Source: David M. Benett / Getty
After Game of Thrones fans waited years for the season 8 premiere, it’s no surprise that it shattered records with 17.4 million viewers tuning in last weekend. The intense episode had social media on fire (see our recap here) and nearly a week later, everyone’s still talking about what went down and what’s to come.
To really get us going, HBO has released photos from the second episode that are sure to spark your interest and get conspiracy theorists theorizing. Additionally, Game of Thrones writer Dave Hill talked to the NY Post about what it was like to pen the season 8 premiere under such extreme pressure.
“There’s always a lot of pressure writing GoT — not because of the fandom, but because your words have to pass muster with David Benioff and DB Weiss, genius writers at the top of their game. To deal with that … mostly I drank,” he quipped.
Referring to the scene where Sam Tarly informs Jon Snow of his true heritage, Hill said “This scene was trickier than many because Sam is conveying information that we the audience already know, and that Jon has to hear pretty much in its entirety to get the full effect — no elision can be had, we can’t cut out of it as Sam starts to tell Jon. We’ve set it up for seasons now and we have to watch it play out in real-time.”
“But it’s tough to balance so much necessary exposition and rehashing (for the audience) with the emotional charge that makes the moment actually land with the audience,” he continued. “Luckily for me, John Bradley and Kit Harington could perform the words of a phonebook, and David Nutter would win an Emmy for directing it.”
As for getting the tone of Sam and Jon’s conversation just write, Hill explains… “The trick is getting at all this without feeling like you’re plowing through a laundry list, and without it getting comical. Though I’d love the Monty Python version of this, too. We’ve been writing these characters and show for years so we’re all well attuned to their voices and the show’s tone. I do remember that the gag of Sam tripping in the dark came in the second or third draft, because it was such a heavy scene that a little comedy at the top felt nice.”
We still aren’t totally sure if Jon realized he’s in love with his aunt. But, without further ado, those mysterious photos we told you about earlier are on the flip.
