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Game of Thrones Season 8 will premiere on April 14, 2019. HBO finally announced the launch date of the show’s final season last night in an eerie teaser trailer that took us into the Crypts of Winterfell. We watch as Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) meet in their family crypts, haunted by the memories of their parent and eventually threatened by the icy grip of the Night King’s army.
However, this teaser is not actual footage from the new season, but an atmospheric taste of what may be to still to come. We know from Entertainment Weekly that Season 8, Episode 3 is set to be a massive battle episode fixed on Winterfell, and that the show built brand new sets for these sequences. We know that the new season will pit the Starks against the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead, and we know that Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) are aware of Jon’s true heritage. He is in fact Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark’s true born son and heir.
This latest Game of Thrones teaser plays with Jon’s parentage, the Stark family’s legacy, and the upcoming battle at Winterfell…but does it actually tell us anything about the new season? Here’s our Game of Thrones Season 8 Crypts of Winterfell teaser breakdown.
Will the Battle of Winterfell be the Starks' Final Stand?
Earlier this month, we conjectured that a major part of the Battle of Winterfell might take place in the fabled Stark family crypts. This teaser seems to confirm that theory if only because we see the Stark siblings joining forces to face down both their past and their future in that creepy place.
But this teaser is about more than just the battle to come; it’s about the Stark family legacy. We see Jon and Sansa walking past the graves of Lyanna, Catelyn, and Ned Stark, and we hear those characters speaking from beyond the grave. Then, the three “remaining” Starks confront images of their own tombs. The implication is all three may be facing their doom.
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The Battle of Winterfell may indeed be the Stark clan’s last stand, but that also doesn’t mean there isn’t hope. The teaser ends with Jon, Sansa, and Arya united against their unseen foes. As we’ve often heard on Game of Thrones, the lone wolf dies while the pack survives. So long as Jon keeps his ties to the Starks, the group of them stand a better chance at surviving the fight ahead.
What's the Deal with that Feather?
What indeed is the deal with that feather?
The first time we saw this feather was in the very first episode of Game of Thrones. King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) insists upon visiting the tomb of Lyanna Stark, where he leaves this single feather in homage. That’s all we know about the feather, but it represents Lyanna and therefore Jon’s true parentage.
The feather blows out of Lyanna’s hand as Jon walks by his mother’s tomb in the teaser and eventually turns to ice as the Army of the Dead approaches. Could this foreshadow our own awful theory that the dead Starks in the Winterfell crypts will rise up? Maybe…or maybe it’s just some atmospheric freakiness from the part of HBO’s hype team.
Where's Bran Stark???
While this latest Game of Thrones Season 8 teaser gives us the remaining Stark siblings showing off a united front, one surviving Stark sibling is notably missing. Bran Stark is nowhere to be seen in the teaser. What’s up with that?
Well, the most clean and obvious explanation could be, as Kim Renfro pointed out, that now that Bran is the “Three-Eyed Raven,” he’s no longer really Bran Stark. He exists as an eternal seer living out all the ages at the same time.
Of course, Bran could also be the Night King. But that’s just a bonkers theory…right?
