The year 2017 is ending, and it has been a busy one for Game of Thrones, with an action-packed seventh season that premiered to much acclaim in July. Though 2018 looks to be a quieter year with no new season of the show to look forward to for the first time since the season that started it all in 2011, nevertheless, enthusiasm still seems to be running high in the fan community and behind the scenes, the cast, crew, and producers of Thrones are hard at work on the final season of the acclaimed show.
Game of Thrones finished off the year strong with multiple award nominations, “best of 2017” lists, and the perhaps more dubious honor of being declared the “most pirated show of the year.” It’s not what HBO would like, no doubt, but given that GoT was also the most discussed show of the year on Facebook and Twitter, it’s hardly surprising that once again the piratical members of our society choose to pay the Iron Price for some of the most popular entertainment out there at the moment. After a year of leaked scripts, set-pieces and episodes, HBO has learned their lesson and kept the in-progress Season Eight of Thrones very much under-wraps. Despite erecting walls around filming locations and locking down the scripts on official Ipads, however, some things still managed to get through the cracks.
Most tantalizing– Game of Thrones fan-site Watchers on the Wall claimed that according to a reliable source, Alfie Allen aka Theon Greyjoy has been seen filming scenes for the show with Gemma Whelan, who plays his recently captured sister, Yara. This is exciting news, if true, because it means Theon was successful in his proposed attempt to rescue Yara from their murderous uncle, Euron– who was not, according to the source, on the scene when the two actors were filming. Finally, a win for Theon! In other, more concrete news, it looks like the directors for each of the six episodes of the final season have been more or less nailed down. For die-hard fans of the show, there are some insights to be gained from who’s directing what. For example, Miguel Sapochnik, who will be directing episodes three and five, has given us battle heavy episodes like “Battle of the Bastards,” and “Hardhome,”in the past, so we can likely anticipate epic displays conflict from him again. Exciting!
Currently, Game of Thrones continues to film its final season, and looks like it won’t wrap until early Spring. It will be interesting to see how HBO tries to hold fans’ attention over 2018 as the year passes without a new installment of our favorite tale of winter, wrath, and good old woe. The wait will be long, but no doubt it will be worth it!
