With fan culture the way it is at the moment, it's really, really easy to ruin things for yourself with spoilers. With every poster, trailer or cryptic tweet, the likes of Marvel, HBO and DC will spawn a hundred memes, predictions and fan theories. If you're a creator of one of these flagship franchises, how do you engage with those fans while springing a surprise once in a while?
You could go the Last Jedi route, but nobody wants that.
Now, while opinions are decidedly... split over the new season of Game of Thrones, there's a fan theory that in between disappointing us with inconsistent writing, showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss were busy throwing us off the scent by staging fake scenes.
Now, this isn't completely out of the question, and you only have to look at Marvel to see that it can't be done.
For example, check out this trailer for Infinity War:Notice that big splash page, where Captain America, Black Widow, Black Panther and the Hulk are all running toward some formidable threat - maybe Thanos or something? Never happened in Infinity War. In fact, beyond one Thanos-delivered beating at the outset of the film, the Hulk doesn't even make an appearance.
So how does this relate to Game of Thrones? Well, last year, the likes of Kit Harington and Lena Headey were in Dubrovnik in Croatia last year to have their characters Jon Snow and Cersei Lannister meet for a scene for the last season. But if you'll notice, bar some ridiculous dream sequence, those characters never so much as share a glance before Cersei bites it in episode five.
Here's that death scene again. Just to jog your memory:There were photos and everything, but they appear to have been made up, folks! It's just a testament to the lengths DB Weiss and David Benioff will go to stop people from spoiling their show. It's also indicative of just how extra people can get when it comes to their favourite entertainment. Seriously, guys. Chill out.