The eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is barreling down on its April 2019 premiere, and we couldn’t be more excited.
As the power players of Westeros prepare for one final showdown, viewers are beginning to raise that all-too-familiar question: who lives, and who dies? Of course, the finer details of season 8 likely won’t be revealed until the new year, but HBO has today unveiled a teasing promo to keep us ticking over in the meantime. And it’s a doozy.
Embedded above, the footage begins as the chilling winds of winter engulf Westeros and all of the famous chess pieces (read: family dynasties) scattered throughout. Stark and Targaryen both fall prey to the oncoming storm, but in the south, a piping-hot flame rises to meet the oncoming invaders, and so begins the war between fire and ice – between the living and the dead – that will largely inform the events of Game of Thrones season 8.
Led by the Night King and his undead army, we know the White Walkers will be marching forth into the Northern Kingdoms by the time Game of Thrones season 8 begins, and if Kit Harington (Jon Snow) is to be believed, next year’s “relentless” installment doesn’t let up, as the HBO epic begins to reach its fiery crescendo.
It’s relentless; scenes that would have been a one-day shoot five years ago are now a five-day shoot. They want to get it right, they want to shoot everything every single way so they have options.
Game of Thrones‘ eighth and final season will be with us in April, and it’ll stretch for just six episodes in total. Don’t worry, they’ll be feature-length installments, and may well premiere across select theaters come 2019.
