Game of Thrones has been off the air for more than a year now, and there are still months of waiting ahead before any new episodes hit the airwaves. Naturally, many fans have gotten antsy about what's coming, and some have turned to spoilers to fuel their speculation. A fair amount of information has leaked, and some gigantic plot twists have seemingly been revealed thanks to spoiler reports. Now, one Game of Thrones star has given reason for us to rethink what we've gathered about Season 8 so far.
Richard Dormer, who plays Beric Dondarrion on Game of Thrones, recently had this to say when asked his thoughts on spoilers getting out:
I suppose it's good for the show because it gets people talking. And sometimes I suppose they even leak stuff on purpose, I don't know. It's all good for the show, it's great. But we find it kind of annoying because we want fans to see it on screen and go, 'Oh my god, I can't believe it.'
Now, on the one hand, Richard Dormer's comments to Sky News don't actually give any details away about what to expect in Season 8 of Game of Thrones, and he's certainly not wrong that spoilers get folks talking. Whether it's the dawn of a huge battle or the introduction of a legendary character, something spoiled can fuel a frustrated fandom. On the other hand, his words about Game of Thrones leaking "stuff on purpose" are more interesting.
Richard Dormer was hardly definitive when mentioning the deliberate leaking of spoilers, but he's not the first person in the know to comment on Game of Thrones going the extra mile to prevent real leaks from giving away the... well, game. HBO president Casey Bloys stated back in 2017 that Game of Thrones was going to shoot multiple endings so that nobody would really know until the very last moment how it was going to end.
Admittedly, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, disputed that claim shortly after Casey Bloys teased the multiple endings, arguing that HBO was not going to waste a ton of money just to preserve a twist. That said, he hadn't read the finale script at that point, so he may not have known the plans Bloys and Co. had in place. Game of Thrones has undoubtedly generated a lot of money for HBO; perhaps pouring some of that into the finale to preserve secrets is an investment Bloys would be willing to make.
It's no secret that Game of Thrones amped up the measures to prevent spoilers during the filming for the last couple of seasons. Sophie Turner revealed that the show used something that could take down drones flying over the sets, and Liam Cunningham has stated that he couldn't walk out with his scripts or even open them. As if script security didn't already seem intense after Season 7!
Of course, some spoilers can't be avoided. When the show is doing something huge like burning a landmark or staging an epic battle, there are too many variables for every secret to be preserved. That said, given that HBO suffered the leaks of two Thrones episodes while Season 7 was airing, I'm not exactly shocked that extra measures may or may not be taken to keep final cuts secret for as long as possible.
The big question now is if and how much of the material we think we know about Season 8 may not be entirely accurate. Unfortunately, we have a while to wait before we know for sure. The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones doesn't premiere until April 2019, and we don't have much more than (an admittedly awesome) Dragonstone teaser. If you're in the market for some shows to watch while we wait for more Thrones, check out our midseason TV premiere guide.
