– Fans around the world woke up this morning to the first trailer of HBO’s hit show Game of Throne’s 8th and final season
– The show, it has been revealed will return on April 14
– The series, based off of George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire book franchise, will feature six episodes that are over 60 minutes each in length
– Speaking on the final Season of the show last week, HBO chief Richard Plepler called it ‘A Spectacle’
– The teaser focuses on Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) as the trio convene at a Crypt in Winterfell
– Named the Crypts Of Winterfell, the clip was directed by David Nutter, who is in the director’s chair for three of the final six episodes
The much awaited 8th and final Season of Game of Thrones will return on April 14, it was revealed on Monday.
The news came as a pleasant surprise to fans all around the world who have been anticipating the official date the show will premiere in April. Up till this morning, the only thing that was known was that the final season would kick off in April.
The news was announced exactly three months before the show is released, with a chilling teaser trailer that saw the Starks’ united at Winterfell, about to fight perhaps the greatest war of their lives, for their family and heritage.
The series, which is based off of George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire book franchise, will feature six episodes that are expected to be over 60 minutes each in length each.
Speaking to Variety last week, HBO chief Richard Plepler admitted:
‘It’s a spectacle. The guys have done six movies. The reaction I had while watching them was, “I’m watching a movie.”‘
‘They knew the bar was high. They’ve exceeded the bar. I’ve watched [the episodes] twice without any CGI and I’m in awe. Everybody’s in for an extraordinary treat of storytelling and of magical, magical production.’
The teaser trailer focuses on some of the favourites from the Stark clan- Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) as the trio convene at the crypts below their ancestral home of Winterfell.
Walking past the statues that stand vigil over their family’s tombs their ancestor’s speak, and what they’ve said in previous seasons is brought to light once more.
‘You have to protect him,’ Jon’s real mother, and sister to Ned Stark (Sean Bean), Lyanna whispers.
As the King In The North walks beside her, his movement disturbs the feather in her hands, the one that was placed there by her fiancé King Robert Baratheon in the show’s very first episode.
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Sansa then walks past her mother Catelyn’s tomb, as her disjointed voice utters:
‘All this horror that has come to my family,’ she says, as she references Jon, ‘It’s all because I couldn’t love a motherless child.’
As Jon walks past Ned’s statue, the former Lord Of Winterfell can be heard saying:
‘You are a Stark, you may not have my name, but you have my blood.’
Ned had always attested that Jon was his child, born out of wedlock after he cheated on his beloved wife Catelyn, but at the end of season seven this was revealed not to be the case.
A revelation that had been a popular theory for some time amongst fans for some time, it was announced Lyanna shared Jon with Daenerys’ older brother Prince Rhaegar Targaryen after they married in secret.
The pair died prior to the events featured in Game Of Thrones, but it does mean that Jon is in fact Daenerys’ nephew, and also a rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
In the trailer, Jon and Sansa are joined by Arya, now a skilled assassin well trained in the ways of the many faced god- before they discover three eerie statues of themselves.
Fan’s are hinting that the statues signify their potential deaths in the final season but we all know that Game of Thrones has always been full of shocking surprises, pleasant and otherwise, so nothing is really predictable per-se. The trailer then shows the Starks stare in awe at their stone counterparts before an ice-cold wind grabs their attention once more.
Jon and Arya draw their swords Longclaw and Needle as Sansa stands behind her siblings, as frost, representing the ominous White Walkers, sips into the crypt and edges closer towards them.
As they prepare to face off against the chilling, other-worldly presence, the fog surrounds them before the trailer fades to black.
The teaser, named the Crypts Of Winterfell was directed by David Nutter, who is in the director’s chair for three of the final six episodes.
In November, David revealed that the series is full of ‘shocking moments’ that are sure to delight fans.
He explained:
‘I’ve never directed an opening episode of GOT before until season 8, but I think it’s really important to make a splash. But you have to entertain, that’s what’s most important. I’m completely satisfied with how season eight ends.’
‘I guarantee there’s going to be lots of surprises and shocking moments, but it’s really very compelling stuff.’
Watch the full trailer below:
