The final season of Game of Thrones is finally upon us—we're exactly halfway through, with three episodes behind us and three left. And the cast has been helping keep the anticipation alive by divulging little tidbits about it throughout the past two years, through shooting, promotion, and now the final push to the finale. Here's everything the cast has said about Season 8 so far—it paints a very interesting picture, and it seems not everyone will be happy about the ending. Read on.
It's Kinda Depressing
Emilia Clarke told The Independent that she wandered around London for "three hours, aimlessly" after reading the script for the show's finale and that there were "loads of tears" during her last day filming the series.
"That was the moment I realized that alcohol can also be a depressant," she said. "I was kind of nursing a glass of wine going, ‘I don’t know why I’m not getting any happier from this!'"
Sansa Is Definitely a Fighter
“I always saw something of a warrior in Sansa that I don’t think other people really saw,” Sophie Turner told Gold Derby. “I always had the feeling that she was learning and adapting and at some point or another it was going to manifest itself somehow, and she manifested it into being a warrior. It felt really satisfying when it happened, and I’m really happy where this storyline for her has ended up.”
The Lannisters Don't Get Killed Off
"God, every time we got a new script I thought: ‘OK, this is probably going to be the one,'" Nikolaj Coster-Waldau told the Huffington Post. "But no. The Lannister kids made it to the end."
Women Have the Power
“For me, Game of Thrones is a medieval world in which women don’t have a lot of rights yet they still prevail,” Maisie Williams told Elle. “This final season is going to be incredible. They’re all ruling, you know, they’re all back on top—it’s pretty impressive.”
The Ending Is Even Better Than You Think
“There are no better writers in television than Dan Weiss and David Benioff,” Peter Dinklage told Entertainment Tonight. “They ended it brilliantly. Better than I could have imagined, and you people are in for it. It ends beautifully for my character, whether it be tragic or not.”
The Cast Was Ready for Shooting to Be Over
"Everyone was broken at the end," Kit Harington told GQ Australia. "I don’t know if we were crying because we were sad it was ending or if we were crying because it was so f*cking tiring. We were sleep deprived. It was like it was designed to make you think, ‘Right, I’m f*cking sick of this.'"
The Ending Makes Sense
"We end the right way and the show ends on its own terms.” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau said at Cannes Films Festival. "When I read the scripts for the last season, I was like, ‘Wow, they really pulled it off.’ It’s one story from season 1 to 9 and it makes sense."
It'll Leave a Bad Taste In Your Mouth
“It f*cked me up,” Clarke told Vanity Fair of her character's final moments. "Knowing that is going to be a lasting flavor in someone’s mouth of what Daenerys is…."
Viewers Are Going to Like What They See
"There are so many characters and stories that haven't found their conclusion,” Nathalie Emmanuel, who plays Daenerys' right-hand woman, Missandei, told the Hindustan Times. “So, this season is going to be incredibly satisfying for people. It is going to be incredibly exciting and heartbreaking.”
Carice van Houten Thinks Samwell Tarly Should Be King
"It is what it is, and so that’s what it should be. There's nothing to say about whether I’d change it if I were in charge," Carice van Houten, who plays Melisandre, told Country and Townhouse. "In an ideal world we would want Samwell Tarly to be the king and rule the world but unfortunately, that’s not the reality."
One Episode Is Almost Entirely a Battle
"In the third part of the last season, there is a battle that the creators intend to be the biggest in television history," Vladimir Furdik, who plays the series' second iciest villain (after Cersei, of course) told Sorozat Wiki. "Almost the full episode will be about the battle, it will take about an hour."
Not All Fans Will Be Happy
"I think a TV series that’s spanned eight, nine years is an incredibly difficult thing to end,” Kit Harington told MTV News. “Not everyone’s going to be happy, you know, and you can’t please everyone.”
Some Fans Will Be Disappointed
“A lot of fans will be disappointed and a lot of fans will be over the moon,” Sophie Turner told IGN. “It will be really interesting to see people’s reactions, but for me it was just heartbreaking to read at the very final page of the script: ‘End of Game of Thrones’. That was really emotional."
Maisie Williams Loves the Ending
“It’s either going to be everything that everyone dreamed of or it’s going to be disappointing,” Maisie Williams told Radio Times. “It depends what side of the fence you sit on because there’s definitely going to be that divide. It depends what people want from the final season. I love it, but you never know.”
Not Every Young Cast Member Makes It
“I won’t say their name or their character’s name, but one of the young people on the show wrapped this past season and everybody was a wreck,” Peter Dinklage told Vulture. “This person had grown up on the show, you know? They were a child and now they were an adult. And then they’re done. It’s like we were witnessing this person saying goodbye to their childhood. I know Game of Thrones is just a TV show, la-di-da, but it was our life.”
Ayra Ends Her Story Alone
“I ended on the perfect scene,” Maisie Williams told The Guardian. "I was alone—shocker! Arya’s always bloody alone. But I was alone and I had watched a lot of other people wrap. I knew the drill, I had seen the tears and heard the speeches."
The Ending Will Contain Surprises
"I knew to expect the unexpected,” Hannah Murray, who plays Gilly on the show, told Watchers on the Wall. “Anything that felt too obvious to me I knew was not going to be what [happened]. So there were certain things where I was like, ‘Well it can’t be that, but I don’t know what it is going to be.'
"It’s not like a fairytale happy ending by any means at all and I think it’s a really wonderful final season," she added. "I’m really excited for people to get to see it."
The Ending Is Brilliant
"I am one of the few people who has read the script and I know the ending and what happens,” Iain Glen told The India Express. “When I read it, I thought it was rather brilliant. I am a bit of a fan of the series as well, and it satiated my expectation and hopes…but we will just have to see. You know with something this big like Game of Thrones, you cannot please everyone.”
Some Fans Will Be Upset
"It won't go the way some people want," Isaac Hempstead-Wright told The Hollywood Reporter. "It will be too happy for some people, or too sad, or too whatever. That's the nature of an ending. Midway through a season, there's always the idea that this is going to continue and somewhere along the way we'll make up for it all. When it comes to a conclusion, this is the end. Nothing more is coming, and the certainty of it being over will definitely bother people. But overall, I think we're going to smash it."
Kit Harington Is Feeling Emotional
"It’s a lot of—it’s just bigger than it’s ever been! It is sinking in. It’s just quite emotional," Kit Harington told Time. "I don’t know how I’m going to feel sometime next year when I’ve finished. It’s quite a sudden shift, I guess, but it feels like the right time."
There's Even More Fantasy This Season
"It's definitely more epic this season, for sure. It grows and grows and grows. There are bigger and more fantastical elements, which have always been underlying throughout, but this time, it's really emerging and there are very big roles this season,” Sophie Turner told The Hollywood Reporter. "There are more relationships formed this season than any other, and more people meeting and more conspiracies and plotting and forming of alliances. We have had to parallel the two, just to ensure we keep that balance just right. It's a special, magic recipe.”
People Will Feel Messed Up After Watching It
"It’s going to be the greatest thing that’s ever aired on TV," Jason Momoa told Entertainment Weekly. "It’s going to be unbelievable. It’s going to fuck up a lot of people."
Every Episode Is Going to Be a Big One
“I think what we used to call Episode 9 in ‘Game of Thrones’ folklore—the episode when everything comes to a head and you get a lot of spectacular sequences—I think you’re gonna get six ‘Episode 9s’ this year,” John Bradley told The Huffington Post. “You can tell that because we’ve got directors who have been in charge of some of the most huge setpieces in the past doing episodes all throughout the season.”
The Episodes Will Be Longer
"[The episodes are] definitely going to be bigger and what I hear is longer. We’re filming right up until the summer," Liam Cunningham told TV Guide. "When you think about it, up until last season we’d have six months to do ten episodes, so we’re [doing] way more than that for six episodes. So that obviously will translate into longer episodes."
The Series Wrapping Made Kit Harington Cry
"I’m really emotional about it. We had the read through last week, so I know everything. But I cried at the end—not over anything particular that happened—but it’s been 8 years and no one cares about it more than we do," Kit Harington told a BBC talk show.
We're All Going to Need Therapy After the Finale
"You're going to need therapy," Gwendoline Christie told E! News. "I think just the show ending is going to send all of the world into professional help." She added, "I think it's going to make me incredibly emotional. We're all emotional about the fact that this is the end, and this is the end of something incredibly significant for all of us, and it's been a truly incredible thing to be a part of."
Sophie Turner Is Feeling the Loss
"I’m just coming to terms with it right now, it’s like a death in the family," Turner told Harper's Bazaar. "I’m losing the character I’ve played so long."
When the Show's Over, It's Over
"[Fans] have had so much time to make up their own story. I guess they become attached to something they wish or fear for. Some will be surprised. Above all, they’ll say that it’s over. It’s a pretty f—ing unique show, let’s face it," Carice Van Houten told Entertainment Weekly (spoilers at that link).
The Cast Has Been Crying a Lot
“Everybody has done a lot of crying filming the last season, so we’re all feeling very bittersweet and existential crisis-y, the usual,” Emilia Clarke told Us Weekly during the Emmy afterparty.
The Show's Ending on a High
“[They] read like the six best scripts. The final scripts are really special,” Iain Glen told Daily Express. "We all sat down for the read-through of six feature-length episodes. “They took longer to film, cost more, and are more surprising.”