure, Russia has hackers working for the government. Guess what, so does the US, the UK and just about every other country. They do work that used to be called espionage and “fifth column”, just updated to the 21st century, the information age, whatever. Duh.

    Moreover, the script leaks last year apparently came from someone who, while maybe not directly involved with the production him/herself, apparently was very close to someone who was. That would point to an American, Irish, UK, perhaps Spanish, no? (Unless Putin’s insidious minions have been embedded in GoT production for a while now… The sad thing is that there are people who believe this to be the case. Go figure.)

  20. Inga,

    I’m not “putting my hopes” on the RU leakers. I am afraid of them!

    Also… not sure what you meant by: “The best of the best just got behind the bars for hacking and blackmailing persons who happened to be too close to VVP.”

    Look, all I’m saying is that anything electronic or “digital” is hackable.

    Scripts printed in ink on 32 lb., 100 brightness paper with a cardstock cover, enclosed in thick Tyvek envelopes with security seal and locked in a cast iron safe with only Benioff and Weiss knowing the combination….that’s the way to go. Old school.

  21. Ten Bears:

    As far as I’m concerned, the showrunners should have a “safe room” impervious to eavesdropping set up in the Belfast studios, and have the cast members use serially numbered, watermarked paper scripts that never leave the room, and are put in a safe when not in use. Strictly limiting attendance to the actors and directors would reduce the risk that faithless or careless production assistants or employees overhearing the dialogue leak it or let it slip.

    You do realise, don’t you, that the scripts (at least in draft form) have been around for a while and circulated amongst senior production staff, right? Because they need to scout locations, set filming schedules, build sets, make costumes and props, choreograph fights, train horses etc. All this has been going on for months now, and quite a lot of ordinary craftspeople have been working on all of the above while perhaps not knowing the full script. The cast are probably among the last to get the scripts. Well, they might be privileged to get the finalized full script today and tomorrow. But it’s nonsense to suggest only directors and cast get the script in some hermetically sealed location.

  22. talvikorppi,

    You’re right. Let’s not make it political. It’s just that the most recent examples of the vulnersbility of electronic devices and media have occurred in rhe political arena, and the capabilities of the cyberweapons we’re now learning about are mind-boggling. (You’d think you could just shut off your computer and unplug the internet connection and you’d be fine…apparently, not.)

    We could just as easily use as instructive examples the SONY hack, and the theft of celebrity’s private photographs from the iCloud (“the fappening”?).

    The point is, just like last year’s stolen S7 scripts, regardless of who was responsible for the initial infiltration and theft, the pernicious effects were multiplied exponentially by whoever posted the stuff on the internet for the whole world to see.

    There is no such thing as “internet security” or “firewalls.” When it comes to electronic storage or transmission, nothing is really “private.” The same holds true whether in politics, entertainment or business.

    The article is about GoT’s efforts to safeguard scripts and prevent “leaks.” I don’t think any of the comments were overtly “political”; they were simply intended to illustrate that despite the security measures described by Liam Cunningham, digital-only scripts might be vulnerable to hackers; and that as a society we don’t have the technology in place to prevent stealth intrusion into digital storage devices.

    As my tech expert has cautioned;

    There is no safety.”

    – Sandor Clegane

  23. talvikorppi,

    “But it’s nonsense to suggest only directors and cast get the script in some hermetically sealed location,”
    ——————————

    1. Please read what Liam Cunningham said. That is essentially the procedure he described, as reinforced in the article:

    “as unbelievably impractical as it may appear, these measures are so tight now that the actors aren’t even allowed to open their digital scripts outside the Game of Thrones studio in Belfast anymore — at least not until filming begins, and perhaps not even then.”

    2. Please re-read what I wrote. My main suggestion was that paper scripts would be more secure than “digital scripts” in the Belfast studio. Also, excluding non-essential personnel from script read-throughs seems only logical. (Like our friend Ned Stark demonstrated, the best way to preserve confidential information is to let no one know, not even those you trust.)

    3. I have to believe you didn’t mean to deride my suggestion as “nonsense”, even if you disagreed with it. I will assume you meant to describe it as
    something like “unbelievably impractical” [per the article] or “unnecessarily burdensome.” 😉

  24. Inga:

    Russian hackers are lazy and poorly paid – it is known.

    This comment is gold! Thank you for the laugh.

    Seriously, though… I’m not counting on Russian hackers for leaks. I just thought Ten Bears might enjoy the article. 🙂

  25. I’m not worried about leaks because I’m sure they’ll happen anyway. I’ll do what I can, for as long as I can to avoid them.

    I’m just excited knowing that they are back to work right now; the ball is rolling!

  26. talvikorppi,

    I’m with you 100% on this. I hope there are no “leaks” of the final season, but if there are, this site has dedicated a quarantined forum section for those who can’t resist reading about them and feel compelled to discuss them. Of course,
    they are free to participate on the message boards of the scores of other sites that actually publish “leaks” and circulate them.

    With the quarantined forum section, this site has protected the “leaks-averse” like us, and accommodated the leaks-embracers. There’s really no justification for the latter to intrude on the former.

    But let’s hope that the show finally succeeds in preventing leaks. Then we’re all on the same page, and equally clueless when S8 rolls around.

  27. Ten Bears,

    I have the October issue, but haven’t gotten around yet to the article you posted. Thanks for the link, though!

    It’s going to be a long haul between now and S8, but between reading at least three GoT-themed books, working my way through the meals in A Feast of Ice & Fire (all the ones I’ve tried so far have been stellar), and, oh yes, attending Con of Thrones (!!!), the wait might be bearable, Russian hackers or no. 😉

  28. Wow they really beefed up security after the leaks this past year. I’m glad because the leaks ruined the story for me this past year (even though I secretly want to know). Completely understand the need for this but of course someone will figure out a way to get it!

  29. Did Mr. Cunningham give us a small leak inadvertently? Why would he see six scripts if he wasn’t in all six episodes? I wasn’t expecting him to die, but I’m just saying.

  30. Liam says could not WORK it out NOT WALK it out. Through his thick accent if you listen to the interview itself, Liam is saying he could not work thru how to open some scripts. Which means certain scripts won’t be accessible to the actors until a certain time. Has nothing to do with only seeing them in the studio.

  31. talvikorppi,
    Yeah, to each their own. Personally, I think that it’s bad manners to spoil others, so I didn’t do that. But, at the same time, I think that it was foolishness to expect, much less demand, to remain unspoiled once the spoilers were out there.

    My main interest in GOT is currently to see whether my idea of the ending (Jon dies, Dany leaves Westeros, there is some sort of a constitutional convention for an improved Westeros) is correct. Further than that, if my detailed proposed writeup (https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/70wo57/spoilers_extended_a_season_8_in_six_acts/) is any close to what DnD come up with. So, I want to get this out of my way. I do not need to see that, just get the points.

  32. Yaga,

    God, I hope your desire to enforce twenty first century values on this story by making it some ham-fisted ‘lesson’ on the ‘evils of monarchy’ and the inevitability of ‘republicanism’ does not come to pass.

    I can take almost any possible ending to this saga but that one. That would be the one where I throw my hands up in the air or chuck something at the screen .

    Awful.

    Apart from that, I agree with you generally. I really enjoy knowing what’s going to happen, if I like what is going to happen, and then waiting to see how it’s pulled off.

    I’ve always respected the rules here and go to ‘my tribe’ in the Quarantine section. I have no desire to spoil other people’s enjoyment. However, it becomes frustrating when you know what is going to happen and eminently sensible and you can do nothing but read bizarre and completely unrealistic predictions on these comment boards. Still, that’s a small price to pay.

    So I am hoping and praying for a leak. It looks like it’ll be more than a year before the saga concludes and I’m perfectly happy just knowing in advance how things are going to go. Unless, of course, the ending is utterly rubbish, and then I’ll be depressed. But that’s unlikely and I’d appreciate knowing in advance so I can at least come to terms with it rather than wait and be disappointed whole watching the show.

    What I do not like is the uppity sense of moral superiority from those who believe they’re somehow virtuous and pure for not wanting to be spoiled. There’s nothing wrong with me reading scripts in advance if I actually enjoy that, haven’t broken the law and don’t intend to spoil it for anyone else.

    Let me enjoy the show in my own way if the opportunity allows and you enjoy it in your way.

  33. A few more cast sightings in Belfast. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, John Bradley, Iain Glen, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Jacob Anderson, Kristofer Hivju (yeah, Tormund’s alive), and though I’m not 100% certain it’s him, someone who looks like Ben Crompton (What is Edd may never die!). On second look, that may be Pilou Asbaek with Nikolaj as well

    https://twitter.com/yeahclarke/status/917388037528739842

  34. Violator:
    Yaga,
    God, I hope your desire to enforce twenty first century values on this story by making it some ham-fisted ‘lesson’ on the ‘evils of monarchy’ and the inevitability of ‘republicanism’ does not come to pass.

    Whoo, was that unnecessary. This thread is for something else.

    Nevertheless, since you felt pressed to include this point in your post, I should probably respond…? I think that a 21st century fantasy best have a 21st century conclusion attached… if it wants to rise above the ranks of ‘just-so’ stories, that is. One has to have the courage and audacity to be a little ‘preachy,’ in this cynical day and age, if one wants to rise above the norm.

  35. I’m really glad they are being this secretive with the scripts, it will surely prevent another S7’esque plot out line leak. I’m sure we’ll get some minor spoilers and also some production spoilers once filming starts – hell I’ve seen a minor spoiler

    Tormund is back for filming S8 but we kind of knew that from James Hibberd but YeahClarke has posted pics of him arriving in Belfast with the rest of the cast
  36. Yaga,

    Thank you for the link to your Reddit post. Many of your predictions make a lot of sense to me, but I just can’t figure out how do you imagin a retreat from a falling castle. In a real medieval warfare that would have been a mission impossible, and thought this is a fantazy show which neglects the rules of medieval warfare here and there, I still can’t imagine how such and opperation could be pulled out. So, I would appreciate, if you could share yor vision.

    As for the ending, I share your guess that Westeros will get some sort of parliamentarism and/or elected monarchy. But
    Violator, look at the bright side: such developent gives a huge potential for a sequel with stuff like chicken wars (the Hound would like that I guess).
    On a serious note, the ideas of parliamentarism and elected monarchy as a solution to all kinds of problems is not a 21st or 20th century invention. It comes from 15th-16th century and earlier times, and thus it is within the “timeline” of GoT (it’s just that arliamentarism and elected monarchy had its own shortcommings).

  37. Well this is the thing with so many social media those days and the internet era. Some photos will leak and spoilers too. But i doubt about major leaks or big deaths.

    i mean, they really don’t want the entire season to leak like it was with season 7. So, i don’t expect spoilers like it was with season 7..And honestly, it’s good to have a little of mystery. It’s the last season of the biggest show on TV. So..I think lots of fake spoilers are gonna surface with someone wanting attention , but like i said very doubt it will be like the entire season getting leaked like it was with season 7. Even scripts and dialogues were leaked. It was too easy. I dont believe in multiple endings but i also dont think its gonna get easy as it was last year.

  38. John the normal guy:
    Did Mr. Cunningham give us a small leak inadvertently?Why would he see six scripts if he wasn’t in all six episodes? I wasn’t expecting him to die, but I’m just saying.

    Ya Know this did make me pause. I would kinda think to get all scripts you’d need to have a part in all 6 eps.

    Good point Normal John

  39. I don’t have an issue with spoilers/leaks per se, just when people deliberately tell them to wreck it for those who don’t want to know. Aside from that, which is just plain jackassery, the 2 camps that can go away are:
    1) People who act they’re holier-than-thou for knowing the spoilers; and
    2) People who act holier-than-thou for not knowing the spoilers.

    Green is my favourite colour, but Davos deserves some new duds!

  40. Violator: I’ve always respected the rules here and go to ‘my tribe’ in the Quarantine section. I have no desire to spoil other people’s enjoyment. However, it becomes frustrating when you know what is going to happen and eminently sensible and you can do nothing but read bizarre and completely unrealistic predictions on these comment boards. Still, that’s a small price to pay.

    Isn’t it funny, though, to see how wrong we are??? I have thought of things I didn’t express here that would’ve made you wonder if I was watching the same show. (I assure you, I am. I just see EVERYTHING as foreshadowing). Anyway, I laugh at how wrong I am…total solo project, I guess.

    Violator: What I do not like is the uppity sense of moral superiority from those who believe they’re somehow virtuous and pure for not wanting to be spoiled. There’s nothing wrong with me reading scripts in advance if I actually enjoy that, haven’t broken the law and don’t intend to spoil it for anyone else.

    I get this, too. I like certain member’s handling of not wanting to be spoiled (I don’t want to be, but I let moderators moderate. If they miss a non-covered spoiler and I see it? I’ll live)

    Read away! Nothing beats seeing it all in context, though. BTW: I hear season 8 Ep 1 is a cold open with Sandor tripping over a rock while drunk on rum pissing himself and falling to his death over a cliff which turns out to be the only volcano in Westeros.

  41. Erica:

    “BTW: I hear season 8 Ep 1 is a cold open with Sandor tripping over a rock while drunk on rum pissing himself and falling to his death over a cliff which turns out to be the only volcano in Westeros.”

    Nice try, but that could never happen. Sandor would never be “drunk on rum.”

    From S7e1:

    Thoros: Bad night to be outdoors.

    Sandor: You’ve got real powerful magic to figure that out. Did the Lord of Light whisper that in your ear? “It’s snowing, Thoros. It’s windy. It’s gonna be a cold night.”

    Thoros: You’re a grouchy old bear, aren’t you, Clegane? You want some rum?

    Sandor: Don’t like that sh*t. It’s too sweet.
    ……………………….

    I hear that the S8 episode 1 cold open is a panoramic shot of a frozen sea; the camera zooms in on a pinpoint of bright light on the shoreline, showing it to be a roaring fire. There’s a sword in the flames, burning but undamaged. A tall figure approaches the fire with his back to the camera. His arm reaches in and grabs the flaming sword. As he turns around and holds it aloft, we see that the man holding the sword is Sandor Clegane.

    He looks into the camera and snarls: “‘The f*ck you looking at?” Cut to theme song and animated map.

  42. I hear that the S8 episode 1 cold open is a panoramic shot of a frozen sea; the camera zooms in on a pinpoint of bright light on the shoreline, showing it to be a roaring fire. There’s a sword in the flames, burning but undamaged. A tall figure approaches the fire with his back to the camera. His arm reaches in and grabs the flaming sword. As he turns around and holds it aloft, we see that the man holding the sword is Sandor Clegane.

    He looks into the camera and snarls: “‘The f*ck you looking at?” Cut to theme song and animated map.

    I heard that when he turns back around he sees:

    A chicken. Big fucker. With blue eyes.
    (drops sword and runs away, whinging all the while) 🙂

  43. Erica,

    Nope. Not possible. Chickens are extinct. Before S8 begins, Sandor has already eaten every f*cking chicken on the planet. And he never drops his sword, he never whinges, and he never runs away from anything unless it’s on fire – and he’ll get over that in S8.

    If there’s ever been “foreshadowing”, it’s that Sandor will ultimately confront and overcome his fear of fire.

  44. If there’s ever been “foreshadowing”, it’s that Sandor will ultimately confront and overcome his fear of fire.

    I agree.

    …and you’ve been a good sport; I appreciate that you played along. I’ll probably be laughing about all the chickens being extinct for awhile. 🙂

  45. Well, hell, here I am in the wee hours of the morning again, come late to this article, LOL at the blue-eyed chicken.

    My first thoughts as I read Liam’s comments were: how in the hell are those actors supposed to be able to easily memorize their lines if they can’t take their scripts home? Did I read it wrong? That wouldn’t be a first. But in my little teeny bit of high school theater eons ago, I found that I had to take the script everywhere in order to learn it. Read and recited in various places in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and anywhere else I traveled.

    Maybe today’s actors have better memorization techniques than I did, but still, anyone with a speech of any length is going to be spending a long time in a locked room trying to get their stuff learned. I guess that comes with the territory of being on such a great show, but I don’t envy them this year with these security restrictions.

    As for leaks, I think it was terrible that someone leaked the whole darned script of season 7 before it aired. Did I end up reading it? I’m not even hanging my head in shame, yep, I ended up reading it, and was still just as excited for everything that happened. At first, I thought that a lot of what I read couldn’t possibly be true. Another trip up north to capture a wight? No way they were doing that. Boatsex between Dany and Jon? Oh please let that be true. In my opinion, leaks or not, it was a great season.

    Whatever, I thoroughly enjoy the cast pics and the filming pics that make their way out. I love cast news and all the conjecture that we bubble up on this site, sensible or not. It would be a horrible off-season if we didn’t get that kind of news.

  46. Pigeon: Green is my favourite colour, but Davos deserves some new duds!

    Davos’s green vest isn’t new? Maybe it just got cleaned up a bit. Also, I don’t remember reading anything from you about Jorah’s new duds. Do you like them? You aren’t missing that yellow shirt, are you?

  47. Thronetender: Davos’s green vest isn’t new? Maybe it just got cleaned up a bit. Also, I don’t remember reading anything from you about Jorah’s new duds. Do you like them? You aren’t missing that yellow shirt, are you?

    Oh, I love Darth Jorah, I voted for his outfit as best costume this season. 😊 He looks even better than in the first season, even though I loved his look then too. As for the yellow shirt…it will always have sentimental value, but at this point I expect that it is a sentient being, meandering around on its own adventures. 😜

Comments are closed.