Season 8

Season 8 of Game of Thrones was announced by D.B. Weiss and David Benioff on March 12, 2017. Like the seventh season, Season 8 will be shorter than previous seasons, consisting of six episodes, due to the smaller amount of story content remaining, as well as the increased production values and time required to film episodes involving larger set pieces than in previous seasons. Filming will begin in October 2017.

The season is expected to premiere in late 2018/early 2019.

Like the sixth and seventh seasons, Season 8 will be based on an outline of the two final, presently-unpublished novels in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

Season 8 will be the final season of Game of Thrones, though after the conclusion of Season 8, five potential "successor shows", more likely prequels, are certainly possible.

Plot
"The Long Night is coming, and the dead come with it."

- Jon Snow

After eight thousand years of standing between the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the lands beyond, the inevitable has happened: the Wall has been breached, and the army of the dead, under the command of the White Walkers and their Night King, have finally made their way into the Seven Kingdoms, heading straight towards the North, to bring about what will become another Long Night, one which may last forever.

The strife in the Seven Kingdoms, however, is not yet over. Though the War of the Five Kings and a second Targaryen invasion are all but over, the many noble families still struggle for the Iron Throne despite the greater threat heading their way. In King's Landing, despite having proven herself a less than ideal ruler, Queen Cersei Lannister is still determined to stay on the Iron Throne at any cost, and is content with allowing the army of the dead to devastate the North in order to rid her of her enemies before focusing on the threat herself, despite pleas from both of her brothers, Jaime and Tyrion. Disgusted at her willingness to allow Westeros to perish if it means that she can retain her crown, Jaime has finally abandoned Cersei and is now heading north to honor the pledge he made to fight against the enemy facing them all.

In an attempt to take the Iron Throne and restore her family dynasty, Daenerys Targaryen initially arrived in Westeros with the intention of conquering the Seven Kingdoms as her ancestors did, with the help of the armies of Dorne, the Iron Islands and the Reach. However, one of her allies, Olenna Tyrell, is dead, having been given the mercy of a peaceful death after the Lannisters sacked Highgarden in order to pay off their debts to the Iron Bank of Braavos. Ellaria Sand, along with Obara Sand, Nymeria Sand and Tyene Sand, have also been defeated and punished for the choices they made in response to the death of their beloved paramour and father, Prince Oberyn Martell. Meanwhile, Yara Greyjoy remains in her uncle Euron's custody, with her younger brother, Theon, rallying their few remaining Ironborn loyalists in an attempt to rescue her.

In the North, the new King in the North, Jon Snow has sought out an alliance with Daenerys, though not to help her seize the throne, but to aid him in the coming war against the Night King. Through the combined efforts of Daenerys's allies, Jon Snow has captured a wight and presented it before Cersei in order to prove their existence and return, despite the loss of one of Daenerys's dragons to the Night King. Despite the promise of a military alliance, Cersei has instead brokered a deal with the Golden Company with Euron Greyjoy's help and the financial backing of the Iron Bank of Braavos, whose debts were repaid in full by Cersei, in order to destroy all of her enemies at once and solidify Lannister rule over Westeros. During their alliance, Jon and Daenerys have developed and consummated their budding attraction, which may put their future operations in jeopardy, especially in light of their biological connection of which they are still unaware.

At Winterfell, the North has seen the return of Arya Stark, who finished off the remaining Frey men, and Bran Stark, both of whom were believed dead. Despite the schemes of Petyr Baelish to drive the Starks apart and seize power in his own bid to take the Iron Throne, Baelish was exposed as the true architect of the death of Jon Arryn, Lysa Arryn, and the War of the Five Kings that saw the deaths of countless innocent people for a false cause, and executed for his crimes on the order of Sansa Stark, bringing down the last of House Stark's enemies. At the same time, however, Bran previously discovered the origins of Jon Snow as the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and with help from Samwell Tarly, who abandoned his studies in the Citadel in Oldtown to return to Jon's service, has also discovered that Rhaegar had his marriage to Elia Martell annulled by the High Septon in order to marry Lyanna, which makes Jon, whose real name is Aegon Targaryen, the true heir to the Iron Throne, ahead of Daenerys herself, which could also politically compromise their alliance.

And thus, the song of ice and fire prepares for its final verse...

Production
For a time in January 2017, Season 8 renewal was put on indefinite hold, due to a disagreement between HBO and the showrunners over the number of episodes it would contain. While originally Benioff and Weiss stated they intended 7 episodes for Season 7 and 6 for Season 8, apparently there was some internal pushback that they should make more than six episodes (whether for story reasons or purely business/budget reasons is unclear). At their SXSW panel on March 12, 2017, Benioff and Weiss announced that Season 8 will consist of the originally planned six episodes. No new writers will be introduced: Dave Hill will write the first episode, Bryan Cogman the second episode, then Benioff and Weiss will divide up the remaining four. George R.R. Martin will not be returning to script another episode. The final season could contain multiple episodes of up to two hours long in length and could be the longest season to date, even though the season only contains 6 episodes.

Cast
''Note: All cast members whose characters survive the events of Season 7 are expected to return for Season 8. The major exception is Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand), who confirmed her role has ended even if Ellaria's exact fate is somewhat ambiguous. ''

Confirmed returning starring cast Confirmed returning guest starring cast
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Kit Harington as Lord Jon Snow
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Lady Arya Stark
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
 * Pilou Asbaek as King Euron Greyjoy
 * Mark Gatiss as Tycho Nestoris

Writers

 * Dave Hill: episode 1
 * Bryan Cogman: episode 2
 * David Benioff & D.B. Weiss: episodes 3, 4, 5 and 6