The trailer for Game of Thrones' series finale has arrived, showing the first footage from the last episode of season 8. For the last several years, HBO has dominated the small screen thanks to achieving near maximum popularity with Game of Thrones. Based on the book series from George R.R. Martin, the show has already passed the source material, giving series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss freedom to do with the story and the characters as they please.
This has put immense pressure on Game of Thrones to continue the story, but also to end it properly now in the six-episode eighth season. The penultimate episode of not just the season, but of the entire series aired tonight on HBO and saw Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) successfully overtake King's Landing. She did this in a much more forceful way than originally planned, leaving plenty of ashes and casualties in what she believes is her new kingdom. This sets up the series finale to see how the world and remaining characters respond to her actions.
Now, HBO has released the trailer for the final episode of Game of Thrones, which has not yet seen its title be revealed. The trailer is rather brief, but it does show the monumental moment of Daenerys making her way into King's Landing so she can sit on the Iron Throne as she has long wanted.
After episode five completely took place in King’s Landing, all of the footage that comes from the final episode in this trailer sticks with this setting. Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is shown walking through the destruction left by Daenerys, while Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) angrily looks towards what remains of her army. The big and final shot is of Daenerys walking into what’s left of King’s Landing. Even though these are just a few scenes from the extended finale, there's no hint of Winterfell factoring into the story.
While this last episode and trailer puts Daenerys in great position to sit on the Iron Throne, the finale of Game of Thrones could pack a few more surprises, just as the show has been known to do. Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) retreated from the battle and clearly didn’t agree with this power move by the would-be queen, and the group of supporters who want to see him rule - even when they don’t know he too is actually a Targaryen - could be larger now that they’ve seen what Daenerys has done. Daenerys looks well on her way to becoming Queen of the Seven Kingdoms based on these snippets of footage from the finale, but we'll have to wait and see if that pans out, and how Game of Thrones ends altogether.
