The plot for Game of Thrones season 7 infamously leaked months ahead of time, so there were a large number of people who knew that Viserion was going to take down the Wall even before “Dragonstone,” the season premiere, aired. To combat the kind of thing this year, HBO is committing to a new strategy: it’s going to film multiple endings to the show.
Or at least that’s what Game of Thrones programming president Casey Bloys said when speaking to students and faculty at Bethlehem’s Moravian College, according to The Morning Call. “I know in ‘Game of Thrones,’ the ending, they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that nobody really know what happens,” Bloys said.
You have to do that on a long show. Because when you’re shooting something, people know. So they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that there’s no real definitive answer until the end.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean the network is going to shoot multiple ending episodes or anything — they’re not made of money — but they may shoot different versions of select key scenes. The producers been known to fake curious fans out before: they shot a scene with actor Sibel Kekilli (Shae) for season 6, and shot a pretty elaborate scene where someone was burned to death at night for season 7. With the show entering its final season and interest at a fever pitch, it makes sense that they would try for something more elaborate.
As The Morning Call points out, Game of Thrones isn’t the first show to try this technique, either — shows like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos also shot multiple endings in the interest of keeping things a secret until the very end. When season 8 set reports start coming in, as they inevitably will when filming gets underway in October, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for the fakes.
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