Season seven of Game of Thrones was explosive in its own right, but it also served as set up for the endgame, so the last season isn’t likely to suddenly turn peaceful. In fact, we have acquired the first concrete details about two major season eight action sequences, which may turn out to be the two big battles of the season, unless there are even more to come.
A week after filming began in Moneyglass, we’re beginning to see the fruits of that labor, with our first look at what kind of action we should expect at Winterfell; and, at long last, we learned just what that mysterious new set next to Titanic Studios is all about (it involves a lot of fire and blood.) Needless to say, there are spoilers below the cut!
First of all, fellow Watchers reader Cathair returns with telling photos of the redesigned Winterfell set, where locals have spotted filming production active mostly at night at the moment:
Along with the —by now oft-discussed— new walls and battlements and snowy exterior, we can now see the Northerners (or, well, the GOT crew) have built what appears to be a trench or moat around the castle’s walls, as well as a trebuchet (not the same as the one we reported on before, which will likely take part in new set outside Titanic Studios.) With these new pictures, our original idea for a Winterfell under attack develops further. It seems likely the White Walkers attack will take the form of a protracted siege.
A view of the new set, from November
As for the other set, it just kept growing and we kept wondering what it’s all for. Well, we’re wondering no longer. Just as we (eventually) came to suspect, WotW sources tell us this new set isn’t supposed to be a castle of any kind, but the streets of King’s Landing. But we know more than that. If you are averse to major spoilers, please skip the following. This is your last chance! These are major (if not entirely unexpected) endgame spoilers!
So, why build simple city architecture, instead of filming at real Medieval old towns as they usually do? Well, because the locals may take issue with the Game of Thrones production if they gleefully burn down their homes. Since the beginning, we had heard of controlled fire tests taking place here, so this may not be entirely shocking: this set outside of Titanic Studios will depict multiple city streets of King’s Landing, just so they can destroy them in a truly Game of Thrones fashion — by dragonfire, according to our sources. Yes, at some point in season eight, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms may be razed by dragons.
Now, here is the real question: who is in charge of these dragons? Is Daenerys going to attack Cersei with her dragons at last, or is the Night King going to march that far south? Or, in other words: when King’s Landing burns, will it be in red or blue flame?
