And as some cogently pointed out, Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons are en route to Winterfell, and as we all know they can be rather... feisty. Looks like season 8 of Game of Thrones is going to be as hair-raising as ever.

In just a few short months HBO's hit fantasy series Game of Thrones will finally be coming to an end. Yes, the grand finale is almost upon us now,  and fans are chomping at the bit to find out how it will all pan out. Which characters will survive? Who will sit on the Iron Throne? Can the Night King be defeated? And what the hell is going on with Jon and Daenerys? It's all up in the air at the moment, but we've been promised thrills, battles, romance and lots and lots of blood. Pretty standard stuff really; just dialed up to eleven.

However, despite all the frantic probing and prying of nosy fans, the showrunners (David Benioff and DB Weiss) haven't spilt any details of what we might expect when the last season finally airs. Currently, Game of Thrones is scheduled to premiere in April 2019, and the most info we've gathered so far is the short teaser trailer that the network released on social media, which shows Arya, Sansa and Jon Snow wandering through the catacombs of Winterfell.

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When the promo aired, many fans started combing through the footage, looking for any scrap of symbolism that might hint at future plot threads. However, there was a pretty widespread misconception around the clip that we feel obliged to put to bed now: that teaser did not use actual footage from season eight. It was shot completely separate from the rest of the show, and should be considered as non-canon as a regular commercial.

This was confirmed by Sophie Turner (who plays Sansa Stark) in a recent interview with fan site Winter Is Coming:

"We did this promo for season eight where- I don’t know if I can say this, actually. Well, actually, no. It’s got nothing to do with the series; it’s just a promo. It was this big kind of statue of me, of Sansa, and I wanted to have it in the garden of my new house. But they obviously wouldn’t ship it from Belfast to New York."

Not only this, but Jon Snow's actor Kit Harrington also revealed that he was allowed to keep the statue of himself seen in the promo as a kind of freebie when filming wrapped, telling BBC radio's Zoe Ball that: "I’ve got it in my shed. How sad is that? I was the only one who kept their statue, that’s how narcissistic I am. I’m going to turn it into a water feature."

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Harrington also stated that wrapping up the series has been emotional for him, stating: "You have this grief that it’s over, and that's exactly the same with doing nine years of this show, and no matter how it does end, there’s always going to be a kind of loss around it. So, maybe not happy, but very satisfied. I’m so excited for people to see it. I think it’s going to be extraordinary."

Me too Kit, me too...

The final season of Game of Thrones is just around the corner, promising answers to fans' biggest questions: Will Bran "Three-Eyed Raven" Stark warg into one of Dany's dragons? Will The Hound and The Mountain face off in an epic 'Clegane-Bowl'? And why don't any of these people in the freezing cold North wear hats? You guys can figure out what kind of metal kills zombies, but you can't figure out how to keep your damn head warm in the winter? Psshhh.

Anyway, the past and present cast of the epic HBO fantasy series reunited for the eight season premiere in New York City. As always, it's fun to see the actors and actresses out of the medieval setting, dressed to the nines in glamorous suits and gowns. Of course, the event came with a patina of sadness, since this is the final season. As they say, valar morghulis - all men must die, and so must all TV shows. (Except for The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live, apparently.)

Here are some highlights from the premiere. Grab a tissue.

Rose Leslie and husband Kit Harington

(aka Ygritte and Jon Snow, who knows nothing)

Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner

(aka Arya and Sansa Stark - sisters before misters!)

Conleth Hill, aka Varys, looks different with hair, doesn't he?

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1113625136429555712]]

Carice Van Houten, Jack Gleeson and Natalie Dormer

(aka Melisandre, Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell - I still hate you, Joffrey!)

Nikolaj Coster Waldau and Gwendolyn Christie

(aka Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, we ship)

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/LilBraimeAds/status/1113680266340511744]]

What a tomboy!

Pilou Asbæk, John Bradley, Isaac Hempstead Wright and Joe Dempsie

(aka Euron Greyjoy, Samwell Tarly, Bran Stark and Gendry)

Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke

(aka Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen. She's the mother of dragons. He drinks and knows things.)

Nathalie Emmanuel

(aka Missandei)

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Nathalie Emmanuel, Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/SophieTurnArmy/status/1113691697643495424]]

Jason Momoa and Iain Glen

(aka Khal Drogo and Ser Jorah Mormont - get away from him, Aquaman! He's got grayscale!)

Indira Varma and Sibel Kekilli

(aka Ellaria Sand and Shae. Remember them?)

Rory McCann

(Aka Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane - F*** the king!)

Hafþor Julius Bjornsson and Pedro Pascal

(aka Ser Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane and Oberyn Martell - revenge at last!)

Too soon, Pedro!

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Sadly, Lena Headey, aka Cersei Lannister, could not make it due to illness

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"Gutted. Heartbroken and fucked off, still doesn’t cover my disappointment at not being able to travel to NYC for our final prem tonight. I fucking hate being sick and the timing of this is a shit bag. But .. S8 is the tits and so are all my cast mates and crew mates and creators... so RIDE FORTH INTO THE NIGHT AND CREATE MAYHEM ... Love you beauties"

The final season of Game of Thrones premieres on Sunday, April 14.

Season 8 Trailer

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'Aftermath' Teaser

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'Together' Promo

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'Survival' Promo

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Eight years ago, some of us sat down to watch this new show that was airing on HBO. We didn't know much about it, but we saw that it had dragons and swords and naked women, so we were like, "Yeah, I'll give it a shot." Now, in 2019, most of us are still tuning in for new episodes - and the most committed amongst us would probably give up a finger or a toe to have the upcoming (and final!) season immediately.

But before you go lopping off a digit in the hopes that David Benioff and D. B. Weiss might feel sorry for you and give you a preview screening, you might want to know that the release date for season eight of Game of Thrones has finally been set at April 14th.

Oh, and a full teaser trailer has dropped, too.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/GameOfThrones/status/1084631184804433921]]

The 90-second clip shows Jon, Arya and Sansa making their way through the tunnels beneath Winterfell and encountering statues of themselves. At the end of the teaser, they are interrupted by something - or someone - and Jon and Arya draw their swords to face it. We don't get a glimpse of who or what it is, but the icy aura suggests the Night King has found his way into the castle... or is it someone else?

Some people have taken the trailer as a hint that it could be Bran who has returned to be reunited with his siblings, and the allusion to the Night King could be a nod to the popular fan theory that the Stark boy and the zombie overlord are actually one and the same.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/J__m__8/status/1084641653162459139]]

Others, however, think that the theory doesn't hold any water, and that the Night King is just some guy who wants to take over the kingdom in the same way that absolutely everybody else does.

As for who will actually claim the throne, we're still not sure. With the season drawing ever closer, though, there are some odds on who will be the victor. Right now, Bran is most likely to be crowned the ruler of Westeros, with Jon and Daenerys following closely behind in joint second place.

But, of course, there have also been some predictions made about who will die - and it ain't looking good.

The top three characters most likely to be killed are Jaime Lannister, Cersei Lannister, and Euron Greyjoy, which - let's be honest - ain't all that sad. Daenerys is also at serious risk of being offed, though, as are Arya and Sansa. And, from what we've heard from stars of the show, it's definitely set to be an emotional final season.

"[There were] a lot of tears. I think, you know, as an actor it was really satisfying - I think for everyone, everyone’s storylines - to be able to act out the way that it all ends. It was really satisfying for us," said Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa.

"Who knows if it will be satisfying for the fans. I think a lot of fans will be disappointed and a lot of fans will be over the moon, I think. I think it will be really interesting to see people’s reactions, but for me reading the script it was just like heartbreaking to read at the very final page of the script it just says, ‘End of Game of Thrones’. That was really emotional."

Thankfully, we've only got three months to wait and see how it all pans out.

The long-awaited eighth and final season of Game of Thrones is airing this month. After a nearly two year break from our screens, Westeros will return on April 14 with the aptly titled episode 'Winter is Here'. And after watching the Seven Kingdoms war for the Iron Throne since 2011, fans are desperate to learn who finally will sit on it.

But the real question is: will this person be a member of the living or the dead?

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the official trailer for season eight: 

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However, as is the case in any series adapted from print, there's a lot more to Westeros than what's portrayed in the hit HBO series - as anyone who has ever read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire will attest.

Now, as the televised story comes to an end, we have taken a look at the most shocking scenes from the books; some of which really should have made it into the show, and others, well, it's easy to see why they didn't make the cut.

1. Lady Stoneheart

One of the most shocking events in the series was the Red Wedding - and that really is saying something given Game of Thrones' reputation for being bloody. One of its victims was, Catelyn Stark, and in the novels, instead of being truly dead and gone, in true Sleeping Beauty style, she is brought back to life with a kiss from Beric Dondarrion. Quite understandably, she goes on a killing spree to avenge her family.

But given that this would have required the show acquiring a horrifying zombie with "pudding-like" skin the "color of curdled milk", unless Catelyn's reanimated corpse was created extremely well with CGI, it would have probably detracted from the overall quality of the show and how shocking the Red Wedding was.

2. Aegon Targaryen

It's no secret that the Game of Thrones' storyline is complicated, which is most likely why Aegon Targaryen was never featured in the series. Let me briefly try to explain his complicated lineage.

He's the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, who was supposedly killed by the Mountain and Amory Lorch on Robert Baratheon's instructions. However, in the books, he appears to live and is discovered by Tyrion, who, under the name Young Griff, tells him that he was smuggled out of King's Landing because of the claim he had to the Iron Throne. Sure, it's shocking to think that he could exist, but it could have made the series more complicated than it already is.

Check out one of the teasers HBO have released for the final season, titled 'Aftermath':

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3. Rattleshirt/Mance Rayder

Once again, this didn't make the cut because it was too complicated. In the show, Mance Rayder is burnt at the stake after he refuses to bend the knee. In the books, while this grizzly death happens, the person being burnt, Rattlesnake, simply looks like Rayder thanks to the power of Red Priestess Melisandre and a technique known as "glamoring". Rayder then goes on a mission to save the person he believes to be Arya Stark, Jeyne Pool.

You can see why this didn't work - there'd have been too many extra characters and additional magic techniques!

4. Quentyn Martell

One of the strongest features of the series is its characters. Even those who are evil, like Cersei Lannister, are interesting in their own right and serve a purpose. Quentyn Martell is a comparatively flat character. Son of Prince Doran and Lady Mellario, who, after his marriage proposal is rejected by Daenerys, takes it upon himself to train one of her dragons because of his Targaryen ancestry. Needless to say, he fails and is burnt alive. An unexpected death, but that's about it.

In another exclusive teaser, titled 'Survival', it seems a lot of alliances are going to be made:

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5. Dragonbinder

If there was one physical object that the show was less for having omitted, it's the 6ft-long horn known as the Dragonbinder. Described in the books as a noise that sounds like "the screaming of a thousand souls", as its name suggests, whoever blows it (providing that they don't die, as most do), will be able to control any dragons who hear it.

In the books, the horn, which is covered in Valyrian steel and glowing glyphs, was discovered in the ruins of Valyria.

However, it's been suggested that this was one element of the book which was too fantastical to exist in the series.

6. Ser Barristan Selmy

While Ser Barristan Selmy, the former Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, features in the show, it's a bit of a letdown in terms of getting across the way his character comes across in the books - but obviously, the show's creators were limited in terms of how much of the books they could bring to life. In which, he's, well, a bit of a badass. "When Barristan the Bold tells you to run, a wise man laces up his boots," Gerris Drinkwater says.

I mean, he is killed by the Sons of the Harpy trying to rescue Greyworm in the show, but there's no doubt that his literary counterpart (who is still alive and well) would have never been taken down so easily.

Now, we don't know about you, but aside from watching the episodes, Maisie Williams recommended taking a second look at before series eight airs, we're tempted to re-read A Song of Ice and Fire once Winter is over. It'll give us one last fix of Westeros!