“He’s never been a bastard… he’s the heir to the Iron Throne.”
That bombshell was dropped on fans during the concluding moments of Game of Thrones season 7, when it was revealed that Jon Snow wasn’t actually Jon Snow at all. Rather, he was Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. One glance at the Thrones family tree tells us that Kit Harington’s hero is actually the nephew of Danereys, which will no doubt make for for some complications going into the upcoming final season.
Speaking of which, as we quickly approach its premiere, the hype train continues to build and speaking at the Golden Globes last weekend, HBO CEO Richard Plepler said that every episode of the new run feels like a movie.
“It’s a spectacle. [David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] 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 them twice without any CGI and I’m in awe. Everybody’s in for an extraordinary treat of storytelling and of magical, magical production.”
Obviously, it’s not like the CEO of the network would say anything bad about the final season of what’s quite possibly one of their biggest shows ever, but this is still encouraging to hear. After all, from everything we’ve learned so far, season 8 has all the makings of a landmark achievement – I mean, it was almost spun into three summer blockbusters at one point.
For the cast, though, it’s been an emotional ride. In fact, Sophie Turner said not too long ago that reaching the final page of those top-secret scripts was “completely overwhelming.” She even “had to take a walk for hours” just to clear her head. Yikes!
Game of Thrones season 8 will arrive on HBO this April. And, yes, this really is it; the beginning of the end, folks. The only question that remains is, are you ready for it?