The first footage of season eight of Games of Thrones has finally landed.
Though it’s not exactly a full trailer just yet, more of a teaser (along with other shows appearing on the network next year) HBO has revealed a few glimpses into what we can expect from the next and final season.
From the scenes we can see, Daenerys and Tyrion are busy plotting their next moves, as well as Daenerys catching up with Jon Snow (awkward, much?).
There’s also snatches of Cersei Lannister, still hanging on in there, and the briefest of brief shots of a dragon doing its thing.
Check it out below:
There’s also, most satisfyingly, a shot of Jon Snow and embracing his little (half) sister, Sansa Stark, finally. This may be the only three seconds of new footage but it’s enough to get us very very very excited.
Though some may say this is old footage of the siblings, it’s actually the two reuniting at Winterfell in the final season.
HBO revealed the teaser last night (August 26), as a heads up on what they’ve got coming in the new year, and while there are some great shows in there, it’s Game Of Thrones which has got us most excited.
Other shows highlighted in the trailer include the long-awaited season three of True Detective, and season two of Big Little Lies, which includes none other than Meryl Streep joining the cast.
Also, a very welcome glimpse of the Flight Of The Conchords guys, which is lovely.
Producers have said Game Of Thrones will return for its eighth and final season of six episodes in the ‘first half’ of 2019. While all previous series have aired between March and April, the next season could, however, break that tradition.
Visual effects supervisor for GOT, Joe Bauer, recently spoke to the Huffington Post about when we might be getting our final fill of Westeros.
He said:
In two years we’ll be eligible for the season eight work, which we’re just beginning now.
We’re going to be toiling away on season eight until May of 2019, so it’s eight or nine months away.
But the prequel is starting to shoot in February, at least the pilot. So we’ll still have quite a lot to do on season eight when they’re beginning.
That’s right – prequel! For those already mourning the end of one of the most critically-acclaimed television series ever, fear not – the new project is already in the works.
According to George R.R. Martin himself, the prequel is going to be even darker than the original.
Details on which lore of Westeros will be dramatised has remained under wraps. Thankfully though, Martin has given fans a small idea of what they can expect.
In a recent blog post, he wrote:
Yes, this is a prequel, not a sequel. None of the characters or actors from GAME OF THRONES will appear in the new show. All of the successor shows we’ve been developing have been prequels, as I have mentioned before.
This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before GAME OF THRONES (like Dunk & Egg), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long). [sic]
He also revealed he’d like to call it ‘The Long Night’. Though it isn’t confirmed, if they can make the night last as long as GOT, it’s sure to keep fans satisfied for some time yet.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.