On Tuesday, HBO released the first full trailer for the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, which will debut on April 14, 2019. And finally, fans of the show have their first real look at the new season.
The trailer begins with Arya, Westeros’s most efficient death dealer, talking about how she knows the faces of death but is running away from something. At this point, and given what Arya has seen, it takes a lot to spook her, so we know it must be something truly evil.
There’s also a glimpse of Cersei, in full battle queen regalia, smirking and sipping wine and no doubt planning something nefarious. Her twin brother and on-again, off-again lover Jaime, however, can be heard in voiceover, pledging his loyalty to the living. Human beings taking the side of humanity should be a no-brainer, but given the moral depths that Lannisters will sink to, this is actually a big deal.
Jaime is clearly referring to the upcoming battle between the zombified White Walkers and the humans of Westeros. If the humans don’t unite against the White Walkers, they’ll be killed and doomed to become part of the never-ending winter that the White Walkers bring with them.
And that brings us to the major moments of the trailer, which feature Daenerys Targaryen, the dragon-wielding queen who is seen uniting Westeros with her nephew/lover Jon Snow and her two remaining dragons (seen flapping their reptilian wings in the skies over the North).
HBO released a brief snippet of footage from season eight during the Golden Globes in January. But this new trailer blows that short glimpse out of the water, briefly teasing the final battle before fading to black.
Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, as well as David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik, will be the directors for season eight. The season’s final six episodes will be written by Benioff, Weiss, Bryan Cogman, and Dave Hill.
