The eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones, produced by HBO, premiered on April 14, 2019, and concluded on May 19, 2019. Unlike the first six seasons, which consisted of ten episodes each, and the seventh season, which consisted of seven episodes, the eighth season consists of only six episodes.
The season was filmed from October 2017 to July 2018 and largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, while also incorporating material that Martin has revealed to showrunners about the upcoming novels in the series, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. The season was adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
The season was met with mixed reviews from viewers and critics, in contrast to the critical acclaim of previous seasons, and is the lowest-rated of the series on the website Rotten Tomatoes. While the performances, production values, and music score were praised, criticism was mainly directed at the shorter runtime of the season as well as numerous creative decisions made by the showrunners regarding the plot and character arcs. Many commentators deemed it to be a disappointing conclusion to the series.
Despite the mixed reception, the season received 32 nominations at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for a single season of television in history, and ultimately won twelve, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Peter Dinklage.
Episodes
Cast
Main cast
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen Kit Harington as Jon Snow Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark Maisie Williams as Arya Stark Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy John Bradley as Samwell Tarly Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth Conleth Hill as Varys Rory McCann as Sandor "The Hound" Clegane Jerome Flynn as Bronn Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane Joe Dempsie as Gendry Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont Hannah Murray as Gilly Carice van Houten as Melisandre
Recurring cast The recurring actors listed here are those who appeared in season 8. They are listed by the region in which they first appear.
In the North Richard Dormer as Beric Dondarrion Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne Rupert Vansittart as Yohn Royce Bella Ramsey as Lyanna Mormont Megan Parkinson as Alys Karstark Richard Rycroft as Maester Wolkan Harry Grasby as Ned Umber Staz Nair as Qhono Vladimir Furdik as the Night King
In King's Landing Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy Anton Lesser as Qyburn Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane Gemma Whelan as Yara Greyjoy Marc Rissmann as Harry Strickland Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn
Production Development HBO announced the eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones in July 2016. Like the previous season, it largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Benioff verified in March 2015 that the creators had talked with Martin about the end of the series and knew "where things are heading". He explained that the ends of both the television and the book series would unavoidably be thematically similar, although Martin could still make some changes to surprise the readers. When asked why the television series was coming to an end, he said, "this is where the story ends."
Crew Series creators and executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss served as showrunners for the eighth season. The directors for the eighth season were announced in September 2017. Miguel Sapochnik, who previously directed "The Gift" and "Hardhome" in the fifth season, as well as "Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter" in the sixth season, returned to direct two episodes. David Nutter, who had directed two episodes each in the second, third, and fifth seasons, including "The Rains of Castamere" and "Mother's Mercy", directed three episodes for the eighth season. The final episode of the series was directed by Benioff and Weiss, who had previously co-directed two episodes, taking credit for one episode each.
At the series' South by Southwest panel on March 12, 2017, Benioff and Weiss announced the writers for the series to be Dave Hill (episode 1) and Bryan Cogman (episode 2). The showrunners divided up the screenplay for the remaining four episodes amongst themselves.
Writing Writing for the eighth season started with a 140-page outline. Benioff said that the divvying-up process and assigning sections to write became more difficult because "this would be the last time that [they] would be doing this."
Filming In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said that instead of the series finales being a feature film, the final season would be "six one-hour movies" on television. He continued, "The show has proven that TV is every bit as impressive and in many cases more so, than film. What they're doing is monumental." Filming officially began on October 23, 2017 and concluded in July 2018. Many exterior scenes were filmed in Northern Ireland and a few in Dubrovnik, Croatia; Paint Hall Studios in Belfast were used for interior filming. The direwolf scenes were filmed in Alberta, Canada.
Casting The eighth season saw the return of Tobias Menzies as Edmure Tully and Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn in the final episode, neither of whom appeared in the seventh season. Marc Rissmann was cast as Harry Strickland, the commander of the Golden Company.
Content Co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss said that the seventh and eighth seasons would likely comprise fewer episodes, saying that after the sixth season, they were "down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We're heading into the final lap". Benioff and Weiss said that they were unable to produce 10 episodes in the series' usual 12 to 14-month timeframe, as Weiss explained, "It's crossing out of a television schedule into more of a mid-range movie schedule." HBO confirmed in July 2016 that the seventh season would consist of seven episodes and would premiere later than usual in mid-2017 because of the later filming schedule. Benioff and Weiss later confirmed that the eighth season would consist of six episodes and would premiere later than usual for the same reason.
Benioff and Weiss said about the end of the series: "From the beginning, we've wanted to tell a 70-hour movie. It will turn out to be a 73-hour movie, but it's stayed relatively the same of having the beginning, middle[,] and now we're coming to the end. It would have been really tough if we lost any core cast members along the way[;] I'm very happy we've kept everyone and we get to finish it the way we want to." The first two episodes are, respectively, 54 and 58 minutes long, while the final four episodes of the series are all more than an hour in length: episode three is 82 minutes (making it the longest episode of the series), episodes four and five are each 78 minutes, and the final episode is 80 minutes.
A two-hour documentary, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, which documents the making of the eighth season, aired on May 26, the week after the series finale.
Music
Ramin Djawadi returned as the series' composer for the eighth season. The soundtrack album for the season was released digitally on May 19, 2019, and was released on CD on July 19, 2019.
Release Broadcast The season premiered on April 14, 2019, in the United States on HBO.
Marketing On December 6, 2018, HBO released the first official teaser trailer for the eighth season. A second teaser trailer was released on January 13, 2019, which announced the premiere date as April 14, 2019. The trailer was directed by David Nutter. HBO released a promotional advertisement with Bud Light on February 3, 2019, during Super Bowl LIII. Later, first-look photos of several main characters were released on February 6, 2019. On February 28, 2019, posters of many of the main characters sitting upon the Iron Throne were released. The official full trailer was released on March 5, 2019.
Illegal distribution The season premiere was reportedly pirated by nearly 55 million people within the first 24 hours of release. Of these numbers, 9.5 million downloads came from India, 5.2 million came from China, and 4 million came from the U.S. On April 21, 2019, it was reported that the second episode of the season was illegally leaked online hours before it aired due to being streamed early on Amazon Prime Germany. On May 5, 2019, it was reported that the fourth episode of the season was leaked online, with footage from the episode circulating on social media.
Home media The season was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 3, 2019.
Reception Critical response
The season received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 55% based on 699 reviews with an average rating of 6.45/10, the lowest rating for a season of Game of Thrones. The website's critical consensus reads: "Game of Thrones final season shortchanges the women of Westeros, sacrificing satisfying character arcs for spectacular set-pieces in its mad dash to the finish line".
The first three episodes were met with generally positive feedback from critics. On Metacritic, the premiere garnered a score of 75 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. "The Long Night" was praised for the cinematography and grand scale of the battle between the living and the dead, but was criticized for what was considered its lack of catharsis, disorienting lighting, and the anticlimactic ending of the White Walker storyline that had been built up for seven seasons. "The Last of the Starks" and "The Bells" were said to have rushed pacing, writing, and deviation from character development, with "The Last of the Starks" being labeled as "anticlimactic" and "a huge letdown". "The Iron Throne" was described as "divisive", and according to Rotten Tomatoes, the series finale represents "a modest rebound" but it "went out with a whimper". "The Bells" and "The Iron Throne" are the worst-reviewed episodes of the entire series on the website, with an approval of 49% and 48% respectively, while the last four episodes of the season "plunged to record low scores".
David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the final season "has been the same story over and over again: a lot of tin-eared writing trying to justify some of the most drastic story developments imaginable, as quickly as possible. As usual, the actors did their best with what was on the page." Lucy Mangan of The Guardian considered the season a "rushed business. It has wasted opportunities, squandered goodwill, and failed to do justice to its characters or its actors." Zack Beauchamp of Vox wrote that it "dispensed almost entirely with trying to make sense of its characters' internal motivations—let alone the complex political reality that its psychological realism initially helped create". Huw Fullerton of Radio Times said the final season was not "Thrones at its best" but still had "some sort of ending for the characters". For Fullerton, the season was "like the finale — some bits I liked, one or two I loved, an awful lot that leaves me scratching my head".