Season 8: Speculation and Spoilers Discussion

[SimoneS]

15 hours ago, nikma said:

I think Tyrion will die.

I have reluctantly come to believe this as well. I hope maybe he just banished and isn't executed. I still find it so difficult to believe that Tyrion betrays Daenerys, but I conceded it is a real possibility.

[Eyes High]

I was going through the IrishThrones Twitter feed to see if they could shed any light on filming given what we know now from interviews and such about the night shoots and who filmed/finished when, particularly in 2018. This is what I found (condensed and summarized with notes added):

December 7th, 2017: Filming at Ballintoy Harbour (previously Iron Islands, Lordsport)

January 26th: A lot of action at GOT sets in Titanic Studios (Paint Hall) and new KL set in Belfast.

January 26th: Moneyglass Winterfell set getting a lot of attention too.

February 2nd: Back to night shoots in Moneyglass Winterfell set.

February 24th: Upcoming week is GOT outdoor filming (in response to article about NI weather).

February 28th: Major outdoor scenes to be filmed today and rest of the week at Moneyglass Winterfell set.

(At some point in March, James Hibberd from EW sees a scene from 8x06 filmed on a new set at the Paint Hall set in Belfast)

March 1st: Moneyglass Winterfell is largely coming to an end, with scenes mostly finishing next week (week of March 5th). At Moneyglass Winterfell set there have been major players such as the Night King, Rory McCann, and Kit Harington. Next week filming will largely shift to Magheramorne Quarry.

(Emilia, Kit, Peter, Jacob Anderson, Weiss, and Benioff were seen in Belfast the weekend of March 3rd.)

March 6th: Emilia Clarke was another high profile cast member at the Moneyglass Winterfell set last week.

March 7th: After HUGE scenes last week with Emilia at Moneyglass set, production now gearing to Magheramorne.

March 19th: Activity at the Linen Mill Studios set in Corbet today.

March 22nd: At the start of this week, NCW (among others) filmed scenes at the Linen Mill Studios set.

March 30th: Winter returns for GOT outdoor filming (in response to another article about NI weather).

March 30th: KL set at Belfast looks ready to go soon.

(April 6th: farewell message to crew marking end of night shoots)

April 14th: Strong hints the GOT crew will return to an older, well-loved location for a huge shoot spanning several days. Will there be dragons this time?

April 16th: The Corbet set (Linen Mill Studios) has seen a little activity within the past few days. NCW just one of the main actors on set.

April 20th: GOT returns to filming at Ballintoy Harbour. The Harbour is being used over a longer filming period and will return to filming next week (week of April 23rd).

April 27th: Some of the scenes at the KL set in Belfast included closed-off scenes (away from the large amount of extras) involving Dragons arriving at the GOT capital.

May 5th: Pink location signs pointing into the KL set at Belfast.

(Cast starts filming in Spain on May 9th)

May 13th: Strong hints GOT will return to the Tollymore Forest (used for the direwolves scene in Season 1). GOT scouts have been at the location for upcoming filming.

May 13th: Pink GOT location sign pointing to Tollymore Forest Park.

(It's worth pointing out that on May 13th, all the Starkling actors including Kit were in Spain, so maybe they filmed something later that week...?)

(Sophie, Joe and possibly others wrap in Spain on May 14th)

June 1st: Devastation at KL. Photo taken from public path next to Titanic Studios and the very public Titanic building. Props such as broken pillars, ornaments and KL remnants.

June 2nd: Photo taken from public path next to Titanic Studios, directly across from the KL set. Ceiling tiles seen here, used for a certain aftermath.

(Nathalie, NCW and Emilia all wrap in early/mid June)

June 22nd: The KL set dome was in flames today.

June 22nd: Riverrun Castle front facade at Linen Mill Studios set has been removed.

June 22nd: Earlier, flames billowed from the tower next to the dome and flames could also be seen in the area next to the tower. Loud bangs could be heard as the flames were ignited when they first started the scene(s). They extinguished the fire and repeated the process several times later.

June 28th: GOT KL set at Belfast still burning.

June 29th: A lot quieter today, the KL set is still active, but it seems June 28th was the peak of the entire season.

(Kit, Peter, and Maisie wrap in July)

(Miguel Sapochnik tweets his farewell message for Season 8 on July 12th)

[Nightingale]

Quote

(At some point in March, James Hibberd from EW sees a scene from 8x06 filmed on a new set at the Paint Hall set in Belfast)

According to his Instagram, Hibberd was in the UK (both England and Northern Ireland) for 10 days sometime between february 26th and march 10th. So around the time when D&D, Kit, Emilia, Peter and Jacob were photographed at that Belfast pub.

[GraceK]

8 minutes ago, Nightingale said:

According to his Instagram, Hibberd was in the UK (both England and Northern Ireland) for 10 days sometime between february 26th and march 10th. So around the time when D&D, Kit, Emilia, Peter and Jacob were photographed at that Belfast pub.

Dany lives !!’ ????

[SimoneS]

15 minutes ago, GraceK said:

Dany lives !!’ ????

I love your optimism about Dany.

[Nightingale]

4 minutes ago, GraceK said:

Dany lives !!’ ????

That's what I want too but keep in mind that they have 2 filming units so maybe Hibberd saw multiple scenes from different episodes being filmed with different sets of actors. I don't mean to take away your hope, it's just good to be cautious. 

[GraceK]

14 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

I love your optimism about Dany.

I will always be optimistic until I have irrefutable proof of her death , as in I see it before my eyes. Jonerys forever y’all!!’ ❤️?

besides I have to combat the constant negativity she gets ?

Edited November 11, 2018 by GraceK

[GrailKing]

On 11/9/2018 at 1:50 PM, Eyes High said:

Pretty much every character still alive in S8 has seen and been through some shit, but yes

For the record, I'm not saying Arya, Danny, Cersei, etc. haven't, I'm just referencing Sophie's words on Sansa; and another possible battle she may have to fight alone.

On 11/10/2018 at 9:03 AM, Eyes High said:

It's unlikely, sure, but Sansa needs something to do while everyone else is off doing all the things that Sansa isn't going to be a part of: fighting at Winterfell, KL crowd control, etc. etc.

I think she'll be quite busy, especially if they continue to show the contrast between her and Cersei.

I think the battle for Winterfell, may show Sansa in contrast to Cersei with her and the people in the crypts, a repeat of sorts to the battle of Blackwater.

[Eyes High]

2 hours ago, Nightingale said:

According to his Instagram, Hibberd was in the UK (both England and Northern Ireland) for 10 days sometime between february 26th and march 10th. So around the time when D&D, Kit, Emilia, Peter and Jacob were photographed at that Belfast pub.

Excellent eye!

1. Hibberd was talking about a March scene, so the earliest the 8x06 Belfast scene could have been filmed is March 1st.

2. Given that they didn’t normally film on weekends, that leaves March 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.

3. The week of February 26th was the week of Emilia’s huge scenes at Moneyglass, which were presumably part of the night shoots. Since they were the last scenes shot at the Winterfell set for the battle, and since Emilia was part of the scene, I’m guessing that these huge scenes were post-battle scenes where Dany has to deal with a big death (Rhaegal’s? Jorah’s?).

4. The following week (the week of March 5th) we don’t know much about, other than Moneyglass filming ending and moving to Magheramorne. I don’t know when Magheramorne filming started, but the night shoots were apparently continuous. It seems likely that the 8x06 scene was filmed after Emilia’s big scenes at Moneyglass the week of February 26th.

...So I guess the real question is who was there the week of March 5th? If Kit, Emilia, Peter and Jacob were there the weekend before, they were probably needed for filming the coming week (or else they would have left on Friday), right?

Sophie was in Toronto those weeks, so Sansa is definitely not a part of the 8x06 scene Hibberd witnessed, but beyond that, I don’t know. Kit and Maisie were pretty much always in Northern Ireland during filming this season, so they were probably around even if they weren’t in this particular scene.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Eyes High

[GrailKing]

On 11/10/2018 at 1:00 PM, Eyes High said:

Given what we know of her filming schedule and her prolonged absences during the exterior filming months, not really.

Those don't cover internal scenes, so what we know ourselves isn't much at all.

[GrailKing]

8 hours ago, Eyes High said:

And GRRM already said on many occasions that Parris would divorce him if he killed off Arya,

He did; but he also added he just said that more or less to keep her happy.

I would not put it past him to do that to Arya, Jon,Sansa or Bran, though I think the remaining Starks survive and wind up as the most powerful house, not so much in wanting to rule, but they have people tied to other houses already: Jon- Dorne by place of birth, Wildlings by Yegritte and Tormond, Targayren, and Stark by blood and marriage. 

Sansa:  Sansa- the North by blood, Riverlands by Tully blood, Western lands by marriage to Tyrion, the Vale by blood  to house Arryn and house Royce we can also add house Targaryen

Arya pretty closely follows Sansa, minus marriage to Tyrion.

Bran too, follows his two sisters; so to me after the battle I think the Starks are the major house left to help pick up the pieces.

[anamika]

So, as per his instragram, James Hibberd was also in Belfast around April 11th. I think this points to Sophie wrapping in Belfast around April 20th. She was there with pretty much all the cast members and David Nutter. Sophie talked about Nutter handing her the wrap gift in the WF courtyard (Sansa is leaving WF for the last time....), all cast members being present for her last scene and there being a documentary crew around. So she likely wrapped in Belfast April 20th and for the whole Game of Thrones in Seville on May 14th.

[Smad]

9 hours ago, GraceK said:

I will always be optimistic until I have irrefutable proof of her death , as in I see it before my eyes. Jonerys forever y’all!!’ ❤️?

besides I have to combat the constant negativity she gets ?

If they both die they can be happy together in the afterlife. Too bad it's all fanservice these days. If this were S1-4, justice would rain down on all the characters involved in the 'wight hunt'. All those not involved should be the ones to make it out of S8 alive. But the millions that will die because of all these morons, they deserve justice. But it ain't gonna happen and I'm resigned to that. To have all these idiots survive and rule over the ashes, would never have happened back in the early Seasons.

[GrailKing]

25 minutes ago, Smad said:

If they both die they can be happy together in the afterlife. Too bad it's all fanservice these days. If this were S1-4, justice would rain down on all the characters involved in the 'wight hunt'. All those not involved should be the ones to make it out of S8 alive. But the millions that will die because of all these morons, they deserve justice. But it ain't gonna happen and I'm resigned to that. To have all these idiots survive and rule over the ashes, would never have happened back in the early Seasons.

I don't think everything is fan service, GRRM gave plot points, they cut somethings out to trim budget and time, combined some arcs to get to point C sooner.

I may not liked they removed Sansa's Vale training, or her bending the knee to Tyrion, or giving LF Sansa's and Sandor's lines. or removing LSH or a  load of other decisions, but as long as the main essence of the story is there it'll be okay.

I think we are damn lucky that they even took the challenge for these books.

[Smad]

34 minutes ago, GrailKing said:

I may not liked they removed Sansa's Vale training, or her bending the knee to Tyrion, or giving LF Sansa's and Sandor's lines. or removing LSH or a  load of other decisions, but as long as the main essence of the story is there it'll be okay.

The main essence used to be 'everyone can die at any point' or 'war is terrible and useless and those that wage it die'. No one can deny the blatant plot armor that most of the characters still alive have these days. No one can deny the utterly terrible writing and pacing and if they do, they should look into D&D's process. Or not if they want to deny reality as 'hardcore show defenders'. If this were still S1-4 quality, everyone who went on that weight hunt would ultimately die because they brought mass destruction and the death of millions down on Westeros. That would never go unpunished in the early Seasons or by GRRM.

Quote

I think we are damn lucky that they even took the challenge for these books.

Could have been better. The only reason it was a good show early on was because they had the book material and GRRM to fall back on. But it still could have been even better because D&D, as seen once the show went past the books, seriously lack talent in many areas.

[SimoneS]

16 hours ago, Smad said:

Could have been better. The only reason it was a good show early on was because they had the book material and GRRM to fall back on. But it still could have been even better because D&D, as seen once the show went past the books, seriously lack talent in many areas.

I completely disagree. What D&D has pulled off with the Game of Thrones adaptation has been phenomenal tv and unlikely to be recreated in the sci fi genre ever again. I think that no tv adaptation can meet the expectations of the hardcore book fans, many of whom have complained about the show from day one.

I also don't agree that seasons one to four of the show were "good" because D&D had Martin's material. I think that the show has been uneven creatively from the beginning and likely will be so to the end. However, I actually think that the show has improved in many ways in the last three seasons, especially as D&D have been freed from the constraints of Martin's convoluted storytelling.

Edited November 12, 2018 by SimoneS

[Eyes High]

16 hours ago, GrailKing said:

Sansa:  Sansa- the North by blood, Riverlands by Tully blood, Western lands by marriage to Tyrion

Sansa's tie to the Westerlands only lasts as long as her marriage to Tyrion does, so in the show, she has as much tie to the Westerlands as the other Stark siblings, which is to say none whatsoever. It would be another matter if she remarries Tyrion in the show or remains married to Tyrion in the books, of course, but as it is in the show, there is no link to speak of. 

Quote

Those don't cover internal scenes, so what we know ourselves isn't much at all.

"Exterior filming months" is a misnomer on my part, since I know now they were concurrently filming in other areas during the night shoots and KL exterior shoots. The 8x06 scene Hibberd saw filmed was filmed in early March, while the night shoots were still ongoing. So Sophie was not only absent for large chunks of time when they were doing the exterior filming shoots (Winterfell battle, KL exteriors), but she was also absent for these other scenes that were shot while the night shoots and KL exterior filming were going on: Cleganebowl, the Cushendun cave scene shot in June, the scene in the caved-in throne room that was allegedly shot in June, the Tollymore forest scenes that were shot right after Seville in May, and this 8x06 super-spoilery scene Hibberd saw filmed in March. Sophie missed a lot.

12 hours ago, anamika said:

So, as per his instragram, James Hibberd was also in Belfast around April 11th. I think this points to Sophie wrapping in Belfast around April 20th. She was there with pretty much all the cast members and David Nutter. Sophie talked about Nutter handing her the wrap gift in the WF courtyard (Sansa is leaving WF for the last time....), all cast members being present for her last scene and there being a documentary crew around. So she likely wrapped in Belfast April 20th and for the whole Game of Thrones in Seville on May 14th.

I'm probably missing something here, but I'm not sure why Hibberd's presence in Belfast on April 10th would mean that Sophie couldn't have wrapped then. Do you think Sophie was doing interviews and such with Hibberd and that's why she was there on the 10th? Hibberd did have quotes from Sophie in the EW article.

Hibberd posted a photo with Joe and Kit from April, so maybe that's when he got the quotes from Joe he used in the EW article, not in early March when he witnessed whatever scene it was.

2 hours ago, SimoneS said:

However, I actually think that the show has improved in many ways in the last three seasons, especially as D&D have been freed from the constraints of Martin's convoluted storytelling.

I agree! D&D being willing to take a machete to AFFC/ADWD--cut out whole plotlines, ruthlessly reshape character arcs, and, where needed, herd a bunch of major characters into a building and blow it up--saved them from GRRM's predicament. GRRM in his most recent interview, where he talked about TWOW being 12 different novels intertwining in complex ways, is so hamstrung because he's unwilling to do what D&D are willing to do, i.e. whatever it fucking takes to move the story forward. I'm sure there were many occasions when D&D in confronting the task of coming up with a coherent plotline for Seasons 5-8 would have loved to throw up their hands and say some of the greatest works have gone unfinished (as GRRM recently hinted about ASOIAF), but they didn't, and I'm glad for it.

I don't think the way D&D have handled the adaptations of the sprawling plots of AFFC/ADWD and what we've seen of TWOW particularly elegantly, but AFFC/ADWD/TWOW is, frankly, a mess, and there's no elegant, beautiful way to clean up a mess. When you're lost in the jungle, you can only hack your way out.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Eyes High

[nikma]

D&D created something that was never done in the history of TV. There are a lot great fantasy books (with an ending), but there was never the show of this scale that lasted this long. All mistakes that D&D made along the way are insignificant compared to what they achieved.

GRRM's books played an inportant role there, that's true, but this show belongs to Benioff and Weiss since day one. There were so many ways in which this show could have been destroyed, so many traps, opportunities to ruin everything,... Look what happened with House of Cards, The Walking Dead, Dexter, Lost,... Look how Westworld or even Handmaid's Tale are showing weakness after only one season.

 

GRRM wrote great books, but there are even better books with weak adaptations. The success wasn't guaranteed. 

[Smad]

2 hours ago, SimoneS said:

I completely disagree. What D&D has pulled off with the Game of Thrones adaptation has been phenomenal tv and unlikely to be recreated in the sci fi genre ever again. I think that no tv adaptation can meet the expectations of the hardcore book fans, many of whom have complained about the show from day one.

I also don't agree that seasons one to four of the show were "good" because D&D had Martin's material. I think that the show has been uneven creatively from the beginning and likely will be so to end. However, I actually think that the show has improved in many ways in the last three seasons, especially as D&D have been freed from the constraints of Martin's convoluted storytelling.

I'm not saying they did everything wrong. I'm saying that since S5, things have been different. And not in a good way. And now even CGI dragons can't distract from the fact anymore that characters are only plot devices, the pacing is off and most of the storytelling is nonsensical. Or are you going to argue that Winterfell last season made any sense at all? Or the weight hunt. And I only have to look at characters like Tyrion, Varys and LF, THE schemers in the show, to know that D&D are lost without book material. They either don't care or they lack talent that only became obvious once they were left without source material. In which case they should have hired writers for example that had the talents they lacked.

But it's fine for them and HBO. The more dumbed down, commercialized and fanservice-y the show became, the higher the ratings. Which is really all that counts.

[OhOkayWhat]

1 hour ago, Smad said:

the pacing is off and most of the storytelling is nonsensical. Or are you going to argue that Winterfell last season made any sense at all? Or the weight hunt

The pacing is rushed, but only in some cases. And Winterfell plot makes total sense (and wight hunt too), precisely because they are consistent with the characters involved in the plots.

[nikma]

I think people are just willing to ignore some things from the books or the earlier seasons of the show. For example why Catelyn Stark never asked a question why would Tyrion use his own dagger to kill Bran? It makes no sense. He could have used kitchen knife, not very rare and memorable dagger. So, why she never asked this very logical question? Why she trusted LF  unconditionally? Because the show must go on.

Another example, Robert is very worried about Targaryans (and he should be), but he just go to hunt for weeks, just after Jaime attacked Ned Stark in KL, when Tyrion is arrested, when Westeros is on the brink of the civil war. He goes to a hunt?! Just so GRRM could create situation where he will die there.

Without these two very strange moments the whole plot of Book 1/Season 1 would never happen. But fans never ask these questions. Why? Is this really more logical than anything from later seasons? 

[Lemuria]

12 hours ago, Smad said:

If this were still S1-4 quality, everyone who went on that weight hunt would ultimately die because they brought mass destruction and the death of millions down on Westeros

Actually, I don't feel they did any such thing.  The NK had been marching his army to Eastwatch well before the wight hunt was decided upon.  He wasn't doing that to sit at the Wall and play tiddlywinks.  If you had taken a look at the map during the opening credits, you would have seen that the ocean to the east of Eastwatch, the eastern end of the Wall, was now white, when in earlier seasons it was blue.  The ocean was freezing over.

The NK's intention was to ignore the Wall.  The Long Night was here and the ocean was freezing.  He was going to march right around the Wall; otherwise, there was no reason to march to Eastwatch.  So, whether anyone had gone beyond the Wall or not, the war was on their doorsteps.  Millions were still going to die.

As for the "wight hunt," Jon and handful of others were the only ones who originally believed in the NK and the Walkers and the AOTD.  Daenerys had come around to believe they existed but she still did not grasp the magnitude of the problem or the danger.  Cersei did not believe at all.  Jon knew that there was no way they could fight a 2-front war against both the AOTD and Cersei's troops. 

I've asked this before and have yet to get an answer that actually makes sense:  how were they going to convince Cersei and southern lords about the situation without producing actual proof?  They had to capture one.  There was no way anyone could have known about the NK's spears (or that the NK could have killed a dragon with it simply by throwing it).

However, the fact that the NK was traveling with those spears meant that he intended, sooner or later, to bring down a dragon.  He wanted one, and it he hadn't done it at Eastwatch, he would have done it after he went around the Wall and headed south.  Even if she had never joined up with Jon, at some point, Daenerys would have had to come against the oncoming AOTD, with the same outcome.

[nikma]

The possibility that NK knew about dragons coming was implied in S7 outline. Maybe we will get confirmation of that in S8, if that's somehow relevant to the plot of the next season. 

 

1 hour ago, Lemuria said:

how were they going to convince Cersei and southern lords about the situation without producing actual proof?

I saw some people saying that they should't have tried to convince the Lannisters at all. Daenerys could have just destroyed Red Keep.

 

But I think they are just simplifying things, Cersei would never wait in the Red Keep for dragons to kill her, Daenerys would need to burn whole city, Tyrion would never agree to kill Jaime in that way, and Jon would never decide to kill hundreds of innocent people inside the Red Keep. And even if Cersei and Jaime did die, someone would lead that army after them, so they would need him to agree to work with Daenerys and Jon or to completely destroy Lannister army, which would take  a lot of time, casualties, and in the end it would make "human coalition" much weaker. 

But I still think characters needed to discuss this in E5. That's the reason I think some people had problems with white hunt. Set-up was rushed. They've agreed too easily, like it was the best option in the world, but in fact, it was the best of the worst options. 

[Smad]

6 hours ago, OhOkayWhat said:

The pacing is rushed, but only in some cases. And Winterfell plot makes total sense (and wight hunt too), precisely because they are consistent with the characters involved in the plots.

No sorry. Agree to disagree. I'm willing to point out things are crap even in a show/movie that I love. Arya/Sansa/LF/Bran made no sense whatsoever and I know I'm not alone in that. I don't even have to go further than this forum (see episode threads). The wight hunt also made no sense because everyone with half a working brain would know that Cersei DOESN'T CARE. Tyrion of all people would have known that. The whole storyline existed purely because they needed to give the NK a dragon to get through the wall. And everything in that episode was complete and utter nonsense.

2 hours ago, Lemuria said:

Actually, I don't feel they did any such thing.  The NK had been marching his army to Eastwatch well before the wight hunt was decided upon.  He wasn't doing that to sit at the Wall and play tiddlywinks.  If you had taken a look at the map during the opening credits, you would have seen that the ocean to the east of Eastwatch, the eastern end of the Wall, was now white, when in earlier seasons it was blue.  The ocean was freezing over.

I have actually considered that. I knew they weren't getting through the wall so the only way was to wait for the Oceans to freeze over. But guess what. Dragon Fire and Wildfire exist in this universe and the WW can't swim. All you need is lookouts on either side of the wall and then send a super sonic raven and call for the Dragons. And have Wildfire stationed at those lookouts also. Both of those sources of heat should do the trick and melt the ice, after all it did so in the wight hunt episode.

Quote

I've asked this before and have yet to get an answer that actually makes sense:  how were they going to convince Cersei and southern lords about the situation without producing actual proof?  They had to capture one.

There were no southern lords at the meeting (unless you count Euron). Only Cersei. And Cersei DOES NOT CARE. What other answer is needed that makes sense? Everyone knew before the meeting that it wouldn't matter to her. And as it turns out, it didn't.  Shocker, NOT. If they had called a meeting with southern lords (if there even are any left at this point) then maybe this wouldn't have been utterly useless but they didn't.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Smad

[nikma]

I don't know what is that problematic about WF plot. It still made more sense that Robert going to hunt for no reason at all.

In earlier seasons they made characters like Catelyn or Tyrion ignore LF's weak manipulations for plot purpose. Cat never asked anything about that dagger and Tyrion never asked anything about why LF lied.

 

So they made characters around LF stupid for his games to work, and at the end they made him stupid so he could die. But that was GRRM's and D&D's style from the beginning. If that wasn't problem for you in S1 it shouldn't be in S7.

[OhOkayWhat]

1 hour ago, Smad said:

Arya/Sansa/LF/Bran made no sense whatsoever

You didn't write why.

 

1 hour ago, Smad said:

that Cersei DOESN'T CARE

The answer is very simple:They assumed she cares, at least, about staying alive.

 

1 hour ago, Smad said:

Dragon Fire and Wildfire exist in this universe and the WW can't swim. All you need is lookouts on either side of the wall and then send a super sonic raven and call for the Dragons. And have Wildfire stationed at those lookouts also. Both of those sources of heat should do the trick and melt the ice, after all it did so in the wight hunt episode.

 

But that is precisely the irony within the narrative! All those preparations are not possible precisely because nobody cares/believe except those who saw the NK undead troops. 

Also once the dragons come to destroy the ice....yes, the NK kills them the same. 

And that is assuming using the frozen sea was the only NK plan.

The wight hunt was a very good plotline to show the contrast between the utter indiference of millions and the terrible desperation of oh so few people.

Edited November 13, 2018 by OhOkayWhat

[Colorful Mess]

@Smad you can read my post history on the wight hunt disaster, we've gone in circles on this ad nauseum here. For some reason people think it was an epic heroic mission like Hardhome to save millions, when it was not. It was just about Dany not wanting to help Jon when he asked her to. She says she doesn't want to give the country to Cersei, and bam! Tyrion has the solution to give Dany and Jon what they both want (because their goals are at cross purposes the entire time). I dont know why it's viewed in such a soft-focused woobifying way. Dany made everyone jump through all these hoops and was still having doubts about saving Westeros from zombies as late 7x6 so they weren't exactly writing her as purely heroic.

Yes, all parties involved should be dead according to the show's own logic of what happens to honorable fools. Other show watchers in my circle of friends agree with you on that. 

Jon did say "She'll only fight beside us if I bend the knee" while he was on white hunt. Which is also a head-scratcher because ... I thought Jon was going on the mission to get Dany to fight beside them. Does he not expect her to help out whether the mission is a success or failure? 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Colorful Mess

[Eyes High]

Apparently one of the farewell gifts for the cast and crew was a dragon/direwolf commemorative ring. Feel free to read anything you like into that for Jonerys Targ restoration endgame. I know I will, heh.

/Kaysen762 at /Freefolk heard from "someone" that there will be two teasers released on Thursday or Sunday, with one being one minute long and the other being thirty seconds long. I would be surprised to get a teaser this early before the release of the teaser poster, and I have no particular reason to think /Kaysen762 has a legit source, but whatever, I'll take it. The EW promotional cover story being released so early suggests that it may not be business as usual for the GOT promotional runup, so who knows?

We may get a few glimpses of S8 in the HBO year end promo. They usually throw in some brief shots of some of the mains. Other than that, though, I wouldn't expect any proper footage until the trailer release. Any teaser would likely have CGI something or other either with previous season or new dialogue in voiceover, like the Sigils teaser from Season 7.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Eyes High

[SimoneS]

I remember that wrap party also had a dragon/direwolf sigil. The ring and that sigil is just more confirmation of my belief that Jon and Dany end up marrying and ruling together.

They should mass produce those rings. I would buy one.

Edited November 13, 2018 by SimoneS

[GraceK]

19 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

Apparently one of the farewell gifts for the cast and crew was a dragon/direwolf commemorative ring. Feel free to read anything you like into that for Jonerys Targ restoration endgame. I know I will, heh.

/Kaysen762 at /Freefolk heard from "someone" that there will be two teasers released on Thursday or Sunday, with one being one minute long and the other being thirty seconds long. I would be surprised to get a teaser this early before the release of the teaser poster, and I have no particular reason to think /Kaysen762 has a legit source, but whatever, I'll take it. The EW promotional cover story being released so early suggests that it may not be business as usual for the GOT promotional runup, so who knows?

 

It doesn’t surprise me, because Nowthis just promoted the new season on their Facebook page talking about The 55 day night shoots and all the money spent on the Winterfell battles etc. The fact that mainstream news sources are already promoting season 8 with legitimate info makes me believe that a trailer is coming soon. ??‍♀️ That was my impression anyway when I saw it. 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by GraceK

[anamika]

11 hours ago, Eyes High said:

I'm probably missing something here, but I'm not sure why Hibberd's presence in Belfast on April 10th would mean that Sophie couldn't have wrapped then. Do you think Sophie was doing interviews and such with Hibberd and that's why she was there on the 10th? Hibberd did have quotes from Sophie in the EW article.

I think the April date matches with everything Sophie says about her last day on set in Belfast:

Quote

Her final scene as Sansa "took about five days to shoot" – leaving Turner and her unnamed co-stars "all quite sweaty, and bored by the end".

But helping to alleviate the difficulties of shooting was a touching farewell gift from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. "I wrapped shooting in Spain – like, the whole of Game of Thrones," Turner explained. "But I remember the first time, when I wrapped in Belfast with the crew that we worked with so often, it was in the Winterfell courtyard.

"I wasn't even shooting there, but the director, David Nutter, called me into the courtyard, because he knew it was my last day on set. He said to the whole crew, 'Sansa Stark is leaving Winterfell for the last time.'

"As you can imagine, I bawled my eyes out.

"Then David and Dan presented each actor with their favourite scene of their character in a storyboard, with a little note on the back. That set me off as well. As soon as they brought that out… And the documentary crew saw me. It was just a nightmare, to be honest – I was just bawling.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/game-of-thrones/news/a861316/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-interview-character-death/

I think that final scene as Sansa taking five days to shoot refers to the Spain filming. Then she talks about her last day on the Belfast set. She seems to have been shooting on another set, most of the actors seem to have been there and Nutter seems to have been filming something on the WF set considering he was the director present. There was also a documentary crew there which could indicate that Hibberd was also present to document stuff for his future EW articles.  All this matches with Nutter, most of the cast and Hibberd being there in Belfast with Sophie somewhere between April 11th - 20th. And that's why I think she wrapped then.

18 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

I remember that wrap party also had a dragon/direwolf sigil. The ring and that sigil is just more confirmation of my belief that Jon and Dany end up marrying and ruling together.

Or it could be a fitting symbol for the end of 'A song of Ice and Fire' which has been about the Starks and Targaryens coming together to defeat the greater threat beyond the wall.

Edited November 13, 2018 by anamika

[Eyes High]

3 minutes ago, anamika said:

I think the April date matches with everything Sophie says about her last day on set in Belfast:

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/game-of-thrones/news/a861316/game-of-thrones-sophie-turner-interview-character-death/

I think that final scene as Sansa taking five days to shoot refers to the Spain filming. Then she talks about her last day on the Belfast set. She seems to have been shooting on another set, most of the actors seem to have been there and Nutter seems to have been filming something on the WF set considering he was the director present. There was also a documentary crew there which could indicate that Hibberd was also present to document stuff for his future EW articles.  All this matches with Nutter, most of the cast and Hibberd being there in Belfast with Sophie somewhere between April 11th - 20th. And that's why I think she wrapped then.

Okay, that makes sense.

It's odd that she keeps saying "five days" for the Spain shoot. She says in another interview that it was five days straight. It doesn't make much sense, given that she only filmed for four days in Spain as far as we know (Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday) and that those days weren't consecutive, since they were interrupted by the weekend. 

The Winterfell courtyard set was at Moneyglass, as far as I know. It's strange that Sophie would be there if she wasn't filming (unless she's saying David Nutter asked her to come to the set from Belfast to say goodbye). It's not like Linen Mill Studios where there are multiple sets (as far as I know).

[anamika]

16 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

The Winterfell courtyard set was at Moneyglass, as far as I know. It's strange that Sophie would be there if she wasn't filming (unless she's saying David Nutter asked her to come to the set from Belfast to say goodbye). It's not like Linen Mill Studios where there are multiple sets (as far as I know).

True. It's possible therefore that she was not actually shooting anything and just there on the WF set for the documentary guys. Possibly giving interviews or showing the set around for the documentary.

In which case, if Sophie was just there in Belfast in April for the documentary and she wrapped on her last day there, it's equally possible that Joe Dempsie was talking about wrapping in Seville with the documentary crew and feeling sad about it and crying etc. So maybe Joe did not do any actual filming while in Seville since we know there was a documentary crew in Seville as well.

[Eyes High]

3 hours ago, anamika said:

True. It's possible therefore that she was not actually shooting anything and just there on the WF set for the documentary guys. Possibly giving interviews or showing the set around for the documentary.

It is possible. 

In terms of the filming schedule for Season 8 for exteriors, this is where I'm at in terms of chronology, and these are rough estimates:

December 2017: Ballintoy Harbour

Late January - March 2nd: Night shoots at Moneyglass

March 5th - April 5th: Night shoots at Magheramorne Quarry

Late March: Saintfield

Mid/late April - Early July 2018: KL exterior set at Belfast

April 23rd - May 27th: Italica filming site at Seville shut down

Week of April 23rd - Ballintoy Harbour

May 9th - May 14th: Filming at Italica (Seville)

Mid/late May: Filming at Tollymore Forest

A few thoughts:

1. There were multiple ship sets, apparently, and I have no idea when they filmed on those.

2. Looking at the filming schedule and what we know, it seems like the really big ticket stuff was filmed at the end of each "round" of filming:

Last week in February: Moneyglass Winterfell filming ends, big scenes with Dany filmed (presumably Dany burning Jorah and/or Rhaegal after one or both of them perished in the battle)

April 4th/5th: Night shoots end, flaming sword riders sequence shot at Magheramorne Quarry

June 28th: Whatever was filmed seems to mark the climax of KL filming according to IrishThrones

3. Remember that Friki and BoatsexBaby have different views on the Dragonpit scene. Friki has said it's a scene with no VFX (that seems to be from the epilogue as it's Tyrion's trial), BoatsexBaby has said that it's a VFX-heavy sequence from the end of the KL finale and not the epilogue. 

The Italica site was completely shut down to the public some time before filming started. It is possible that they may have shut down the site in its entirety to do drone shots for VFX (similar to what they did in Iceland for Season 7 and Season 8), and that this is why the site was shut down well in advance of filming with actors.

4. Another aspect of filming may disprove BoatsexBaby's information. BoatsexBaby has said that there were scenes filmed at the Magheramorne Quarry which were not for the Winterfell battle in 8x03 but for the KL climax. The message of thanks to the crew after the night shoots ended contradicts this (by saying that the night shoots were for one episode only). BoatsexBaby has said that this was done to fool the extras into thinking that they were only filming for one sequence at Winterfell. The EW promotional article also supports the production narrative that there is one big battle against the AOTD, and it's at Winterfell.

The Magheramorne Quarry shoots had a bit with Jaime and Brienne fighting together. This seems like the sort of shot that would wind up in a trailer. If BoatsexBaby is right, this happens in KL and not at Winterfell. If the shot shows up in a trailer, we'll know whether or not it's at Winterfell and consequently whether or not BoatsexBaby's source is correct about everything else they claimed.

[GrailKing]

9 hours ago, Smad said:

No sorry. Agree to disagree. I'm willing to point out things are crap even in a show/movie that I love. Arya/Sansa/LF/Bran made no sense whatsoever and I know I'm not alone in that. I don't even have to go further than this forum (see episode threads). T

You're not, but neither am I or others who felt the WF plot did make sense.

From S1 E1,E2,E9 and Ep10,  we are shown and given an abbreviated form of Sansa and Arya's tensions.  From S2 E10 (?) Arya receives the coin from JH and we see Arya mentioning needing to find her brothers and " my sister, I got to find her too " with a very clear look of she has an issue with Sansa.

We then get season 6 and the theater, and Arya having a PTSD flashback of KL and her father's death, and her glaring at the actress playing the part of Sansa silently repeating Lady Cranes lines and Arya's trust issues starting to be shown again.

S7 E 4, Sansa hugs Arya, her reaction was a stiff arms to the side and no emotions, they start to talk and she hugs her warmly on the second go. Arya then gets the info dump in the godswood, this includes LF, again her trusting Sansa is now in question wrg to Sansa and LF.

We get Arya judging Sansa's  methods with the lords, and we then get some more antagonism from Arya in the parents bedroom ,and Arya being young Arya; rushing to judgement on the lords and on her sister disregarding the fact Sansa and Jon need those lords and that they have valid reasons to complain , it's exactly what Jon was taught by Ned and Sansa learned from Jon.

We then get LF setting up Arya, Arya's trying to go against LF, but is played, LF plays Arya with the raven scroll, we get her and Sansa on the balcony Arya accusing Sansa of betraying the family based on that letter, disregards Sansa's explanation, recalls what she sees, yet blocks out half of what she actually saw, on top of that she was dancing and chasing cats in KL; so she had no clue that Sansa was trying to save their father.

In the same scene we see Sansa perplexed, defends herself, worried the lords may get that letter, she also understood that "Cersei " ( understood the affect, wrong person for that moment ) would love to see them at odds. It all culminates in Arya's bedroom, Sansa showed concerns for both Arya and Bran prior, but it comes to a peak with Arya and the dagger and faces.

We know Bran is concentrating on TAOTD, so he's not paying attention to the sisters, it's in the back of his collecting apparatus, we then jump to 7-7.

 Sansa's last lesson and the trial. LF believes Sansa is worried about Arya, Sansa isn't,  she isn't; because between Sansa left with the dagger and getting LF last lesson she made a beeline to a person she trust and also a person who has an ability she doesn't have. ( Famous cut scene )We can add any phrase we want here that equals to Sansa saying WTF is wrong with Arya. Bran clues Sansa in on the throne room and LF, he clues her in on the bordello scene with LF and Cat, he or Arya clues her in on LF and Tywin, as far as the rest, she was witness to them and also Lf framed her and Tyrion in them.

The Winterfell story line works well with the DH Lawrence rule, the crumbs were placed since S1 after TDHL rule we can than and only then we can see how it matches up with what the actors stated, what the directors and writers stated and  add what GRRM said himself prior to season 2 ( maybe before GOT ) " the Stark sisters have major issues to overcome "

The worst I think we can say is it was a little rushed, and they kept some stuff out that would have been beneficial to the Starks, but at the expense of loosing surprise value.

Just my opinion of course.

7 hours ago, Eyes High said:

Apparently one of the farewell gifts for the cast and crew was a dragon/direwolf commemorative ring. Feel free to read anything you like into that for Jonerys Targ restoration endgame. I know I will, heh.

/Kaysen762 at /Freefolk heard from "someone" that there will be two teasers released on Thursday or Sunday, with one being one minute long and the other being thirty seconds long. I would be surprised to get a teaser this early before the release of the teaser poster, and I have no particular reason to think /Kaysen762 has a legit source, but whatever, I'll take it. The EW promotional cover story being released so early suggests that it may not be business as usual for the GOT promotional runup, so who knows?

We may get a few glimpses of S8 in the HBO year end promo. They usually throw in some brief shots of some of the mains. Other than that, though, I wouldn't expect any proper footage until the trailer release. Any teaser would likely have CGI something or other either with previous season or new dialogue in voiceover, like the Sigils teaser from Season 7.

 

That was a nice looking ring, wouldn't want to get hit with it though.

Can only hope.

Edited November 13, 2018 by GrailKing
same word back to back.

[GrailKing]

6 hours ago, Eyes High said:

The Winterfell courtyard set was at Moneyglass, as far as I know. It's strange that Sophie would be there if she wasn't filming (unless she's saying David Nutter asked her to come to the set from Belfast to say goodbye). It's not like Linen Mill Studios where there are multiple sets (as far as I know).

This is how I understood it, he said Sansa Stark is leaving Winterfell for the last time; Dave and Dan gave her their favorite Sansa scene .

My thoughts were Sansa leaves Winterfell for the last time meaning, she's going somewhere else, or she comes back and never leaves again?

[GrailKing]

I should be sleeping, mind says No!

Just saw this on Reddit, looks like something may come today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/freefolk/comments/9wnip4/today/

[anamika]

5 hours ago, Eyes High said:

BoatsexBaby has said that there were scenes filmed at the Magheramorne Quarry which were not for the Winterfell battle in 8x03 but for the KL climax. The message of thanks to the crew after the night shoots ended contradicts this (by saying that the night shoots were for one episode only). BoatsexBaby has said that this was done to fool the extras into thinking that they were only filming for one sequence at Winterfell. The EW promotional article also supports the production narrative that there is one big battle against the AOTD, and it's at Winterfell.

Didn't the EW article already get this wrong because they mentioned the 55 night shoots were just outside the WF set when we know filming also took place in Magheramorne with a green screen and one other location(Saintfield?).

As per the EW article:

Quote

Last April a crew member revealed that Game of Thrones had wrapped 55 night shoots while filming a battle. Media outlets around the world ran stories saying the final season’s battle took twice as long as the 25-day shoot for season 6’s climactic Battle of the Bastards. This wildly understated what really happened. The 55 nights were only for the battle’s outdoor scenes at the Winterfell set. Filming then moved into the studio, where Sapochnik continued shooting the same battle for weeks after that.

But as per the crew member:

Quote

The funny, heartfelt note cites “the cold, the snow, the rain, the mud, the sheep shit of Toome”, in reference to the Winterfell set in Moneyglass, Toome; as well as “the winds of Magheramorne.” In the caption below the photo, Quinlan helpfully added: “Says it all. 55 consecutive nights. 11 weeks. 3 locations. You’ll never again see anything like it.”

http://watchersonthewall.com/season-8-just-finished-filming-the-longest-battle-shoot-in-game-of-thrones-history/

1 hour ago, GrailKing said:

Just saw this on Reddit, looks like something may come today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/freefolk/comments/9wnip4/today/

Fingers crossed!

Quote

co-executive producer Bryan Cogman says. “It’s an incredibly emotional, haunting, bittersweet final season, and I think it honors very much what George set out to do — which is flipping this kind of story on its head.”

What do you guys think Cogman is talking about here? In the fantasy genre, we have had all sorts of endings - the heroes dying after saving the world (Mistborn), the heroes going away after saving the world (Wheel of time, Dune), the heroes making great sacrifices and being burdened with rule (Dune, LOTR), bittersweet like LOTR (Aragorn, Frodo). Everything has already been done in Fantasy, so it will be interesting to see what Cogman means by 'flipping this kind of story on it's head'.

Edited November 13, 2018 by anamika

[Eyes High]

5 hours ago, GrailKing said:

This is how I understood it, he said Sansa Stark is leaving Winterfell for the last time; Dave and Dan gave her their favorite Sansa scene .

My thoughts were Sansa leaves Winterfell for the last time meaning, she's going somewhere else, or she comes back and never leaves again?

I assume he means "Sophie leaves Winterfell" for the last time, nothing spoilery about Sansa's fate.

4 hours ago, GrailKing said:

I should be sleeping, mind says No!

Just saw this on Reddit, looks like something may come today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/freefolk/comments/9wnip4/today/

/Kaysen762 updated the post to say that it wasn't anything for Season 8. Drat.

3 hours ago, anamika said:

Didn't the EW article already get this wrong because they mentioned the 55 night shoots were just outside the WF set when we know filming also took place in Magheramorne with a green screen and one other location(Saintfield?).

Yes, they did.

Quote

What do you guys think Cogman is talking about here? In the fantasy genre, we have had all sorts of endings - the heroes dying after saving the world (Mistborn), the heroes going away after saving the world (Wheel of time, Dune), the heroes making great sacrifices and being burdened with rule (Dune, LOTR), bittersweet like LOTR (Aragorn, Frodo). Everything has already been done in Fantasy, so it will be interesting to see what Cogman means by 'flipping this kind of story on it's head'.

I'm guessing here, but I think Cogman may mean by "this kind of story" the kind of fantasy story where "the evil guys die, the good guys triumph, the rightful king and queen ascend the throne and restore peace and prosperity to the land," so flipping that sort of story on its head would be...not that, I guess. Some possibilities:

1. Jon and/or Dany die. (I doubt it, personally, but it had to be said.)

2. Jon and Dany survive but decide not to ascend the throne in favour of a more peaceful life.

3. There is no throne to ascend because the Seven Kingdoms become independent again.

4. The NK and the WWs turn out not to be evil, or to be victims in their own right. (BoatsexBaby did say there was a big resolution to the WWs storyline that tied together all their scenes.)

5. Tyrion betrayal. 

6. Jon and Dany survive but the populace, angry at the devastation in KL, rejects them as rulers and paints them as villains.

It's also worth noting that we know that ASOIAF is loosely based on the Wars of the Roses, and the popular historical (that is to say Tudor propaganda) narrative for the end of the Wars of the Roses for many years was pretty much this as well: the evil, Princes in the Tower-murdering guy (Richard III) dying, the good guy (Henry Tudor) triumphing, and the rightful king and queen (Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York) ascending the throne and restoring peace and prosperity to the land. Inconvenient facts like Richard III's likely innocence of the deaths of his nephews and his respectable stint as king were swept aside in favour of that narrative, and Shakespeare's later iconic portrait of Richard III as a Machiavellian, monstrous villain (written while Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York's granddaughter was queen) did the rest.

GRRM has been pretty open about his love for Richard III, just as he has been pretty open for his love for Tyrion, and he has admitted that Tyrion is the Richard III analogue in ASOIAF (although there are also shades of Richard III in Stannis and Ned). He's not even subtle about this in the books, where the "Bloody Hand" play in TWOW is an obvious homage to Richard III. So maybe we will see an ending where Tyrion, the "Richard III" of ASOIAF, dies heroically but is remembered as a villainous, monstrous dwarf. Or, if GRRM lets his Ricardian feelings run wild, maybe we'll see an ending where Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York (Dany and Jon) never ascend the throne and leave Richard III to run things. Or maybe Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York will unjustly execute Richard III for his crimes with the people being none the wiser. A lot of ways it could go.

When GRRM turned the Anarchy into the first Dance of the Dragons, while there were many, many differences (Matilda was not as far as we know fed to a dragon), when it came to who got the throne, he reached the same outcome as in history: the female claimant's son ultimately got the throne after the male claimant's death. It is entirely possible that he reaches the same outcome as the Wars of the Roses--the Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York analogues ascending the throne (which would be Jon and Dany)--by a very different mechanism. It is also possible that he puts his own take on the ending of the Wars of the Roses in a manner more favourable to his fave (Richard III/Tyrion). 

I think the "emotional" and "haunting" part may have nothing to do with who lives or dies among the main characters. The scene with the "grieving man" shot in June and the scene that sounded like a scene where a woman is raped by a soldier suggests we may see more of an exploration of the costs of war visited on the smallfolk, which might explain the "brave" and "important" talk about Season 8.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Eyes High

[anamika]

1 hour ago, Eyes High said:

1. Jon and/or Dany die. (I doubt it, personally, but it had to be said.)

I thinking the show has telegraphed that Jon is not going to get a happy ending. As I mentioned in the Jon Snow thread, pretty much most of his mentors have told Jon that his life is going to suck in the future:

Quote

Alliser Thorne before being hanged for mutiny:  "I fought, I lost. Now I rest. But you, Lord Snow, you’ll be fighting their battles forever."

Beric Dondarrion:  “I don’t think it’s our purpose to understand. Except one thing — we’re soldiers. We have to know what we’re fighting for. I’m not fighting so some man or woman I barely know can sit on a throne made of swords…[I’m fighting for] life. Death is the enemy. The first enemy and the last…The enemy always wins. And we still need to fight him. That’s all I know. You and I won’t find much joy while we’re here, but we can keep others alive. We can defend those who can’t defend themselves…Maybe we don’t need to understand any more than that. Maybe that’s enough.”

Aemon: “Allow me to give my lord one last piece of counsel. The same counsel I once gave my brother when we parted for the last time. He was three-and-thirty when the Great Council chose him to mount the Iron Throne. A man grown with sons of his own, yet in some ways still a boy. Egg had an innocence to him, a sweetness we all loved. Kill the boy within you, I told him the day I took ship for the Wall. It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg. Kill the boy and let the man be born. You are half the age that Egg was, and your own burden is crueler one, I fear. You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born.”

Resurrected Jon may not be long for this world. He either ends the show dying after killing the NK or ends up alone trying to rule the 7K.  Similarly, I think there are high chances of Dany dying as well - there was no hints to what happens after Dany gets to Westeros in the original outline and the showrunners, through Tyrion, seem to be indicating that Dany was wrong to burn the Tarlys.  But even if both Jon and Dany die, there is certainly going to be a child to continue house Targaryen.

Someone pointed out parallels between Sansa telling Jon that he is good at ruling and Varys telling Tyrion that he is good at ruling. Tyrion also does a lot of ruling in the books. At the same time, Jon and Dany are also two characters in whom GRRM has invested a lot of chapters building them up as leaders/Rulers. What would be the point if he was only going to kill them off?

The only thing I am sure of is that Arya will survive!

Quote

I'm guessing here, but I think Cogman may mean by "this kind of story" the kind of fantasy story where "the evil guys die, the good guys triumph, the rightful king and queen ascend the throne and restore peace and prosperity to the land," so flipping that sort of story on its head would be...not that, I guess. Some possibilities:

So is Cogman in essence saying that the evil guys will triumph and the good guys die at the end of this tale? In which case they may succeed in flipping this story on it's head, but we sat through 7 seasons of evil triumphing only for the ending also to be the same. GOT is then a nihilistic tale of how it's better to be evil with no morals. I can see the show going with that philosophy but I am not sure how that 'honors very much what George set out to do', considering that GRRM has always pointed to the LOTR ending where good does triumph over evil in a very traditional sense. Which is why I find Cogman's statement to be a bit baffling. And he only thinks that it honors GRRM's ending? Does he not know for certain considering they are doing GRRM's ending?

Edited November 13, 2018 by anamika

[GrailKing]

1 hour ago, Eyes High said:

/Kaysen762 updated the post to say that it wasn't anything for Season 8. Drat.

Well, that's disappointing.  : ( 

[YaddaYadda]

April 2019, season 8

It's not a new promo. Just a bunch of old scenes announcing when the season will be.

Edited November 13, 2018 by YaddaYadda

[Eyes High]

19 minutes ago, anamika said:

At the same time, Jon and Dany are also two characters in whom GRRM has invested a lot of chapters building them up as leaders/Rulers. What would be the point if he was only going to kill them off?

 

This is my question, too, along with "Why make Jon a zombie if he's meant to be endgame king?"/"Why make Jon the legitimate heir to the throne if he's going to die in any event?"

Quote

The only thing I am sure of is that Arya will survive!

So say we all!

Quote

So is Cogman in essence saying that the evil guys will triumph and the good guys die at the end of this tale?

Well, not necessarily, but there may be aspects of the ending that go against that type of ending, like maybe a good guy turns out to be a bad guy at the eleventh hour but we still feel bad about his death at the hands of the good guys (the Tyrion betrayal theory), or maybe the good guys triumph but they have severe PTSD and their home has been destroyed (the LOTR ending). It's not all or nothing. 

Quote

In which case they may succeed in flipping this story on it's head, but we sat through 7 seasons of evil triumphing only for the ending also to be the same. GOT is then a nihilistic tale of how it's better to be evil with no morals.

Yes, GRRM has vigorously pushed back against the idea that he's some kind of nihilist and has said that he's aiming for an ending as bittersweet as it is happy, which suggests at least that it's happy to some degree. I don't see what could be remotely happy about the two lead characters finally finding happiness together only for one of them to die, personally. I mean, Jaime/Brienne was always doomed, so fair enough, but a lot of people ended up happily married at the end of LOTR, GRRM's apparent platonic ideal of an ending, right?

16 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

April 2019, season 8

It's not a new promo. Just a bunch of old scenes announcing when the season will be.

Well, it's something. It also implicitly seems to confirm the April 28th, 2019 date calculated based on True Detective and Big Little Lies' episode count.

Lots of Jon in that promo.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Eyes High

[GrailKing]

16 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

April 2019, season 8

It's not a new promo. Just a bunch of old scenes announcing when the season will be.

Wow, they didn't even put Sansa's stare in it.

They're going to milk this final season.

[GraceK]

I love that Maisie was right when she spilled the beans months ago ?

Didnt Boatsexbaby also say April? 

Edited November 13, 2018 by GraceK

[anamika]

10 minutes ago, GraceK said:

I love that Maisie was right when she spilled the beans months ago ?

These kids don't care ?. As per EW, D&D gave them instructions to not even take a photo of their boots or reveal the tiniest spoilers. And then Maisie took a shot of her boots on the set and Sophie got a spoilery tattoo!

Edited November 13, 2018 by anamika

[Eyes High]

The official GameofThrones twitter account is tweeting screencaps from Seasons 1-7 with taglines every five minutes:

1. Not a Queen, a Khaleesi. (Dany eating the horse heart.)

2. Bring me his head. (Ned being executed.)

3. Fire cannot kill a dragon. (Dany with baby Drogon in 1x10.)

4. The Lannisters send their regards. (Catelyn's throat being slit.)

5. Serve me my wine. (Joffrey dying.)

6. I am your son and you sentenced me to die. (Tyrion with the crossbow.)

A minute-long teaser was posted at Youtube. (The last half was the Twitter 30 second teaser.) /Kaysen762's info was legit!

Stuff from the minute-long teaser (I'm making it a numbered list so it isn't one long paragraph):

1. Three back shots: Jon facing the charge at Hardhome. Dany on the balcony at Pentos in 1x01. Cersei facing the crowd before her walk of shame.

2. Cersei VO: "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die." Shot of the Red Keep. Arya at the statue of Baelor. Ned before his head is chopped. Quick cut to Bran's vision shot of the weirwood tree. Ned sharpening Ice.

3. Dany's dragons letting loose when she's a prisoner in Season 2. Drogon flying over Jaime at the Field of Fire.

4. Bran plummeting from the tower. Sansa embracing Jon. Tyrion before his trial. Sansa staring daggers at Joffrey during Joffrey's wedding, Olenna applauding. Littlefinger putting a dagger to Ned's throat. Littlefinger getting his throat slit.

5. Jon at...Hardhome? Hodor holding the door while Bran is carried away. Jon holding Ygritte's body. Oberyn vs. the Mountain. Myrcella dying in Jaime's arms. The wildfire underneath the Sept igniting, Margaery's reaction, the High Sparrow being blown up, Cersei smugly watching the Sept collapse.

...The rest is from the teaser posted on Twitter.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Eyes High

[anamika]

10 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

A minute-long teaser was posted at Youtube.

Nice. Bookended by Cersei talking about the game and Jon talking about the AOTD. There is also a Dany poster from season one.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dr5GY8qWkAA0Odu.jpg:large

Is this HBO's solution to not giving any spoilers via trailers? Just show old clips and character posters from season one? lol.

[Eyes High]

6 minutes ago, anamika said:

Nice. Bookended by Cersei talking about the game and Jon talking about the AOTD. There is also a Dany poster from season one.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dr5GY8qWkAA0Odu.jpg:large

Is this HBO's solution to not giving any spoilers via trailers? Just show old clips and character posters from season one? lol.

They did the same thing with the Sigils teaser for Season 7, except they had some nifty CGI stuff to go along with.

Here's the sequence for the last part of the minute-long teaser:

"Every battle": horses clash at the BOTB, Dothraki and Drogon at the Field of Fire, Jon in the crush seeing Sansa at the BOTB

"Every betrayal": Jorah seeing the Unsullied strike their spears on the ground, Catelyn slapping Roose and Robb looking around him at the Red Wedding, Jon angrily roughing up Theon, Joffrey choking and Jaime rushing to save him

"Every alliance": Wun Wun at Hardhome, the horses at the BOTB

"Every risk": Jaime and Cersei kissing, Jon vs. the WW at Hardhome

"Every fight": Blackwater wildfire explosion, Jon escaping at Hardhome

"Every sacrifice": Tommen falling from the window

"Every oath": wight hunt

"Every death": Jon at the wight hunt

[Eyes High]

Updated list from the GameofThrones Twitter feed:

1. Not a Queen, a Khaleesi. (Dany eating the horse heart.)

2. Bring me his head. (Ned being executed.)

3. Fire cannot kill a dragon. (Dany with baby Drogon in 1x10.)

4. The Lannisters send their regards. (Catelyn's throat being slit.)

5. Serve me my wine. (Joffrey dying.)

6. I am your son and you sentenced me to die. (Tyrion with the crossbow.)

7. If they get through, everyone dies. (The NK raising the dead at Hardhome.)

8. I choose violence. (Cersei during her walk of shame.)

9. For the watch. (Jon waking up alive.)

10. Send a raven. (Bran in warg mode.)

11. Hold the door. (Hodor holding the door.)

12. Bastards will clash. (Jon in the crush at the BOTB.)

13. The North Remembers. (Arya walking out of the room full of dead Freys.)

14. Winter is here. (Wight Viserion burning the Wall.)

ETA, from EW.com:

Quote

The move launches HBO’s debut marketing effort for the show’s final season, a campaign titled #ForTheThrone. Coming later today are posters highlighting a moment from each of the main characters’ pasts. The effort includes a takeover of Grand Central Station featuring 150 variants on the For the Throne creative theme.

I guess the "posters" are what they've been posting on the Twitter feed, although it's basically just screencaps with #FORTHETHRONE plastered over the picture.

Sansa didn't get a poster, so I guess she must not be a main character, heh.

Anyone want to take a trip to Grand Central Station, for, uh...science?

Edited November 13, 2018 by Eyes High