It's April Fools' Day but this is no joke: Game of Thrones has already shared footage of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) together in the final Season 8. HBO has revealed two official TV spots, where much of the footage is recycled from the official trailer, but there are definitely some new shots, including a most important look at the Stark siblings reuniting.
The video starts with Jon finally returning to Winterfell, and Arya standing behind him:
Is this their initial reunion -- as in, when he turns around, is this how Jon and Arya will see each other for the first time since Season 1? Or is that a shot from later on, after the initial long-awaited reunion?
Jon and Arya haven't seen each other since he left for The Wall in Game of Thrones Season 1. Before leaving, he gave her the sword she decided to call Needle:
Fans have been looking forward to a Jon and Arya reunion ever since, but it may not go down the way we hope. So much has changed for both characters since Season 1. Especially Arya. She is no longer the clever but harmless little devil she was back at Winterfell, when she was still a child. Now she has killed -- how many people is it now? She took out the Freys, at the very least, and was most recently responsible for dispatching Littlefinger.
Maisie Williams has already said that Arya and Sansa -- who clashed a bit in their reunion last year -- will team up in Season 8 and call out Jon. It sounds like the sisters may not be happy, at least initially, that Jon has bent the knee to Daenerys Targaryen.
(Speaking of Jon and Dany, there's plenty of footage of the lovebirds in these new promos. Watchers on the Wall was even speculating that we might've seen a hint of Jon riding Rhaegal, one of Dany's dragons. I did not see that, but it's possible.)
Maisie Williams also told EW there are so many similarities between Season 1 and Season 8 that she went back to watch the first season after reading the scripts for the final one. Do you think she was thinking in part of her reunion with Jon at the time? That big hug goodbye?
Maisie Williams talked about the tug-of-war Arya is going to feel this year, between wanting to be with her family and continuing the path of vengeance she's been on since the end of Season 1:
I wanted Arya to go full circle and try for some kind of normalcy like when she was younger. Basically this year it’s like she has a dual personality — there are so many emotions and memories that come flooding back when you’re with your family and the things that you fight for become very different, yet she’s also remaining on this path to try and kill Cersei and remembering her list and getting closer to that. So there’s this split with Arya between trying to be who she wants to be — getting back to the naïveté and innocence with her family — and unfinished business.
Ah yes, Arya's list is not complete. Will she even want to finish it by the end? Will someone else beat her to Cersei Lannister? There's a lot we do know about Game of Thrones Season 8 at this point, but plenty of questions that will only be answered after the final six episodes air. Cross your fingers that no major loose ends are left dangling, because it's not likely they'd be answered in the prequels.
HBO has yet to post the new promos on the official Game of Thrones channel, but there are plenty of other new behind-the-scenes videos to check out as we wait for the final season to begin. Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
