It’s finally here — the first official look at “Game of Thrones” Season 8, the final season. And as was teased at the end of the previous season, our first official look at what’s to come is a bit…icky.
The cover of the latest EW features our hero Jon Snow embracing the sometimes heroic Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons. For people not familiar with the series, it just looks like a beautiful embrace amongst new lovers. However, if you’ve watched the show, you know that Season 7 ended with the reveal that Jon Snow, played by Kit Harrington, is actually the nephew of Daenerys, played by Emilia Clarke. So yeah, icky.
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Of course, this means that much of the scenes, at least early on, between Dany and Jon are going to have a bit of a cringe factor as the audience knows the incestuous relationship but the characters are in the dark. Perhaps, ‘Thrones’ will reveal this plot twist to the characters early on, so fans around the world don’t have to say “Ewwwww” everytime the duo kisses…or worse.
Incest aside, Clark and Harrington did reveal a bit about the upcoming season and why the final six episodes have taken so much longer to bring to fans.
“It’s relentless; scenes that would have been a one-day shoot five years ago are now a five-day shoot,” Harington says. “They want to get it right, they want to shoot everything every single way so they have options.”
Clark adds, “[Camera] checks take longer, costumes are a bit better, hair and makeup a bit sharper — every choice, every conversation, every attitude, has this air of ‘this is it.’ Everything feels more intense.”
Viewers can already tell you that there has been a definite jump in production quality between seasons 6 and 7, thanks to a drop in the number of episodes. Now, with the final season dropping the number of episodes again, it appears that each of the six installments is going to feel even more epic than before.
There’s still no premiere date for Season 8, but it’s expected in the first half of 2019.
Here’s the first look:
