We only have four episodes left before Game of Thrones is officially over, and I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering how all the loose ends are going to be tied up. One thing we'll have for sure, however, is the "largest, longest battle sequence in TV history" on Sunday's episode.

See if you can spot the clues in the teaser for episode three: 

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/gP52gCeT-Q0L14jDU.mp4||gP52gCeT]]

Now, the episode's director, Miguel Sapochnik, has opened up about the filming of the epic battle sequence. "This is survival horror," he said in his interview with Entertainment Weekly, revealing that he had been working on the Battle of Winterfell since the summer of 2017.

[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BwuRP9-F_Sb/]]

"I’m shooting for seven and a half months, which is like 130 days, which is longer than most of the big movies that get made," Sapochnik told the publication. "So in terms of the amount of work, it’s been six- and seven-day weeks, 16-to-18-hour days, and, yeah, it’s a lot."

His main concern, however, was to avoid viewers getting what he referred to as "battle fatigue".

"After 20 minutes of watching a battle, you’re over it,” Sapochnik asserted. "So how do you stop it from being a battle in that sense? It feels like the only way to really approach it properly is take every sequence and ask yourself: 'why would I care to keep watching?' One thing I found is the less action—the less fighting—you can have in a sequence, the better."

[[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BwHlnYChTXr/]]

In other news, it may just transpire that our Game of Thrones heroes won't be facing the ultimate villain in this weekend's episode - at least according to a popular fan theory.

As people were quick to point out, the Night King and Viserion were noticeably absent from the shot of the White Walker army approaching Winterfell. And accordingly, people began to speculate that they may be heading down to King's Landing instead to wrest the Iron Throne from Cersei Lannister and her cronies.

"When the night king shows up to kings landing with the dragon and takes out Cersei while his army take out the north," wrote one Twitter user, while another added "The living win The Battle of Winterfell. Night King isn't there. Why, you ask? He took Viserion south to torch Kings Landing. Bronn sees him on his way north and tells everyone. Fulfilling Brans vision of dragon shadow over KL/destroyed throne room and Danys HOU visions."

Here's how Sophie Turner's reacted to her little sister's Game of Thrones sex scene:

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/RdVjCw6U-sKUnNGKf.mp4||RdVjCw6U]]

"What if the Night King doesn’t even show up to the battle at Winterfell? What if he’s on his way to Kings Landing as we speak to get started on turning them into Wights?! He should make me his hand," wrote a third.

If this theory is to be believed, it means that Bran's plan will prove futile.

To recap, when Winterfell's leaders were discussing the battle during Sunday's episode, Jon Snow said their best chance at victory was to defeat the Night King to wipe out the entire army. While Jaime counteracted this by saying the leader of the dead wouldn't risk exposing himself in battle, Bran interrupted, saying he was willing to be used as a pawn to lure him out.

"He'll come for me," he asserted. "He's tried before, many times with many Three-Eyed Ravens."

His plan is to sit in the Godswood and wait for the Night King to come for him, with Theon standing guard with the Ironborn soldiers.

But obviously, if Twitter has got it right, using Bran in this manner will all be in vain, as well as Jon's hope of ending the battle as quickly as possible.

There were a lot of stand-out moments from last week's episode of Game of Thrones; the Dothraki being plunged into darkness by the army of the dead on the battlefield, little Lyanna Mormont's truly heroic death, and, of course, Arya's destruction of the Night King.

However, while these scenes all had fans talking for the right reasons, there was one feature of the episode which came under fire from viewers the world over: its lighting.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/RavenProj/status/1122756788502163456]]

In fact, the episode was so dark that entertainment websites began to issue guidelines for people so that they could alter the settings of their devices to get the best possible viewing experience.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/noradominick/status/1122675766888665088]]

Now, the cinematographer of the episode, Fabian Wagner, has spoken out in defense of how dark it was.

At this point, it's worth noting that he was also the man behind other notable episodes including the 'Hardhome' and 'Battle of the Bastards'.

Speaking to TMZ about the lighting in episode three, 'The Long Night', he said that the show has always been very cinematic and as a result, just like a real movie, it was never designed to be viewed on a phone or a tablet screen - or even in daylight.

Instead, Wagner recommended that viewers watch it in a dark room with the recommended settings.

"I know it wasn't too dark because I shot it," he said.

He's not the only person to speak out in defense of how dark the episode was, either. So too did Robert McLachlan, who has worked on the cinematography of eight Game of Thrones episodes. In an interview with INSIDER, he said that the episode was dark because it was designed to be "as naturalistic as possible."

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/efrancie13/status/1122690201988550663]]

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/manieldad/status/1122687353129250817]]

He explained that the makers wanted "to make these sets and locations feel as if they're absolutely not lit by us, but only by Mother Nature or some candles," he said, "so that it feels more naturalistic, albeit enhanced in some cases."

Fair enough. Not that this came across well to fans though, it must be said.

Now that Game of Thrones has drawn to a close, fans of the medieval fantasy drama are reflecting on the series as a whole.

While it's safe to say that the eighth season thoroughly divided viewers, many of whom had followed the seven warring kingdoms of Westeros since 2011, the series remains one of the most ambitious to ever air on the small screen.

Relive Ramsay Bolton's glorious death scene from the 'Battle of the B***rds' below: 

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/EHCtE8Q0-sKUnNGKf.mp4||EHCtE8Q0]]

In particular, GoT gained a reputation for its spectacular battle scenes, and contrary to what many fans might have expected prior to series eight airing, a poll has been conducted to establish the best episode ever, and it's from season six.

The poll was conducted by LadBible on Facebook and the winning episode, by a considerable number of votes, was 'Battle of the B***rds', which saw Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton come to blows in a truly bloody battle.

And, unlike the hotly anticipated Battle of Winterfell from season eight, viewers didn't have to adjust their TV settings to see it in all its glory!

'Battle of the B**rds' was directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who was also responsible for the Battle of Winterfell episode, 'The Long Night'.

This is Lyanna Mormont's heroic death scene from the Battle of Winterfell:

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/pEEasjqW-Q0L14jDU.mp4||pEEasjqW]]

According to the poll, the second best episode ever was episode five's 'Hardhome', which introduced viewers to the Night King.

'The Spoils of War' came in third place. That's the episode from season seven where Daenerys' dragons go full flamethrower for the first time.

Who could forget the Red Wedding episode either?

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/lUFkpDpg-dkXnENEs.mp4||lUFkpDpg]]

Other particularly good episodes that got a mention in the poll were 'The Winds of Winter', which saw Cercei destroy the Sept of Baelor,  and 'The Rains of Castamere', which featured the notorious Red Wedding.

After eight years, plenty of incredible memories and so, so many deaths, do you know what I'm not excited for at all? The final season of Game of Thrones.

I'm being facetious, of course, but fans of the show will have been aware of a kind of worrying trend in the show; it's becoming a little bit predictable.

When Ned Stark had his head on the block, we were all pretty sure someone would come to save him (spoiler: we were wrong), but by the time season seven drew to a close, all of our faves were pretty much guaranteed to make it to the next round of the Game of Thrones.

That final season is just around the corner! Check out the official season eight trailer below:

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/XF0w0bbZ-Q0L14jDU.mp4||XF0w0bbZ]]

But ahead of the final season, the director of one of the show's most infamous episodes - in this writer's opinion, the moment where Game of Thrones peaked - says that you're not prepared for what's about to happen in this final season.

David Nutter, who directed season three's The Rains of Castamere - better known to Game of Thrones emotional support groups as the one with the Red Wedding in it - says that season eight is packed full of similarly shocking moments, speaking to the Metro about what's on the horizon.

When asked about whether there were similar twists and turns to come, Nutter replied "the short answer is – yes!", and he's even gone into detail about the intense, hard work that's gone into filming this final season. "Battle scenes are just incredibly exhausting for all concerned," Nutter said.

"I can’t say that it’s more draining or less draining to be the director of the episode, but I will say that we’re all in the same boat, actors and director, when it comes to really bringing our 'A game' to the fore.

Having said that, they are, at the same time, sometimes tedious – because there’s so much minute detail to deal with, from both an acting and directing standpoint."

Sounds exciting, doesn't it? But ahead of the final season curtain raiser this weekend, Game of Thrones showrunner DB Weiss warned that the next six episodes won't be everybody's cup of tea. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, he said:

"We want people to love it. It matters a lot to us. We’ve spent 11 years doing this. We also know no matter what we do, even if it’s the optimal version, that a certain number of people will hate the best of all possible versions.

There is no version where everybody says, 'I have to admit, I agree with every other person on the planet that this is the perfect way to do this' — that’s an impossible reality that doesn’t exist."

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has already moved on from the show - he's already shaved off Jon Snow's classic beard:

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/kpOIvkxe-Q0L14jDU.mp4||kpOIvkxe]]

Exciting stuff, right? Well, if you were somehow not excited for the final season of Game of Thrones, I'm sure you are now. Tune in this weekend to episode one of Game of Thrones' final season, so I have somebody to talk to about all the crazy stuff that went down.