Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen; Helen Sloane/HBOIt’s the beginning of the end when Game of Thrones kicks off its eighth and final season April 14, and HBO’s continued counting down to the premiere by releasing three new teaser videos.
The first, simply titled “Together,” kicks off with Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister warning, “We must fight together now, or die,” as Kit Harington’s Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen are seen riding side-by-side-on horseback. “Our enemy doesn’t tire. It doesn’t stop. They’re coming,” says Jon Snow, as we see the hooves of a White Walker horse in the snow, with the Stark ancestral home of Winterfell in the distance. The clip then ends with a blast of fire from one of Daenerys’ dragons.
The second video, titled “Survival,” begins with the voice of Samwell Tarly, played by John Bradley, solemnly reflecting: “Think back to where we started. Now it’s just us.” Following scenes of dragons soaring over Winterfell and people preparing for battle — and could that be the formerly disgraced Theon Greyjoy, now commanding the Iron Fleet? — Jaime Lannister, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, assesses the increasingly more dire situation and concludes, “This goes beyond loyalty. This is about survival.”
The final clip, titled “Aftermath,” contains no dialogue and is laden with symbolism. It shows scenes of an empty, apparently defeated Winterfell, with various items lying abandoned and scattered in the snow. We see a tattered Stark banner; Tyrion Lannister’s Hand of the Queen pin; Arya Stark’s sword, Needle; a feather blown by the wind off of a battlement, which comes to rest upon the remnants of Bran Stark’s smashed wheelchair; Jaime Lannister’s gold, artificial hand; Daenerys’s Targaryen’s dragon chain; and finally, Jon Snow’s sword, Longclaw, lying in a snowdrift as in the far distance, an indistinct figure that looks an awful lot like the Night King strides through Winterfell’s front gate.
Take that last promo with a generous dose of skepticism, though: Game of Thrones producers have shown many times how much they love to tease possible outcomes, not actual ones. Any fan knows Winterfell’s definitely in for a beating, no batter who wins the promised epic battle against the Night King’s army of the dead.
The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones debuts Sunday, April 14 on HBO.
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