Final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ promises to be phenomenal

The eighth and final season of the award-winning Game of Thrones starts on Monday at 3am on M-Net (channel 101).

Every battle, betrayal, alliance and risk, every fight, sacrifice and death have all been for the throne. The epic worldwide phenomenon Game of Thrones has indeed culminated in a breathtaking conclusion.

Cast members Maisie Williams, who plays the role of Arya Stark, and Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, sat down with members of the media in London recently to give their thoughts about the final series.

Game of Thrones. Picture: HBO

What has it been like saying goodbye to the show that has made your careers?

Turner: There were multiple dinners with the friends we’ve made over the last season.

Williams: The dinners are still happening.

Turner: It’s still happening and when we’re at the premiere again, there will be plenty more. You cannot just do one dinner and one party to end it. It’s a long process for us to wean ourselves off Game of Thrones.

Williams: It’s actually just been really lovely. For Sophie and I, it was our first gig, really exciting but the established actors have always, always been really lovely. It will be interesting to see how we stay in touch.

Turner: I think we will though. No doubt in my mind. Especially the people who started out together: you [Williams], Kit, Alfie, Emilia. All of us will definitely stay in touch forever.

Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. Picture: HBO

When you got the scripts for the final season, did they come in some sort of self-destructing box?

Turner: It was a self-destructing app. It all goes away after 24 hours, or something like that. Williams: I’d only got to episode three and then I couldn’t see them anymore. I’m emailing Sophie going, “help me!”, do you remember after Christmas when we were on the Christmas break, they all deleted, then I was trying to do work over Christmas and …

Turner: … you couldn’t. All the secrecy is something you have to come to terms with.

Williams: We’re usually pretty good. There have been some photos that we’ve posted that are a little spoilery but it’s not terrible things. It’s not like an episode being leaked out. But the more things get leaked, it makes us more nervous for sure.

Turner: I remember having a little braid in my hair and the hair and makeup team would be like, “you cannot leave with that braid in your hair. We have to take it out.” Because people will read into it and find some spoilers with just a braid. It’s crazy.

Williams: The fans, they just are so hungry for the show. They’ve been waiting so long.

Maisie Williams as Arya Stark in Game of Thrones. Picture: HBO

When you look back on the series, how has it changed?

Turner: The scene that changed how I saw the show was episode nine of the first season – Ned’s death and it was just like, “it’s not going to be that kind of show. It’s going to be this kind of show.” For my character, the scene where she kills Ramsay was like, “that’s Sansa”.

Williams: I just think in these final seasons, all of the women have started to really come into their own. One, that’s been not very predictable. Two, it just makes a lot of sense.

When you read into the show and you read into their storylines and how people have been playing the game, the five women on top have really deserved to be there. That was something that we’d hoped for but the fact that the show’s really going that way is just so powerful, unlike lots of other shows.

Game of Thrones. Picture: HBO

What was your wrap day like, when you finished altogether?

Williams: I just said a few things about how the industry has been really difficult, but coming back to the show has always been worth it and that everyone was like a family to us. Everyone was pretty emotional by that point, having watched everyone wrap. That was like, “I’m going to keep it brief. You’ve heard a lot.”

Turner: My final scene was after a long stretch – we were shooting this scene in Spain. Everyone else could have an ice vest except for me because my costume is so tight. I was just begging for them to call wrap.

Then they called it and they made this speech and I just burst into tears and I was like inconsolable for hours and hours and hours after. I was just a wreck.

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