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Game of Thrones season 8

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Game of Thrones
Season 8
Several main characters in the shape of the Iron Throne in the snow
Promotional poster
StarringSee List of Game of Thrones cast
No. of episodes3
Release
Original networkHBO
Original releaseApril 14, 2019 (2019-04-14) –
present (present)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 7
List of episodes

The eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones, produced by HBO, premiered on April 14, 2019. Filming officially began on October 23, 2017 and concluded in July 2018.

Unlike the first six seasons that each had ten episodes and the seventh that had seven episodes, the eighth season only has six episodes. Like the previous season, it largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and adapts material Martin revealed to the showrunners about the upcoming novels in the series, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. The season was adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.

Episodes

See also: List of Game of Thrones episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected by [1][2]Written by [3]Original air date [4]U.S. viewers
(millions)
681"Winterfell"David NutterDave HillApril 14, 2019 (2019-04-14)11.76[5]
692"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"David NutterBryan CogmanApril 21, 2019 (2019-04-21)10.29[6]
703"The Long Night"Miguel SapochnikDavid Benioff & D. B. WeissApril 28, 2019 (2019-04-28)N/A
714TBADavid NutterDavid Benioff & D. B. WeissMay 5, 2019 (2019-05-05)N/A
725TBAMiguel SapochnikDavid Benioff & D. B. WeissMay 12, 2019 (2019-05-12)N/A
736TBADavid Benioff & D. B. WeissDavid Benioff & D. B. WeissMay 19, 2019 (2019-05-19)N/A

Cast

Main cast

See also: List of Game of Thrones characters
Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
(Jaime Lannister)
File:Lena Headey Primetime Emmy Awards 2014.jpg
Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen)
Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark)
Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth)

Guest cast

The recurring actors listed here are those who appeared in season 8. They are listed by the region in which they first appear.

Production

Development

HBO announced the eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones in July 2016.[32][33] Like the previous season, it largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.[34] As Benioff had verified in March 2015, the creators have talked with Martin about the end of the series, and they "know where things are heading". He explained that the ends of both the television and the book series would unavoidably be thematically similar, although Martin could still make some changes to surprise the readers.[35] When asked about why the television series is coming to an end, he stated: "this is where the story ends".[36]

Crew

Series creators, and executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss serve as showrunners for the eighth season. The directors for the eighth season were announced in September 2017. Miguel Sapochnik, who previously directed "The Gift" and "Hardhome" in the fifth season, as well as "Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter" in the sixth season, returned to direct two episodes. David Nutter, who had directed two episodes each in the second, third, and fifth seasons, including "The Rains of Castamere" and "Mother's Mercy", directed three episodes for the eighth season. The final episode of the series was directed by Benioff and Weiss, who have previously co-directed two episodes, taking credit for one episode each.[1]

At the series' South by Southwest panel on March 12, 2017, Benioff and Weiss announced the writers for the series to be Dave Hill (episode 1) and Bryan Cogman (episode 2). The showrunners divided up the screenplay for the remaining four episodes amongst themselves.[37]

Writing

Writing for the eighth season started with a 140-page outline. Benioff said that the divvying up process and who should write what section became more difficult because "this would be the last time that we would be doing this".[38]

Filming

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, HBO programming president Casey Bloys stated that instead of the series finale being a feature film, the final season would be "six one-hour movies" on television. He continued, "The show has proven that TV is every bit as impressive and in many cases more so, than film. What they're doing is monumental".[39] Filming officially began on October 23, 2017[40] and concluded in July 2018.[41] Many exterior scenes were filmed in Northern Ireland, and a few in Dubrovnik, Croatia; Paint Hall Studios in Belfast were used for interior filming.[42]

Casting

The eighth season sees the return of Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully and Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn, neither of whom appeared in the seventh season.[43] Marc Rissmann has been cast as Harry Strickland, the commander of the Golden Company.[44]

Content

Co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have said that the seventh and eighth seasons would likely comprise fewer episodes, stating that after the sixth season, they were "down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We're heading into the final lap".[45][46] Benioff and Weiss stated that they were unable to produce 10 episodes in the series' usual 12 to 14-month timeframe, as Weiss explained, "It's crossing out of a television schedule into more of a mid-range movie schedule".[45] HBO confirmed in July 2016, that the seventh season would consist of seven episodes and would premiere later than usual in mid-2017 because of the later filming schedule.[47] Benioff and Weiss later confirmed that the eighth season would consist of six episodes, and would premiere later than usual for the same reason.[48]

Benioff and Weiss said about the end of the series: "From the beginning we've wanted to tell a 70-hour movie. It will turn out to be a 73-hour movie, but it's stayed relatively the same of having the beginning, middle and now we're coming to the end. It would have been really tough if we lost any core cast members along the way, I'm very happy we've kept everyone and we get to finish it the way we want to".[48] The first two episodes are, respectively, 54 and 58 minutes long, while the final four episodes of the series are all more than an hour in length—episode three is 82 minutes (making it the longest episode of the series), episode four is 78 minutes and the last two are each 80 minutes.[49]

A two-hour documentary, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, which documents the making of the eighth season, is due to air on May 26, the week after the series finale.[50]

Music

Ramin Djawadi returned as the series' composer for the eighth season.[51]

Release

Broadcast

The season premiered on April 14, 2019.[52]

Marketing

On December 6, 2018, HBO released the first official teaser trailer for the eighth season.[53] A second teaser trailer was released on January 13, 2019, which announced the premiere date as April 14, 2019. The trailer was directed by David Nutter.[54] HBO released a promotional advertisement with Bud Light on February 3, 2019, during Super Bowl LIII.[55] Later, first-look photos of several main characters were released on February 6, 2019.[56] On February 28, posters of many of the main characters sitting upon the Iron Throne were released.[26] The official full trailer was released on March 5, 2019.[27]

Illegal distribution

The season premiere was reportedly pirated by nearly 55 million people within the first 24 hours of release. Of these numbers, 9.5 million downloads came from India, 5.2 million came from China, and 4 million came from the U.S.[57] On April 21, 2019, it was reported that the second episode of the season was illegally leaked online hours before it aired due to being streamed early on Amazon Prime Germany.[58]

Reception

Critical response

On Metacritic, the eighth season (based on the first episode) has a score of 74 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[59] On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 88% approval rating from 213 critics with an average rating of 8.16 out of 10.[60]


Game of Thrones (season 8): Critical reception by episode

Season 8 (2019): Percentage of positive critics' reviews tracked by the website Rotten Tomatoes[60]

Ratings

See also: Game of Thrones § Viewer numbers
Viewership and ratings per episode of Game of Thrones season 8
No. Title Air date Rating
(18–49)		 Viewers
(millions)		 DVR
(18–49)		 DVR viewers
(millions)		 Total
(18–49)		 Total viewers
(millions)
1 "Winterfell" April 14, 2019 5.0 11.76[5] TBD TBD TBD TBD
2 "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" April 21, 2019 4.4 10.29[6] TBD TBD TBD TBD

References

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  5. ^ a b Welch, Alex (April 16, 2019). "Sunday cable ratings: 'Game of Thrones' season 8 premiere hits new series high". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Welch, Alex (April 23, 2019). "Sunday cable ratings: 'Game of Thrones' slips, 'Barry' hits another high". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d e Goldberg, Lesley (June 21, 2016). "'Game of Thrones' Stars Score Hefty Pay Raises for Season 8". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Thompson, Avery (February 15, 2017). "Sophie Turner Drops Massive Spoiler About Sansa Stark's Fate in Season 8". Hollywood Life. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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