Brace yourself, ‘Game of Thrones’ fans, the end is near. HBO announced that the upcoming — and last — season of the drama series will begin in April 2019 and released a highly anticipated teaser.
A clip announcing the return of the hit series, which first aired in 2011, features the tagline: “For The Throne.”
While few details are revealed, the video shows key moments from past series and lets fans know when they can expect to see the much anticipated final season.
HBO previously announced that season eight will premiere in the “first half” of 2019, with fans of the fantasy series narrowing down the release date to two possible selections, one of which landed on 28 April which is increasingly looking like the return date.
Following the confirmation, fans can officially begin the countdown to the final eight episodes of the cable network’s biggest ever show.
Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage will reprise their roles as Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister, while Lena Headey will return to face them as the key antagonist, Cersei Lannister.
In the short trailer, with footage from previous seasons, fans get a recap of the costly battles that preceded the coming showdown for control of the fictional kingdom of Westeros.
Game of Thrones, which has won multiple Emmy awards, is HBO’s biggest hit with some 30 million viewers in the U S and an army of devoted fans worldwide.
Several spinoffs of the series are in the works. HBO said in June that it had given a pilot order to a prequel that will take place thousands of years before the events of the current series, Reuters reports.
