There are still so many questions
Can you believe that there are still some people that haven’t seen the recent Game of Thrones episode? Actually, we don’t believe that. We’re just programmed to put a spoiler alert warning at the start of every Game of Thrones article.
Now that the Battle of Winterfell is over, it appears that the focus of the remaining three episodes will be firmly on the war for the Iron Throne as Cersei Lannister faces the combined threat of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.
Granted, that alliance is currently on shaky ground after Dany discovered that 1) Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne, 2) he’s her biological nephew, but it seems that after the recent war against the dead in The North, the attention will now shift to King’s Landing.
However, as soon as Arya Stark delivered the fatal blow to the Night King in the Winterfell Godswood, fans of the show had questions.
For example, after waiting thousands of years, why did the Night King only begin to attack recently? Was there any significance to the Night King’s slight ‘turn of head’ when he saw Bran in the Godswood? What’s the deal with Craster’s baby? That scene in The Lands of Always Winter seemed very significant, but hasn’t been elaborated upon yet.
Are the White Walkers actually gone forever, or is there a possibility that they can still have some sort of ‘presence’ in the show? Again, we’re very aware that they all shattered into shards of ice, but there are still so many theories out there which argue that they’ll return.
Of course, it’s possible to make a theory about anything but given the build-up we had about the White Walkers, their apparent ending felt slightly abrupt.
Two men that have the answers are the Game of Thrones showrunners, David Benioff and D.B Weiss.
In the last few seasons, the show has overtaken the books and moved so far away from the original source material that they’re practically incomparable, but the duo did make an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live to discuss Season 8.
Truth be told, with just three episodes left, any plans to reintroduce the White Walkers might seem incredibly rushed but it’s telling that David Benioff remained very coy when Kimmel asked him: “Are we for sure done with the White Walkers?”.
Benioff gave the chatshow host a stone cold reply: “Yeah, we’re not going to answer that.”
In terms of other plot points, D.B Weiss said it’s ‘possible’ that Bran knew that Arya was going to kill the Night King and that someone will take the Iron Throne from Cersei.
While neither of the three answers are what you would call definitive, after watching the recent episode, you would think the issue of the White Walkers’ future is a firmly shut scenario. However, Benioff’s refusal to even touch the question might offer us some hope that there’s still another twist to the story of the White Walkers.
We shall wait and see.
The fourth episode in Season 8 of Game of Thrones airs at 02:00 and 21:00 on Sky Atlantic this Monday. You can also view it on Now TV.
Here’s their chat in full.
