Only one season is left of Game of Thrones, and the final batch of episodes almost certainly has a lot to pack into not a whole lot of time. HBO hasn't released much footage of what's in store for Season 8, but A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin recently released an image that could have fans everywhere hoping for giant ice spiders to appear on the show. Take a look!
Well, George R.R. Martin may not have finished Winds of Winter yet, but at least he has time to give a sneak peek of something that's in the works for his A Song of Ice and Fire saga! The calendar cover art that Martin posted on Twitter is clearly marked as something inspired by the ASoIaF book series rather than something that is 100% going to appear on the show. That said, the art is impressive and daunting enough that giant ice spiders such as this should definitely turn up.
If the spiders do appear in the show, it's not like they would be turning up as something never mentioned before. Way back in the beginning of the series, Old Nan was telling scary stories to Bran as he recovered from his terrible fall at Winterfell. After Old Nan began describing the Long Night, Bran seemed to regret requesting scary stories, and he didn't look thrilled when she began to talk about the arrival of the White Walkers.
In case you forgot Old Nan's chilling words, here's what she had to say about the arrival of the White Walkers and their steeds:
They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.
If the White Walkers are planning a Long Night 2.0 now that they've breached the Wall (thanks to undead Viserion and the Night King), wouldn't it make sense for them to ride ice spiders down from the North yet again? Sure, they haven't appeared when the White Walkers and their army of dead wights have marched so far in the show, but they also haven't "swept through cities and kingdoms" yet.
Hopefully Dany with her dragons, the Northerners, and those who rode from the south to join the battle will be able to stop the White Walkers from devastating the Seven Kingdoms as they did the first time around, and it would be awfully exciting to see some giant ice spiders before the end. Surely Game of Thrones has some new monsters that haven't appeared yet to raise the stakes in the final season!
If the ice spiders do appear and look anything like the ice spider that appears on the calendar cover shared by George R.R. Martin, the odds are pretty good that the gigantic battle that may or may not destroy an iconic location will be terrifying. Unfortunately, we won't know for a while. Game of Thrones Season 8 doesn't premiere until some point in April 2019.
Many of the fall TV shows are on winter hiatus at the moment, but there are plenty of series on our midseason TV premiere schedule to keep you occupied while you wait.
