The eighth and final season of the fantasy drama television series ‘Game of Thrones’ will premiere on April 14, 2019.
Following the trend set in previous seasons, the episodes leading up to the finale largely consists of original content not found in George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series and adapts material Martin revealed to the showrunners about the his upcoming novel in the series, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.
The season was adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, which follows powerful families of kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and honest men playing a deadly game for control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and to sit atop the Iron Throne.
We were on hand at the final season premiere of Game of Thrones and caught up with some of the shows’ stars Isaac Hempstead (Bran Stark), Hannah Murray (Gilly), & Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne) to talk the series finale of the show.
The Knockturnal: Are you ready to be called Bran Stark for the rest of your life?
Isaac Hempstead: I am Bran. Hey Bran. The depressing thing is I actually do respond to that if someone shouts Bran on the street I’ll be like, “What?” I’m like, “Dammit.”
The Knockturnal: Has there even been a shoutout for Bran and not been you?
Isaac Hempstead: Strangely not yet.
The Knockturnal: You’ve grown up on this show so much and I’m sure you have so many memories and these people are your family. How much did you cry on that final day?
Isaac Hempstead: A lot. I kind of thought I wasn’t going to do it. I was like, I can hold it together. And then the waterworks came out and then everyone else started crying. And it was just a mess.
The Knockturnal: Was it an ugly cry or …?
Isaac Hempstead: It was a cry. Yeah it was proper snots, everything. It was vile.
The Knockturnal: Are we going to see your powers fully realized this season?
Isaac Hempstead: Well, I mean, Bran has these powers for a reason. There must be some reason that he’s got them so if that’s not happening in season eight then I don’t know what will.
The Knockturnal: We’ve come to love your character, Gilly. What do you admire most about her and having played her all these years?
Hannah Murray: I really admire her love for her son and her kind of strong survival instincts. That she’s just like, “I’m going to save my babies life and that’s what I’m going to do and nothing is going to get in the way of that.” And I think that she’s … There’s a real strength to her. The way she embodies motherhood, I feel.
The Knockturnal: I heard that you were going to be the Queen in the end and rule over Westeros and the whole world. So as your first act of Queen what will you be installing into the country?
Hannah Murray: Oh I think Gilly would be big on, she loves books now. So lots of libraries. A whole bunch of libraries, yeah. Which are important.
The Knockturnal: I mean, this has been such a whirlwind journey for you guys.
Daniel Portman: Yeah. It’s been crazy. And it’s sort of typical to finish it in crazy style, you know? But yeah, it’s been amazing.
The Knockturnal: Are we going to see him kick some butt this season?
Daniel Portman: Maybe you will. Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t. But you know he’s had a few lessons by now so you got to hope that some of that has maybe sunk in.
The Knockturnal: What’s one of your fondest memories from being on set this final season. Was it crying every episode or did you have one of those crying behind the scenes?
Daniel Portman: I mean, I certainly shed a few tears when it all finished. But I think, me personally, and I think a lot of people, you bottled it during the series. When you were working you couldn’t really let your emotions get the better of you because you still had a job to do. And you never want it to be indulgent. You don’t want it to be about how much it means to you because you still have to give it to the fans who are watching the show, so.
The Knockturnal: What are you going to miss most about playing Podrick and why do you think people love him so much?
Daniel Portman: I think in a world full of very dark characters with dark intentions he’s one of the very few selfless, honest, honorable people and I think that really connects with people and the show because Westeros is such a dangerous place.