The Game Of Thrones Cast Were Brought To Tears By “Incredibly Emotional” Finale

The eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones won’t return until 2019, that much we know, but when it does, it’ll seemingly reduce us all into blubbering wrecks.

At least, that’s according to Dark Phoenix star Sophie Turner, who is poised to take charge as Sansa Stark, acting Lady of the North, one last time. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the so-hot-right-now actress previewed the “bittersweet” finale, and why the final read-through of season 8 brought “pretty much everyone” to tears.

This is by no means the first time that a member of the Thrones family has drawn attention to the series’ emotional end; back in October, Jon Snow Aegon Targaryen himself, Kit Harington, admitted that he also choked up upon reading the final script.

And that’s something Sophie Turner echoed in the interview with THR:

It was very, very bittersweet. The first day of the actors coming in and that kind of production starting, the day where we had the final read through for the final script… it was really bittersweet. It was hard. At the end of the very last script, they read aloud, ‘End of Game of Thrones.’ As soon as they read that out, pretty much everyone burst into tears. There was a standing ovation for [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss]. We were all clapping and cheering. It was amazing.

Having been attached to Game of Thrones since 2011, Turner then described the show’s imminent conclusion as surreal and a “real shock.” But she leaves Thrones on a high note:

We actually realized, reading that ‘end of Game of Thrones line’, that that was it. When you’re in it, you don’t really see an endpoint. It’s just an ongoing thing you’re living with. It was a real shock. It was really sad, but there was an immense amount of pride, too. We realized we had done it. We had created this amazing thing, and that’s it now. It was just a feeling of pride.

Turner concluded with a heartfelt tribute to David Benioff and Dan Weiss, long-time showrunners of the HBO flagship, before assuring viewers that she and the rest of the cast put their “hearts and souls” into making Game of Thrones season 8 the best it can possibly be.

I was proud of David and Dan, and I was looking around at all of the other cast members around the table, nodding at them, and saying: ‘Well done. We’ve done it.’ It was the craziest feeling. It’s the biggest project we’ll ever do.

Alas, Game of Thrones‘ swan song is still two years out, meaning HBO will be firing on all cylinders to promote Westworld season 2 come 2018.