While Game of Thrones won't be back on televisions until 2019 (sob), fans are still managing to get buzzed over anything related to the hit HBO fantasy series. Whether that's keeping up with Cersei, Daenerys and Jon Snow's real-life counterparts, re-watching the entire thing from season one, or delving into George RR Martin's novels, die-hard viewers are most definitely into it. I mean, some have even paid a visit to a Game of Thrones themed ice hotel in Finland this winter. But a lot can happen in two years, and eventually you finish the books, grow tired of watching re-runs and stalking the internet for any bit of information you can find about the Game of Throne actors' love lives. But, reader, don't despair for I may have found the perfect thing to keep us going in the meantime: some good old-fashioned speculation. Leaked set pictures are teasing GOT fans with a massive season 8 spoiler. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BYWVbVMguCk/?hl=en&taken-by=gameofthrones]] While the HBO saga won't be returning to our screens until 2019, filming for the last season is already underway in Northern Ireland, and eagle-eyed fans may have spotted a game-changer. The set for Winterfell, the Stark family's hunting-ground, is built on the Moneyglass Estate in County Antrim, and yesterday the entire thing was pictured up in flames, along with reports of "200 plus extras in a big battle scene". Woah. Yes, it seems as though Winterfell will burn, and maybe even perish, in season eight of Game of Thrones. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jct_c/status/957003323315511298]] As any avid "Throner" will know, Winterfell is the ancestral home of House Stark, and it's where the entire series kicked off. Season seven ended with Winterfell being ruled by Sansa Stark, the daughter of the late Lord Eddard Stark (former head of House Stark), alongside her two siblings, Arya and Bran. And in case you need a recap, Winterfell is the location where most major GOT characters (aside from Cersei and Jamie) were heading at the end of the last season. Could this then mean that we're going to be losing some of the biggest characters of the season? [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BXir7nnlEv5/?hl=en&taken-by=gameofthrones]] Fans were quick to speculate about what could cause Winterfell to burn. While it's too early to conclusively say, the people of the internet have come up with several convincing explanations. As we know that the producers of Game of Thrones used real fire while filming the sixth and seventh seasons of the series, wildfire and ice dragon flames could potentially be the cause of the purported Winterfell fire.

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...

All us Game of Thrones fans (Throners? Throneys?) are eagerly anticipating the final season of the show, with the wait being pretty unbearable this time around. It was bound to happen, with the amount of story they have to get through in the eighth season, but waiting until 2019 feels like far too long to be sat around speculating.

But speculating is what we do, and some of the most intensely-dedicated fans out there will pick up on every detail of the production in case they uncover a clue. Similarly, all of the cast and crew have to be careful with what they say at the moment. It doesn't matter if they are starring in a hot new blockbuster or a fascinating play - journalists are going to want to hear about the fantasy show they're best known for, and they have to make sure they don't give too much away.

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So far, they've all been pretty good with keeping secrets - and sometimes they may even be throwing us off the scent by telling us that there are multiple endings being filmed to avoid spoilers. The fact is, we're pretty clueless for the most part. However, to satisfy those of us who just have to find out something, there are people taking photos of the studio in which the show is filmed.

Photos have been taken of the Belfast studios where the hit HBO series is currently being shot, and they may just give us some insight into the final episodes. One photo, taken on the 20th May and shared by Irish Thrones, shows part of Daenerys' green screen dragon rig outside of Titanic Studios - where many of the King's Landing scenes are filmed.

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Over the last week, the lot has been taken up with what appears to be smashed up parts of the architecture of King's Landing. Irish Thrones reports seeing "broken pillars, ornaments and King's Landing remnants" around the studios, as well as ceiling tile props.

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This seems to imply that King's Landing will come under attack, and Daenerys and her dragon may make an appearance - possibly to reign down destruction from above.

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There have also been various stars spotted together in the area, some who are not meant to be in the fantasy series anymore. The production is in the final stages of filming at the moment, so it stood out when Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (who plays Jaime Lannister) and Sean Bean (who played Ned Stark) were seen hanging outside a hotel in the area.

We also recently saw Jason Momoa very publicly share his night out with the cast and crew on Instagram. He did insist he was only in Belfast "for kisses and hugs and the black stuff," but he could be just throwing us off.

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Apparently, these final six episodes could each be the length of a movie, so there's plenty of room for a couple of flashbacks here and there. So maybe we will be seeing Ned and Drogo return for a scene or two, before Daenerys brings the roof down.

It's only been a few weeks since the season ended, but Game of Thrones fans will no doubt already be feeling the familiar pang of loss and emptiness that follows every epic finale. Yes, we got a lot of answers this year, but we were also left with a whole bunch of new questions that we're simply itching to find out the answers to. However, with rumours that season eight might not hit our screens until 2019, it seems like we have a long winter ahead of us. Thankfully, you might not have to wait quite that long to get your next hit. This month, a 'Winterfell Festival' is happening, and it takes place at the actual location used for Stark family home. The festival takes place over an entire day, and is designed to make you feel like you're living in the Game of Thrones universe. If you're lucky enough to attend the event, you will be welcomed like a proper member of the Night's Watch, as you'll be given an exact replica of those gloriously fluffy coats that Jon and co get to wear at Castle Black. If that's not your style, you'll also have the option to don a more feminine robe - much like those sported by Catelyn and Sansa in the show. You'll also be given a sword (not a real one, calm down), and will be free to reenact battles to your heart's content. From the courtyard where Ned Stark was reunited with Robert Baratheon, to Walder Fray's castle, the location of the infamous Red Wedding) you can joust, jab, and explore to your heart's content. Next, you'll have a chance to meet direwolves! And not just any direwolves, but the direwolves. Odin and Thor, the pups who played Summer and Grey Wind on screen, will be there for you to pet and play with. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BKyWho9g4AB/]] As well as visiting the locations that were featured in Game of Thrones, you'll also get a literal taste of the action. A feast fit for a king, complete with bread, roast hog, fruits and ale, will be laid out for you in a medieval-style tent. And you'll need the energy, too, because after that you can try your hand at archery, or perhaps try a little sword sparring. For those who'd prefer a less interactive experience, however, there are plenty of attractions that you can watch. According to the event website, there will be "archery demonstrations, jesters and falcon flights", and later on: "Travellers will also be encouraged to walk down the Kingsroad to the Inn at the Crossroads where they can pull up a pew and listen to stories from A Song of Ice and Fire Series One being performed by Footsteps theatrical company, while dining on venison pie and ale." The event takes place in Northern Ireland, just outside Belfast - so you might have to take a bit of a trek to get there, but, by the sounds of it, it's totally worth the journey. There's tickets available for adults and children, as well as a special family package, so round up your clan and get going!

Guys, it's almost 2018... which means it'll only be another year and a bit until Game of Thrones is back! While the eighth and final season is sure to be epic, it will also be shorter than any season before it AND we're being made to wait much longer to see it. To keep us eager fans satisfied in the meantime, we're searching for as many little clues and details that come into the public eye every now and again to see what's to come. The latest treat I have for you is in the form of a potential return of a major house that we thought had already been wiped out. The ever-investigative folk over at (surprise, surprise) Watchers on the Wall have been keeping their eyes peeled to see if anyone interesting is being cast, and someone interesting has indeed been cast.  [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbHHxuEl73O/?hl=en&taken-by=emilia_clarke]] Someone's noticed that a young Irish actress by the name of Danielle Galligan has added Game of Thrones to her online acting profile, playing a character named "Sarra". It's been reported that this character will appear in an episode in the upcoming season eight directed by David Nutter. So who is this mysterious Sarra? Well, super-fans have referred to George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books and surely enough, they found a girl named Sarra. Just one. And she's got the surname Frey. Yes, this new character is probably one of Walder Frey's many granddaughters, one that must've survived Arya Stark's violent rampage that completely annihilated the male line of the family in the opening scene of season 7. According to details in the books, Sarra is a twin with Serra, and her father is Raymund Frey – Walder's eleventh son. She was apparently one of the Frey women presented to Robb Stark as a marriage prospect way back in the beginning of the series, something we now know he shouldn't have turned down after the gruesome consequences of the Red Wedding. It could be because Sarra is described in the books as "pimply". However, the Game of Thrones we know and love on screen has just "borrowed" a name from the books to bestow upon a minor or otherwise unimportant character before, so chances are they could just be doing that again. Galligan, who will be playing this Sarra character, posted a photo at a bar in Belfast a few weeks ago, together with two other young actresses, Alice Nokes and Emer McDaid. Walkers on the Wall reported that McDaid's online acting profile listed that she had just wrapped for season 8, but it didn't specify a role name. The caption on the photo reads "Aaaaaand that’s a wrap," and given that Belfast is the main base for cast and crew, and the home of Titanic Studios (where Game of Thrones films a lot of stuff), it's pretty much proof that the three girls were working on an episode together. The fact that they've already finished filming indicates that Sarra and the other characters probably aren't that significant, which isn't surprising given the intricate web of side-stories and subplots season seven put forth that need to be resolved, not to mention the lead-up to the Great War that's going to be a major focus on the final season. In any case, the return of a Frey heir would be a surprising reappearance on the show... Well, it would've been if I didn't just research all this.

While Game of Thrones won't be gracing our screens till 2019 (*wipes away tear*), self-confessed Throners still manage to get a buzz over anything related to the hit HBO fantasy television series. Whether that's keeping up with Cersei, Daenerys and Jon Snow's real-life counterparts, binge-watching the entire series from the very first season, or dipping into George R. R Martin's gargantuan novels, the die-hard fans are most definitely on it. However, two years is a long time, and after a while, you finish the books, grow tired of waiting for the next installment to hit bookstores, and there's only so many times that you can stalk the tabloids for news of what Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke have been up to since leaving Westeros. But don't fret, I may have found the perfect thing to keep us going in the interim: and it's a Game of Thrones themed ice hotel. Winter has well and truly arrived. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BTHe-BtgUAL/?hl=en&taken-by=gameofthrones]] For their yearly SnowVillage feature, Lapland Hotels in Finland have collaborated with HBO Nordic for a special Game of Thrones hotel carved out entirely from ice. And it has all of out GOT favourites, including a White Walker replete with glowing blue eyes, a Hall of Faces that looks like it was lifted straight out of Braavos, an all-ice Iron Throne, and of course, a Viserion-inspired ice dragon that resides in the ice bar. Just take a gander at the images... [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BcXBpLXnYCC/]] [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BdpW6EEnxzm/]] [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BdijKI4nttN/]] [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BcXCwhZnXn7/]] However, if you can't spare the holiday days, or your finances are particularly tight post Christmas, don't fret. There's also some juicy GOT gossip to tide you over for now. Kit Harrington, or Jon Snow as we prefer to know him, reportedly indulged in a bit too much booze last Friday and was kicked out of a pool bar in New York City for being "drunk and disorderly". Unfortunately for the actor, his role as The Man Who Knows Nothing, meant that the whole incident was filmed and uploaded to the internet. He purportedly got into an argument with some of the other patrons in the bar, which was in the Gramercy park neighbourhood of the city, and was seen stumbling around drunkenly, before eventually being dragged outside by the bouncers and his friends. [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlE5vzEFOYk]] One eyewitness told TMZ that while Harrington quickly left the establishment after being told leave by security staff, he returned shortly after - forcing bouncers to formally escort him outside. Now, I don't know about you, but that just sounds like a typical Friday night to me. I mean, sometimes even the rich and famous need to let off some steam. If you fancy more news about the fictional world of Westeros, however, a Game of Thrones staffer has revealed some rather peculiar details about Daenerys Targaryen's close relationship with her dragons. And boy is it creepy.