Season 8: Speculation and Spoilers Discussion

[anamika]

Other stuff from the interview:

Quote

It coincided with Season Eight, in which Arya apparently reconnects with her humanity. “It was really amazing, perfect timing because Arya’s just starting to feel again for the first time,” she says. “So it was actually kinda beautiful the way it was working. Because usually I’m trying to play Arya with no emotion, whilst feeling everything. And this time I was feeling nothing while I was trying to feel something, and it worked . . . I think.”

Whatever happens, at least we got to see Sansa and Arya Stark together again, safe at home — however briefly. “Sansa, this whole show, the only reason she has willed herself to survive is for her family,” says Turner, who has a ‘The Pack Survives’ tattoo, quoting the show. “The power of family and unity is so strong that it can keep people alive. That’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away from the show: Family is everything.” She smiles, sitting in her bowling-alley throne, vaping. “I think Papa Stark would be very proud of us,” she says.

[Meredith Quill]

Mod Note:

• Do not bring real world politics into discussion.
• Do not criticise fellow posters.
• Do not post only about events of past seasons.

All the above has happened in here recently, any further examples will result in warnings and/or suspensions or worse.

[Eyes High]

55 minutes ago, Nightingale said:

Gifting her a death scene would be cruel, especially when, as you point out, significant moments of her storyline

Death can be a significant moment of her storyline: Richard Dormer's gift was Beric's last scene of the show, too, after all.

It's not as if the storyboard gifts always reflect shining moments for the characters from what we know. Isaac's gift was Bran's swan dive from the tower, Nikolaj's gift was Jaime getting his hand chopped off, and Liam's gift was Davos getting blasted out of the boat in Blackwater. These are probably the characters' lowest moments. Was that cruel, too?

I do think Sansa survives, but if she does die, the fact that it's a low moment for the character wouldn't stop D&D from choosing that scene.

Sansa won't be queen, since Sophie, Maisie and Isaac all said in a recent interview of various cast members that they thought she should rule Westeros. If I had to guess, I'd say the scene in question is Sansa at Winterfell rebuilding, probably something shot in the fall of 2017.

Apparently, no one has noticed the scene hanging on Sophie's wall, so I'm guessing it's nothing too gonzo. If it's just a scene with Sansa bidding Arya goodbye as she prepares to sail west of Westeros for whatever, I can see how no one would have noticed it. And of course Sophie would be thrilled with such a scene and hang it on her wall, considering how close she is with Maisie.

Maisie also said in the interview there are a lot of similarities between S1 and S8. We know that S1 and S8 both begin with the royal family arriving at Winterfell. S1 has the Lannisters executing a Stark. S8 will have the Starks (or a Stark) executing a Lannister.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Eyes High

[screamin]

It would be funny if Sansa had a slapstick death like Wile E. Coyote and Sophie hung that storyboard panel on her living room wall because she thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Edited March 26, 2019 by screamin

[Eyes High]

21 minutes ago, screamin said:

It would be funny if Sansa had a slapstick death like Wile E. Coyote and Sophie hung that storyboard panel on her living room wall because she thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Hee. Still, I do tend to think that Sophie wouldn't be hanging a storyboard on her wall as a gift if it were anything inherently revealing like a coronation or a death scene (as opposed to a quiet Sansa/Arya scene. or Sansa walking the grounds at Winterfell). She stuffed that super spoilery S8 scroll into her wallet, remember.

Quote from Liam in this video about the cast's feelings about their characters:

"Everybody on--you talk to all the actors here, and they all have such an ownership on their character. They protect them, they pray to [for?] them, they love the journey, the whole bit."

Edited March 26, 2019 by Eyes High

[Minneapple]

58 minutes ago, screamin said:

It would be funny if Sansa had a slapstick death like Wile E. Coyote and Sophie hung that storyboard panel on her living room wall because she thought it was absolutely hilarious.

That's totally something Sophie would do, lol.

[GrailKing]

3 hours ago, Nightingale said:

New Rolling Stone interview with Sophie and Maisie. Something I found interesting:

I'm like, 95% convinced Sansa becomes queen now. I already pointed out weeks ago that most of the interviews from the cast and crew seem to be focusing on Sansa during this promo season. Nutter talked about her as a queen in her own right, D&D obviously love her a lot and even some of the actors are suddenly bringing her up.

If you don't like this ending, I think you should start preparing yourself for it anyway.

I like this part best :

... “Sansa, this whole show, the only reason she has willed herself to survive is for her family,” says Turner, who has a ‘The Pack Survives’ tattoo, quoting the show. “The power of family and unity is so strong that it can keep people alive. That’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away from the show: Family is everything.” She smiles, sitting in her bowling-alley throne, vaping. “I think Papa Stark would be very proud of us,” she says.

[LadyChaos]

If you revisit the correlation of direwolf and Stark:

Wolves:

Lady: died at the hands of Ned Stark for something Nymeria while protecting Arya.

Nymeria: Running free in the wild, being her own wolf

Grey Wind: Killed by a Roose Bolton men

Shaggy Dog: Killed by Ramsey Bolton Men

Summer: killed in the cave battle against White Walkers.

Ghost: Still alive and kicking it with Jon.

Starks:

Sansa: Alive for now. At Winterfell, being the Lady.

Arya: Alive but is also a trained assassin, doing her own thing.

Robb: Died at the hands of Roose Bolton

Rickon: Died at the hands of Ramsey Bolton

Bran:  Died(more or less) in the battle against the white walkers in the cave and became the 3 eyes Raven.

Jon: Died, was brought back to life and is now King/Warden of the North.

If you look at the pattern for the other dead wolves, one could argue that Sansa is likely to die, maybe as her wolf was the first to die, she might be the last death.  I think if she dies, its most likely that she'll die by the hands of a Stark man or allie, protecting her sister.  I'm actually 50/50 on whether Sansa dies but 80% sure she will not be sitting on the throne is she lives.  I think its also worth considering that GRRM said that what started the series was the finding of the direwolf pups, and that was the scene that started it all.

-------

Also worth revisiting that in her visions in the house of the undying: She walked into the throne room and found it covered in ash, she walked to the throne and just before touching it, she turned and walked away towards something else that led her to Drogo and Rhaego.

I think this might also foreshadow that Dany might come within reach of being on the Iron throne, but in the last minute she will turn away and loose her chance at the throne forever.  Like maybe, after the NK is dealt with, the forces spilt into two groups. One to Riverrun and one to KL.  Jon leads the RiverRUn forces and Danny the KL forces. She'll be win, but Jon will be loosing.  So she'll take Drogo with her to RiverRun instead of claiming the throne, and she dies in battle trying to save Jon.

Just a thought.

Edited March 26, 2019 by LadyChaos

[BadAssRobinArryn]

While the comparison between the Direwolves and the Starks is interesting, the biggest problem I have with it is, that the Wolves and their respective owners died basically at the same time. (If we count old Bran as dead.) It doesn't really work on a symbolical level, if all the other wolves died because they were with their owners and yet Sansa is still alive and kicking years after Nymeria died. Of course that doesn't mean Sansa will survive, but I do think it's where the comparison doesn't really fit.

[Eyes High]

50 minutes ago, BadAssRobinArryn said:

While the comparison between the Direwolves and the Starks is interesting, the biggest problem I have with it is, that the Wolves and their respective owners died basically at the same time. (If we count old Bran as dead.) It doesn't really work on a symbolical level, if all the other wolves died because they were with their owners and yet Sansa is still alive and kicking years after Nymeria died. Of course that doesn't mean Sansa will survive, but I do think it's where the comparison doesn't really fit.

If you think of Sansa losing Lady as not foreshadowing her death but as the symbolic loss of her Starkness, it makes sense. 

This is a fan account of an interaction with GRRM way back, from October 2001 (in case you weren't already feeling depressed about how long it has taken for the remaining books to be published):

Quote

In regards to the conversation about the dire wolves and the Starks the point was made (I forget by whom) that Lady was dead and Sansa still alive to which I replied that Sansa wasn't really much of a Stark anymore. IIRC (this is a little hazy), at this point GRRM kind of leaned back in his chair, smiled and said something to the effect of "A very astute observation." 

Of course, if Sansa ends up Lady of Winterfell, which seems to be her endgame on the show as far as I can tell based on what we know, I guess her endgame isn't dictated by that. I never thought Sansa would end up Lady of Winterfell in the books for numerous reasons, but if that's her show endgame, I have no doubt that will be her book fate.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Eyes High

[LadyChaos]

14 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

If you think of Sansa losing Lady as not foreshadowing her death but as the symbolic loss of her Starkness, it makes sense. 

This is a fan account of an interaction with GRRM way back, from October 2001 (in case you weren't already feeling depressed about how long it has taken for the remaining books to be published):

Of course, if Sansa ends up Lady of Winterfell, which seems to be her endgame on the show as far as I can tell based on what we know, I guess her endgame isn't dictated by that. I never thought Sansa would end up Lady of Winterfell in the books for numerous reasons, but if that's her show endgame, I have no doubt that will be her book fate.

If it is more of a symbolic death of their 'Starkness' Then, as someone pointed it that her 'armor' looks more Tully than Stark in s8....one might think she finishes her arc in River Run instead of the North.

Is there any reason she might end up being Lady of River Run?

Edited March 26, 2019 by LadyChaos

[Callista]

I'd like to think Sansa's final scene shows her hugging or standing beside a new direwolf companion, maybe from Nymeria's pack.

[Colorful Mess]

That Mophie photo shoot is gorgeous!

Re: Sansa as queen. Don't rule it out.

The Pact of Ice and Fire is looking less likely to be fulfilled with Dany and Jon. Sansa is the only one who can represent Ice/The North at this juncture and stands-in as the "Lord" of Winterfell. Rickon in the original pact was the Lord. The genders don't really matter though. So if she's Lady of WF she's the key to it. Unless Bran marries Dany. So Jonsa political marriage or Brany political marriage. Lol I'm laughing at both. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Colorful Mess

[SeanC]

1 hour ago, LadyChaos said:

If it is more of a symbolic death of their 'Starkness' Then, as someone pointed it that her 'armor' looks more Tully than Stark in s8....one might think she finishes her arc in River Run instead of the North.

Is there any reason she might end up being Lady of River Run?

Some people theorize that, but I personally don't see it.  Sansa's story really has nothing at all to do with the Riverlands, book or show; the Stark who's actually intimately connected to the Riverlands is Arya (not that I expect her to end up there either).

[Minneapple]

53 minutes ago, Callista said:

I'd like to think Sansa's final scene shows her hugging or standing beside a new direwolf companion, maybe from Nymeria's pack.

I like that actually. The full return of her Stark-ness. 

[MarySNJ]

16 hours ago, GraceK said:

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ 

Really? REALLY?!! Who cares? If the North are that fucking nitpicking screw them. In this hypothetical scenario, They literally get their king as co ruler of the seven kingdoms, for the first time ever it looks like, and they also start bitching about who wears the pants in the family? This is what I mean about bullshit. They were content under Robert Baratheon with a Stark as Warden, and didn’t make a peep with A Bolton as Warden under a Lannister King. They finally get the king they chose as Ruler of the 7K and they still aren’t happy cause his wife is more powerful? If things works out after the war for the Dawn and they defeat Cersei, Chances are Sansa is permanently installed as Lady of winterfell , and no one bothers them ever again. Best case scenario she’s made Queen in the North being his cousin and raised as his sister and they are granted  their independence. 

Don't forget, there’s still Cersei to contend with, which if they lose, will be their ruler.

i mean come on. Plenty of us have conceded that there are valid concerns, but there also is a case of irrationality. If they distrust Jon so much they never should have chosen him.

and as @anamika pointed out, deal with this later . Handle the ice zombies on your door and then start fighting about your independence and who you want to rule you. And if its that’s  important, overthrow Jon and take on Cersei yourselves. But until then, insulting or being openly hostile to the woman coming to save your asses because you don’t like her is ridiculous, especially when some of the Lords were kissing the asses of the Bolton’s for “ rescuing “ them from the Greyjoy invasion. Wasn’t that one the  excuses given in season 6 as to why no one came to help in the BOTB? 

🙄 yeah but now they have a spine!

Well said. I know there’s a quote somewhere...in the books maybe and/or the show... can’t renember exactly - something to the effect that as soon as you are chosen to  lead everyone starts second-guessing all your decisions (but with more profanity). 

The Northern Lords and Ladies chose Jon as their leader and have been second-guessing his decisions ever since. Happened to him as Lord Commander too with extreme prejudice. It also happened to Jeor Mormont before him. 

Sometimes leaders have to make seemingly unpopular decisions for the greater good. It’s not frequently appreciated. I think once ice zombies start attacking the Northerners will realize that Jon’s compromise is going to save their asses. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by MarySNJ

[bubble sparkly]

Apart from Lady of Winterfell, the only other real option I see for Sansa is the Vale. This is more because of book!Sansa though, as she is still kicking it in the Vale.

If Sansa was to end up at the Vale on the show, I assume she would have to marry Robin. We do know he is supposed to be back in 8x06 so it’s not out of the question. However show!Sansa doesn’t seem too keen to marry and the last time we saw Robin he was still an incompetent buffoon. Unless Robin has had an offscreen maturation that would endear him to Sansa, it seems like the only reason she would marry him is for a political alliance. Given Sansa’s past marriages I’m not sure she would be keen on another political marriage, but who knows?

[shireenbamfatheon]

10 hours ago, screamin said:

I think it's totally predictable and understandable that Lyanna and her ilk would be dismayed, and say so. And I think it's weird that people are castigating her now for not immediately kneeling down and accepting her new unknown ruler when her accepting Jon's warcry "It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees," and fighting agaist tyranny was praiseworthy not long ago. Now she's supposed to just forget all that and meekly and silently accept a new ruler who for all she knows is Ramsey with dragons? Expecting that reaction at the start is expecting WAY too much. Jon mismanaged this.

1

On top of everything you wrote, there's also the fact that Jon's pledge to Dany means that the Northerners and the Valesmen are expected to march to war against Cersei after potentially surviving an ice zombie army. They're already traumatized from their previous war against the Lannisters. Some, like Lyanna and her people, fought alongside Jon and Sansa against the Boltons and are preparing themselves for another war. And then Jon turns up after months of absence and goes "yeah, once this war is over I expect you to fight another war in the south to put someone you don't know a single thing about on the throne you don't give a shit about." They've only just started preparing for the current war and he's already forcing them to join an additional one instead of giving them time to recover from their inevitable losses. It makes Jon look like a callous asshole who doesn't give a shit about his people, and since he knelt after she'd agreed to fight against the NK and can't even answer whether he did it for love or duty, it also makes him look like a selfish one who's just imitating big brother Robb in his foolishness. 

And like that isn't bad enough, his shock at learning that Dany burned the Tarlys alive makes him come across as a complete moron given that he was so convinced that the North "will come to see you for who you really are," when it turns out that he doesn't even know who she is. They've really done show!Jon dirty.

8 hours ago, Advance35 said:

I doubt we'll get it (because we are no longer at a part of the story where nuance is explored, just sword, sword, slash, slash, dragonfire) but wouldn't anyone express some curiosity or concern about what happened to this New Queen's LAST allies.

Dorne and House Tyrell both got dealt death blows as soon as they allied with Dany.  Is she really such a great alliance assuming they live through the AoD?

1

Don't forget that one ally that was captured by a kinslaying, murderous rapist whom Dany turned her back on because she isn't useful anymore? I don't even know what's going on with that subplot except that Theon is the only one who cares about saving Yara when Dany could easily swoop down and burn the Ironborn alive. 

[Stella]

6 minutes ago, shireenbamfatheon said:

And like that isn't bad enough, his shock at learning that Dany burned the Tarlys alive makes him come across as a complete moron given that he was so convinced that the North "will come to see you for who you really are," when it turns out that he doesn't even know who she is.

Interesting post and I agree with most of it @shireenbamfatheon but Jon actually said the North "will come to see you for what you really are". Subtle difference and not in a good way IMO.

[bubble sparkly]

It’s funny, because last season Sansa was much more in line with Dany’s mission than Jon’s. Sansa flat out told him that Cersei was dangerous and the one they needed to worry about, rather than the NK. So, why do people think Sansa will be appalled at the idea of taking out Cersei? After all, unlike Dany and Jon etc, Sansa is never on the front lines risking her life for her people, so her chances of dying in battle are minimal.

[GrailKing]

[YaddaYadda]

I'll look forward to the battle of Winterfell when these idiots come face to face with the Others and their minions. 

[GraceK]

Really good article in Rolling Stone that you can find in WOTWs newest article. Sophie Turner said that when she read season 8, she rewatched season one and found a lot of similarities and everyone’s arc came to a reasonable close . Or that it made sense . I’m not sure the exact words. But now it really makes me think. 

Season 1 Ned gets beheaded at the word of Joffrey, a Lannister for a false treason. Foreshadowing for Tyrion being beheaded by Jon for a real treason? 

What other parallels can we think of? 

[GrailKing]

11 minutes ago, GraceK said:

Really good article in Rolling Stone that you can find in WOTWs newest article. Sophie Turner said that when she read season 8, she rewatched season one and found a lot of similarities and everyone’s arc came to a reasonable close . Or that it made sense . I’m not sure the exact words. But now it really makes me think. 

Season 1 Ned gets beheaded at the word of Joffrey, a Lannister for a false treason. Foreshadowing for Tyrion being beheaded by Jon for a real treason? 

What other parallels can we think of? 

actually it's Maisie:

For her part, Turner totally cried, “because I cry at everything,” she says. She was particularly moved when Benioff and Weiss presented her with a storyboard of their favorite Sansa scene, which happened to be her very last scene of the entire show. Tur­ner already has it hanging at home; no one’s noticed.

“I feel very satisfied with the ending of the entire show,” she says. “Every story arc came to a really good close.” (Williams offers a cryptic hint: “After I read Season Eight, I watched Season One — there’s a lot of similarities.”) For whatever clues it may offer, Benioff and Weiss mentioned two finales they admire: “Breaking Bad stuck the landing. We always talk about the Sopranos ending — as controversial as it may have been at the time, it’s hard to imagine a better ending for that show, or any show.”

[spaceghostess]

38 minutes ago, GraceK said:

Really good article in Rolling Stone that you can find in WOTWs newest article. Sophie Turner said that when she read season 8, she rewatched season one and found a lot of similarities and everyone’s arc came to a reasonable close . Or that it made sense . I’m not sure the exact words. But now it really makes me think. 

Season 1 Ned gets beheaded at the word of Joffrey, a Lannister for a false treason. Foreshadowing for Tyrion being beheaded by Jon for a real treason? 

What other parallels can we think of?

 

Pure spec, but maybe a scene where Sansa sits in the the crypts waiting out the Battle of Winterfell with other noncombantants, ala Cersei during the Battle of The Blackwater? Except she tries to boost morale (as she did during TBoTB, before C. put the kibosh on it) instead of getting shitfaced and talking about every possible hideous outcome.

Edited March 27, 2019 by spaceghostess
Remembered a thing

[Ripley68]

After reading all the specs and spoilers, my one hope for Tyrion is that Varys seems to trust him.  Varys appears to be the best judge of character on this show...but who knows.  And why would Cersei all of a sudden trust Tyrion to help her out? For 7 seasons she's hated him and mistrusted him, blamed him for every bad thing that happened.

Why is there still a Stag over Kings Landing?  Cersei crowned herself under the Lannister name, there should be a lion.

Last question for now, why is anyone going to believe Bran and Sam?  A weird emo teen, and a man who has broken his oaths to the Nights Watch, his family and the citadel.

[GraceK]

15 minutes ago, GrailKing said:

actually it's Maisie:

For her part, Turner totally cried, “because I cry at everything,” she says. She was particularly moved when Benioff and Weiss presented her with a storyboard of their favorite Sansa scene, which happened to be her very last scene of the entire show. Tur­ner already has it hanging at home; no one’s noticed.

“I feel very satisfied with the ending of the entire show,” she says. “Every story arc came to a really good close.” (Williams offers a cryptic hint: “After I read Season Eight, I watched Season One — there’s a lot of similarities.”) For whatever clues it may offer, Benioff and Weiss mentioned two finales they admire: “Breaking Bad stuck the landing. We always talk about the Sopranos ending — as controversial as it may have been at the time, it’s hard to imagine a better ending for that show, or any show.”

Thanks for that catch. I noticed she also references Cersei in another article, about being torn about her list still ( or maybe it was this one, I’ve read so many they are all blending together 😂😂😂)which makes me wonder if she DOES in fact have a hand in Cersei’s death, either possibly defending Sansa as a callback to Lady’s demise or as revenge?

[bubble sparkly]

I am not liking all this talk about a Sopranos ending! Can you imagine if Tyrion really does have a trial in ep 6 and the show ends with Davos or whoever being like “we the jury find you....” and it just fades to black. We don’t know if Tyrion is found innocent or guilty or if he lives or dies etc.

[Eyes High]

1 hour ago, spaceghostess said:

Pure spec, but maybe a scene where Sansa sits in the the crypts waiting out the Battle of Winterfell with other noncombantants, ala Cersei during the Battle of The Blackwater? Except she tries to boost morale (as she did during TBoTB, before C. put the kibosh on it) instead of getting shitfaced and talking about every possible hideous outcome.

That would be nice, except honestly Sansa circa S8 as she has been characterized probably would be getting shitfaced and talking about every possible hideous outcome.

Terrified Winterfell Peasant: Are we going to die?

Sansa: Probably. At least the dead are just going to kill us and not rape us before the fact. Improvement on Blackwater, really.

Terrified Winterfell Peasant: ...

Sansa: That wine isn’t going to drink itself, you know.

[GrailKing]

1 minute ago, Eyes High said:

That would be nice, except honestly Sansa circa S8 as she has been characterized probably would be getting shitfaced and talking about every possible hideous outcome.

Terrified Winterfell Peasant: Are we going to die?

Sansa: Probably. At least the dead are just going to kill us and not rape us before the fact. Improvement on Blackwater, really.

Terrified Winterfell Peasant: ...

Sansa: That wine isn’t going to drink itself, you know.

I don't remember ANY scene after S2 where Sansa drinks wine, except maybe the sip she took and pushed away at the table with the Boltons . She had two scenes of Ale, and both times doesn't like the taste.

I think it's a reach she's getting shitfaced.

[GrailKing]

Man these Stark kids had it tough even in real life.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/03/19/isaac-hempstead-wright-interviewi-had-have-police-guard-university/

Winniepg

15 points·2 hours ago

Because it is behind a (free) paywall, here is the whole thing which is actually a great read.

The first thing Isaac Hempstead Wright wants people to know is that when Game of Thrones is finished he’s not going to “do a Jack Gleeson”. Gleeson was the young Irish actor who played the vicious king Joffrey on HBO’s swords and sorcery epic. When his character was killed off, Gleeson, then 20, retired from acting. He had been a lead player on the biggest show in the world, and yet wanted nothing more to do with the fame game.

“I do want to keep acting,” says Hempstead Wright over lunch at a favourite Italian restaurant near his London home. But first he wants to get through university. Now that Game of Thrones has finished filming, with just the (admittedly huge) publicity and promotion for the final season to get through, Hempstead Wright will finally get the chance.

He’s tried once already, going up to Birmingham last year to read music and maths. It didn’t work out – after eight years as Bran Stark on Game of Thrones, he was simply too famous to be a student.

“I ended up being assigned a campus police officer. It was all quite surreal. My university address got published in the press, which meant that every time I walked out of my halls pretty much I would have to do a selfie with someone. That’s the last thing you want at nine in the morning when you’re trying to go to a maths lecture.”

It says a lot about Hempstead Wright that, though he was effectively hounded out of higher education, he is not bitter. Indeed, once the final season of GoT is out of the way he is heading back to university to study neuroscience. (“I find the whole concept of consciousness and existence fascinating. Neuroscience is one of the most interesting routes to getting some kind of answers about it.”) This will be the first chance he’s had to live the life of a normal 19-year-old since he was cast in GoT aged 10.

“I just want the chance to go and do something of my own accord. I’ve been on this big machine for so long and yet this is still the start of my life. I fell into it when I was so young, I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going.”

Hempstead Wright deserves a little normality – he is smart, solicitous and very good company. Lunch covers topics from the books of neuroscientist David Eagleman to the band he’s just formed to Glyndebourne. “I love it. It was Verdi that got me into opera and then Wagner – amazing. I remember downloading the whole of the Ring Cycle on Spotify and listening to it over a couple of days.”

As that story suggests, he is not like most young actors: he is tall, wears glasses and is still a little gawky. But then his path to fame has not been like that of most young actors. He grew up in Kent, where he started going to the local drama club “because football club was too cold”. His teacher allowed him to do a few auditions and the last one he tried – after he’d failed to get a role in an ad for Top Gear – was for an HBO pilot called Game of Thrones. He was cast as Bran, one of the children of Northern ruler Ned (Sean Bean).

In the opening episode, Bran walks in on Jaime and Cersei Lannister, brother and sister, having sex at the top of a tower. In the first of the show’s many shocking, violent moments, Jaime pushes Bran out of the window, paralysing him from the waist down. What did the Hempstead-Wright parents make of this show?

“It was a genuine dilemma. They had to think, ‘Should we let Isaac do this?’ Not least because this is a show about incest and murder. You have to be the right kid for it and you have to be the right parents for it.”

That Hempstead Wright is so obviously level-headed suggests he was “the right kid” (and the fact that his mother chaperoned him on set until he was 16 suggests she was the right parent). He saw some things that a 10-year-old probably shouldn’t, but he says the context was all-important.

“The violence, basically, was fine because it’s debunked instantaneously. When you’re watching Sean Bean literally playing football with this decapitated head [off camera], the magic is lost.” 

The sex, he says, just led to his mother giving him the birds-and-the-bees talk a little early. “They were like, ‘So duck, this is not the way normal sexual relations happen’.”

However, he has no regrets: “Can you imagine if it had been the other way around and we’d said no and I’d be sitting there watching Game of Thrones having become this huge thing?”

He has a point. Many GoT stars had barely worked before the show – now they are set for life. Hempstead Wright has bought himself the odd lavish gift – he is an accomplished pianist and now the proud owner of a Steinway grand – but he is not yet burning banknotes for fun.

“I’m in a good position compared with most people but I’m really not sorted for life. I’ve just bought a house, which was a big moment. But it’s not like I can stop working.”

Unlike Gleeson, he intends that that work should be acting. “I really enjoy it, and I’m really excited to be able to move on to some other things because as fabulous as Game of Thrones has been, I haven’t been doing much else on the side in between going to school and filming that for six months a year.” (He had a tutor on set to ensure he didn’t fall behind with his lessons).

He has been going to auditions, got down to the final two in one case for the lead on a TV series, and has started to learn what it’s like “to be judged relentlessly on a daily basis. You can’t let it get to you”.

GoT has helped him to grow that thick skin. In the age of social media, he is all too aware that some people just don’t like the character of Bran.

“Bran’s one of these unglamorous characters, and I know quite a few people are sick of him. But me? I have loved Bran. He is this character who lost everything. He’s a disabled 10-year-old, both his parents were murdered.”

And yet, not only has Bran stayed alive – no mean feat in GoT – but in plot twists too knotty to detail here, he has morphed into an all-seeing oracle, the so-called Three-Eyed Raven. As such, while Bran never wields a sword or commands an army, he has become central to the narrative.

“He’s completely triumphed,” says Hempstead Wright. “Right now he’s the wisest man in the universe and I think that’s cool.”

It’s one thing to criticise Bran, quite another to go for the actor playing him. After Hempstead Wright returned to the series for season six, after a break of a year for narrative reasons, he received a lot of personal abuse. 

“People just started being really rude about my appearance, and saying, ‘What happened to Bran? He’s so ugly now’. That was my first experience of thinking, ‘OK, people can be quite mean’. But then again, it’s nowhere near as bad as the girls get it.”

I try asking Hempstead Wright for information about the final series but it’s pointless: part of his education on GoT has been learning how to talk about the show without revealing any particular plot details. There are rumours that Bran will claim the throne, I say, staring at his eyes for even a glimmer of recognition. Nothing. And if he did blurt something out? “I’d get sued. I’m sure we’ll probably be under NDAs for the rest of our lives.”

But he does say this: “You’re never going to please everybody with something as huge and as wide-ranging as Game of Thrones but I do believe they’ve wrapped it up in the most convincing way. And, yes, I do think Bran’s storyline is one of the best.”

Source

Edited March 27, 2019 by GrailKing

[Eyes High]

6 minutes ago, GrailKing said:

I don't remember ANY scene after S2 where Sansa drinks wine, except maybe the sip she took and pushed away at the table with the Boltons . She had two scenes of Ale, and both times doesn't like the taste.

I think it's a reach she's getting shitfaced.

Sansa chugged the wine at that horrible dinner with Cersei in 2x03. I doubt we’ll see it, but I tend to think contemplating her imminent demise would lead to some serious stress drinking. We’ll get some callbacks to Sansa at Blackwater if she is holed up in the crypts with the women, children and Varys. Whether or not they include stress drinking, we’ll have to see.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Eyes High

[SimoneS]

5 hours ago, bubble sparkly said:

Apart from Lady of Winterfell, the only other real option I see for Sansa is the Vale. This is more because of book!Sansa though, as she is still kicking it in the Vale.

If Sansa was to end up at the Vale on the show, I assume she would have to marry Robin. We do know he is supposed to be back in 8x06 so it’s not out of the question. However show!Sansa doesn’t seem too keen to marry and the last time we saw Robin he was still an incompetent buffoon. Unless Robin has had an offscreen maturation that would endear him to Sansa, it seems like the only reason she would marry him is for a political alliance. Given Sansa’s past marriages I’m not sure she would be keen on another political marriage, but who knows?

When I pointed out that the possibility of Sansa marrying Robin some people lost their mind so be prepared. Ha.

[GrailKing]

3 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

When I pointed out that the possibility of Sansa marrying Robin some people lost their mind so be prepared. Ha.

Per Frikki-- EVERYONE WANTS SANSA !

[anamika]

Dany in the Winterfell libraries episode 2, scene 10. I think this is the shot from the trailer where she closes her eyes. Could be she learns that Sam is right about Jon's parentage or something about the WW.

[bubble sparkly]

Ooh interesting picture! I’m going to guess it’s something to do with R+L=J. Maybe Sam stashed the stuff he nicked from the Citadel in the library?

Edited March 27, 2019 by bubble sparkly

[Callista]

4 hours ago, SimoneS said:

When I pointed out that the possibility of Sansa marrying Robin some people lost their mind so be prepared. Ha.

If Robin has grown into a handsome hunk in Season 8, I'm sure some people will change their minds about him and Sansa real fast. 😉

[Callista]

6 hours ago, GraceK said:

Really good article in Rolling Stone that you can find in WOTWs newest article. Sophie Turner said that when she read season 8, she rewatched season one and found a lot of similarities and everyone’s arc came to a reasonable close . Or that it made sense . I’m not sure the exact words. But now it really makes me think. 

Season 1 Ned gets beheaded at the word of Joffrey, a Lannister for a false treason. Foreshadowing for Tyrion being beheaded by Jon for a real treason? 

What other parallels can we think of? 

Cleganebowl, I suppose (since Sandor & Gregor fought in Season 1). 

[Nightingale]

Yet another interview from Maisie and Sophie (the "Stark contrast" segment)

Interesting info : 

- Both girls received very spoilery story boards.

- after reading the scripts, they texted each other about a shocking moment in one of their storylines that isn't from the last episode

[anamika]

Something from D&D about the WW:

Quote

We always liked the implication that they weren’t some kind of cosmic evil that had been around since the beginning to time but that the White Walkers had a history — that something that seems legendary and mythological and permanent wasn’t. They had a historical cause that was comprehensible like the way the wars on screen we’re seeing unfold are comprehensible. They’re the result of people, or beings, with motivations we can understand.”

“I don’t think of him as evil, I think of him as Death,” Benioff said. “And that’s what he wants — for all of us. It’s why he was created and that’s what he’s after.”

Quote

First introduced in season 4, the Night King (played initially by Richard Brake and, later, by Vladimir Furdik) has been leading his army south toward Westeros while resurrecting the dead for his ranks, stalking seer Bran Stark and last season capturing one of Daenerys’ dragons to bring down The Wall.

I wonder if they gave away who the Night King is after...

https://ew.com/tv/2019/03/26/game-of-thrones-night-king-origin/

25 minutes ago, Nightingale said:

Yet another interview from Maisie and Sophie (the "Stark contrast" segment)

Interesting info : 

- Both girls received very spoilery story boards.

- after reading the scripts, they texted each other about a shocking moment in one of their storylines that isn't from the last episode

Sansa's death scene in episode 3 ... We are going to get wight Sansa chasing Arya.

Sophie keeps changing her stories. The last time she talked about everyone getting storyboards when she wrapped in Belfast and how the documentary crew was there and she cried.

Now here, she talks about D&D giving everyone the storyboards in Spain.

She once again mentions the long scene shot over 5 days in Spain - she really, really hates how long this scene took to shoot considering she has mentioned this in pretty much every interview.

Edited March 27, 2019 by anamika

[Eyes High]

49 minutes ago, anamika said:

Something from D&D about the WW:

I wonder if they gave away who the Night King is after...

https://ew.com/tv/2019/03/26/game-of-thrones-night-king-origin/

Sansa's death scene in episode 3 ... We are going to get wight Sansa chasing Arya.

I doubt Sophie lied about wrapping in Seville, although I guess it's possible.

Also, the spoilery moment is supposedly from one of their storylines. Wight Sansa chasing Arya would be the same storyline. (I also doubt Sansa would hang a storyboard of Wight Sansa chasing Arya in her home and hope no one noticed.)

Edited March 27, 2019 by Eyes High

[Happy Harpy]

For a second, I thought it was the Inn at the Crossroads in the background (because of the barrels, I guess) and Jorah would make it for sure to 8x04. Sigh. Lord Friendzone still looks good though.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Happy Harpy

[Eyes High]

24 minutes ago, Happy Harpy said:

For a second, I thought it was the Inn at the Crossroads in the background (because of the barrels, I guess) and Jorah would make it for sure to 8x04. Sigh. Lord Friendzone still looks good though.

He looks great. Where is this picture from? Promotional photos and other stills are starting to trickle out to various media outlets.

/Freefolk stripped the metadata off two other images and it looks like the trailer scene with Cersei and Qyburn looking out at something was from 8x01 and was indeed shot in Dubrovnik in February 2018 at Bokar Fortress (which probably means that when Kit was at Bokar Fortress in costume kneeling to Lena in costume, it was a gag to fool the paps and nothing related to the show).

[anamika]

1 hour ago, Eyes High said:

Also, the spoilery moment is supposedly from one of their storylines. Wight Sansa chasing Arya would be the same storyline. (I also doubt Sansa would hang a storyboard of Wight Sansa chasing Arya in her home and hope no one noticed.) 

I am guessing the 'No one noticed' is because no one knows it's a GOT storyboard with Sansa's end scene and therefore did not pay it any attention, rather than it's a boring scene and therefore no one noticed. Whatever that scene is - it's a spoiler. Whether it's wight Sansa, Queen Sansa, Lady Sansa or dead Sansa. And Sophie has it on her wall.

I guess if it's just one of their story lines, then maybe just Sansa's death scene 😀

So looks like a lot of fake endings were filmed. Emilia says that her last scene before she wrapped was actually for a fake ending.

58 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

which probably means that when Kit was at Bokar Fortress in costume kneeling to Lena in costume, it was a gag to fool the paps and nothing related to the show). 

I guess we are not getting the Sansa kidnap plot where Jon kneels to Cersei to save his one true love after leaving Dany in the lurch who then burns down KL in anger because she's the scorned woman. 

Edited March 27, 2019 by anamika

[Eyes High]

3 minutes ago, anamika said:

I am guessing the 'No one noticed' is because no one knows it's a GOT storyboard with Sansa's end scene and therefore did not pay it any attention, rather than it's a boring scene and therefore no one noticed. Whatever that scene is - it's a spoiler. Whether it's wight Sansa, Queen Sansa, Lady Sansa or dead Sansa. And Sophie has it on her wall.

I guess if it's just one of their story lines, then maybe just Sansa's death scene 😀

So looks like a lot of fake endings were filmed. Emilia says that her last scene before she wrapped was actually for a fake ending.

Yes, but this is the same Sophie who hid that super spoilery scroll in her wallet. Presumably, she's not going to display the storyboard on her wall if there's anything remotely spoilery about it to look at it.

Unless Tyrion's trial is Sansa's last appearance in the show, Sansa's last scene is probably at Winterfell as she returns to oversee reconstruction. A scene of Sansa on the balcony at Winterfell overlooking the courtyard could well be her last scene, and no one would notice anything because Sansa already has lots of scenes on the balcony at Winterfell.

Didn't Nikolaj or another cast member casually debunk the fake ending stuff?

[SeanC]

3 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

Didn't Nikolaj or another cast member casually debunk the fake ending stuff?

I believe Maisie said she thought that was nonsense.  I don't know about Nikolaj.

[anamika]

27 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

Yes, but this is the same Sophie who hid that super spoilery scroll in her wallet. Presumably, she's not going to display the storyboard on her wall if there's anything remotely spoilery about it to look at it.

What if it's on her bedroom wall where only she can see it? What if it's on her bathroom wall? What if people don't know that this piece of art hanging on her wall is a GOT storyboard that is Sansa's last scene for season 8?

A storyboard looks like this:

If it's a GOT season 8 Sansa scene - it's spoilery. No matter what that scene is - even if it's just Sansa and Arya standing together in WF - it would give away their ending.

Edited March 27, 2019 by anamika

[YaddaYadda]

1 hour ago, Eyes High said:

/Freefolk stripped the metadata off two other images and it looks like the trailer scene with Cersei and Qyburn looking out at something was from 8x01 and was indeed shot in Dubrovnik in February 2018 at Bokar Fortress (which probably means that when Kit was at Bokar Fortress in costume kneeling to Lena in costume, it was a gag to fool the paps and nothing related to the show).

The only thing disappointing about this is that Jon will continue wearing that god awful bun for all 6 episodes. Super shallow, but while I didn't buy that he was bending the knee to Cersei, I was excited to see the bun was gone.

[anamika]

26 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

The only thing disappointing about this is that Jon will continue wearing that god awful bun for all 6 episodes. Super shallow, but while I didn't buy that he was bending the knee to Cersei, I was excited to see the bun was gone.

Kit definitely shot something there - without the manbun. He did some filming without Cersei, walking up some stairs. It could be that this was real filming and only the shots with Cersei in front of that giant window was fake - I think most of us already knew this. Kit and Lena were probably there for some real shooting and then they threw some fake scenes in there.

I found this interesting from the SFX magazine scan:

Quote

One episode is said to be an intimate character study that will stand in stark contrast to the bombast of the rest of the season.

I am guessing the character study could be of Jon/Dany after parentage reveal or of Tyrion if there is a betrayal plot.

Edited March 27, 2019 by anamika

[Minneapple]

16 hours ago, GrailKing said:

These two are super cute. They have such great chemistry.