If you thought HBO’s Game of Thrones would coast through its remaining episodes after the defeat of The Night King, the latest episode trailer reminds audiences that there’s still another war to be fought, and the Iron Throne won’t be easily won.
HBO released a preview of the eighth and final season’s penultimate episode, which kicks off the final conflict between the forces of Daenerys Targaryen and Cersei Lannister as the former hopes to unseat the latter from the Iron Throne. After taking heavy losses in their battle against The Night King in the season’s third episode, Daenerys’ forces suffered another key casualty as they moved into position during the most recent episode.
In the trailer, Cersei is seen overlooking the city where she has barricaded herself — surrounded by a human shield of thousands of civilians — preparing for Daenerys’ inevitable assault. Meanwhile, Jon Snow and the rest of Daenerys’ army are shown to have finally arrived, ready for one final war.
After attempting to broker peace in the prior episode, Tyrion Lannister also makes an appearance in the trailer, as well as Euron Greyjoy, who looks to the sky in anticipation of an attack by Daenerys’ lone, remaining dragon.
With only two episodes to go in the award-winning, record-breaking series, the stage is set for what might be the show’s bloodiest, most brutal battle so far.
The premiere of Game of Thrones‘ eighth and final season on April 14 was one of the network’s most-watched episodes of any series ever — both legally and illegally, according to reports on how much the episode was pirated online. That popularity has continued with each episode, and the third episode — the Battle of Winterfell — attracted one of the largest audiences of any episode of the series so far.
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Although the show’s series finale will air in just a few weeks, that won’t be the end of the saga inspired by author George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels. A Game of Thrones prequel series is currently in the works with Kingsman: The Secret Service and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children screenwriter Jane Goldman attached as head writer and showrunner, with Martin himself also involved. The still-untitled series will be set thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones and feature two-time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts in a lead role.
Episode 5 of Game of Thrones season 8 will air 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Sunday, May 12, on HBO.
