Game Of Thrones Season 8 - Episode 1 TOP
"Winterfell" is the first episode of the eighth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones. The 68th episode of the series overall, it was written by Dave Hill and directed by David Nutter.[1] It first aired on HBO on April 14, 2019.
Game of Thrones Season 8 - Episode 1
The episode saw the introduction of Marc Rissmann as Harry Strickland, the commander of the Golden Company. On preparing for his role in the season, Rissmann said, "I did some research into who this person was, where he comes from, and the books are quite precise. And then you see in the scripts what is there, what are the similarities, what are the differences. So I did a bit of research on that, especially since this world was so properly thought through. It's a functioning world, and that's why it's actually so appealing."[4]
The episode was directed by David Nutter who had previously directed two episodes each in the second, third and fifth season.[7][8] The outdoor Winterfell scenes were filmed at sets in Moneyglass and Magheramorne in Northern Ireland, with indoor scenes filmed at Paint Hall studios in Belfast.[9]
The episode received largely positive reviews from critics, and is the best reviewed episode of the season. It has a 92% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 109 reviews with an average score of 7.72 out of 10. The site's consensus reads, "Though surprisingly bloodless, hard-fought reunions, bone-chilling surprises, and a welcome dose of humor help "Winterfell" set the stage for what should be an epic final season."[11]
Overall this hour set the table for the rest of the season while also having a few major moments. Like two others this season, the episode directed by the great David Nutter, who shot it in an epic and compelling way yet managed to rarely draw attention to itself. So many dramatic hooks put in place for the rest of the season. More thoughts about the episode in the podcast coming Monday.
Daenerys and Jorah visit Sam in the Winterfell library, to thank him for curing Jorah last season. Their talk comes around to the subject of Sam's father and brother, the late Randyll and Dickon Tarly, whom you'll recall Daenerys, not for nothing, flash-fried in dragon breath last season. She comes out and tells Sam what she did without wasting any time (because six episodes and counting, guys let's go let's go let's go), and Sam reacts. And reacts and reacts and reacts. John Bradley, stealth MVP of Game of Thrones, strikes again: He's got a lot to play in this scene; you can watch his baseline comic mien giving way to waves of successive emotions, as shock and anger and sorrow play across his features.
Of the six final episodes, the season eight premiere (which debuts on April 14) will be the shortest, clocking in at 54 minutes, while the second episode (which airs on April 21) will be 58 minutes. Episode three will be 82 minutes, episode four will jump to 78 minutes and the final two episodes both check in at a whopping 80 minutes each, making the average length of an episode this season the longest yet for the series.
The upcoming HBO schedule seems to reveal the official runtime for all six episodes in Game of Thrones Season 8, which premieres April 14 and will bring the epic fantasy series to a conclusion. Running a whopping six hours and fifty minutes, the final season of Game of Thrones is overstuffed enough to fill seven episodes.
After fan site Winter Is Coming noticed HBO has already posted two Game of Thrones Season 8 episodes to its programming schedule, a commenter pointed out that simply modifying the URL uncovered listings for future episodes as well. That means we now have HBO's official runtime descriptions for all six episodes. Here's how long each episode of Game of Thrones ' final season will run:
All together, the episodes total 410 minutes, or six hours and 50 minutes. That's shorter than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but still epic in scope, especially considering the final season of Game of Thrones is only the end of the A Song of Ice and Fire saga. Considering the two shortest episodes of Game of Thrones were each 50 minutes long, this means that Season 8 technically contains seven episodes worth of material. 041b061a72