Filming has officially wrapped for Game of Thrones, which is causing mixed emotions everywhere. On the one hand, it means that we're finally closer to seeing the show on our screens once more, now that all they've got to do is edit the footage and animate all those computer-generated dragons (pfft... piece of cake).
On the other hand, however, it signals the end of the hit HBO show. The eighth season will be the last, and with everything that the previous season alluded to – it's going to be a big one. The show is of course based on the books by George RR Martin, but seeing as he's so bloody slow at writing the damn things, no-one really knows where the storyline will go in the final of the TV seasons.
Eagle-eyed fans have been on the search for hints and spoilers, looking at everything from new IMDb credits that have popped up, as well as reading between the lines on every Instagram post from cast members.
The latest of such posts to catch the attention of Throners comes from Lena Headey. The 44-year-old, who plays the delightfully evil Queen Cersei, posted a teary farewell post on Instagram this week, and fans are determined that it hints at a huge fan theory about her bloodline. More specifically, they think the caption confirms a previously speculated-upon theory about Cersei's brother Tyrion.
She shared a photo in costume with her on-screen brothers Tyrion and twin-slash-lover (yuck) Jamie, played by Peter Dinklage and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (not so yuck) respectively. She's playfully licking Dinklage's face, while he and Coster-Waldau wear equally silly expressions.
The pic is cute and all, but it's the caption fans were most enthralled by. "Now this is more like it," Headey wrote. "Congratulations to my brothers (literally) from other mothers. I’m a lucky lucky sista to these Mistas."
It may seem like a pretty normal congratulatory tribute to her co-stars, but fans are beside themselves about that little "literally" in its unassuming parentheses. They are convinced that Headey is giving a pretty strong hint that Tyrion Lannister might not be a Lannister at all, and that the long-running fan theory will finally be confirmed in the series' final season.
The fan theory stands that he is, in fact, a Targaryen. This has been hinted at a few times in the past, like when he was able to get along pretty congenially with Daenerys Targaryen's pet dragons. Others took it quite literally when Tyrion kills his dad Tywin on the loo, who hisses "You are no son of mine" before meeting his end.
The books suggest that the Mad King Aerys Targaryen lusted after Tyrion, Jamie and Cersei's mother, who was called Joanna. The theory goes that she has a full-blown affair with the Mad King where they conceived Tyrion as a result, though Joanna died while giving birth to him. If the theory is true, then Tyrion and Danaerys would share the same father.
While it might be a bit of a stretch to say Headey's caption confirms this theory, it's still an interesting thought none-the-less. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!