The countdown is on: In 10 days, we’ll finally get to watch the first episode of Game of Thrones season 8, which will hit HBO on April 14. And as if to remind us that one of our all-time favorite shows is coming to an end, the final season’s red carpet premiere saw cast members from every season in attendance at Radio City in New York on Wednesday.
Cast members whose characters are still making a play for the Iron Throne, like Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), were joined by actors of seasons past at the special screening of season 8’s first episode.
HBO noted in its production diary for the show how “the cast was emotional as they approached the beginning of the end after nearly a decade of Game of Thrones.” Thrones alum Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell) captured the mood best when he said in the post, “It’s like a high school reunion.” Clarke added, “[The night was] really exciting and wonderful, but also incredibly sad.”
The glitzy affair likewise proved to be an emotional one for fans who were either at the venue or watched it all unfold on Twitter as we did. As the noise bubbled on Twitter, fans made memes and celebrated with reaction GIFs.
Game of Thrones red carpet
Turner and Williams, who play the still-standing Stark sisters, tugged at fans’ heartstrings when they hugged it out on the red carpet. @sansacstark tweeted, “I’m not crying, you’re crying.”
i’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/xmZTRpS9pY
— kinsey (@ivanskulti) April 3, 2019
THIS IS TOO MUCH 😍❤️😍😍😍😍😍❤️❤️😍 #GOTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/HAKKzuijTE
— ari (@mischiefl0ki) April 3, 2019
Meanwhile, everyone couldn’t get enough of Pascal’s red carpet antics and reunion with Indira Varma, who played his paramour Ellaria Sand, and Hafthor Bjornsson, who portrays Gregor “the Mountain” Clegane who killed Pascal’s character in the Season 4 episode “The Mountain and the Viper.” Pascal and Varma treated fans to some PDA, while he mock-strangled Bjornsson and pressed at his own eyes to role-play Oberyn’s death.
https://twitter.com/lovelysophiet/status/1113577966376820738
LMAO the mountain and the viper! #GoTPremiereNYC #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/RnJclL0Zps
— ℝίτα⚡ (@JonxDanyy) April 3, 2019
THE REVENGE HE DESERVED #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/5R12m01GMJ
— emma (@lawrenstone) April 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/sanserya/status/1113564034245304320
CAN SOMEONE COLLECT THIS MAN #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/s1ilyNgjpt
— ️️ ️️ ️️ (@pedropascalss) April 3, 2019
SAME ENERGY #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/Ee87J06fH6
— ly ♡ (@alwaysfraser) April 3, 2019
Fans shipped the red carpet reunions of Game of Thrones lovers and real-life couple Harington and Rose Leslie (she played Ygritte, who died in season 4), as well as of Coster-Waldau and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), whose characters’ relationship is a fan-favorite.
https://twitter.com/ofthekingfisher/status/1113578874858815489
The royal couple finally gracing this event with their presence #GOTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/1nfzbfcDUC
— Fienchen✨ (@fienchen_b) April 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/nyxsansa/status/1113582143588974595
i’ve never “shipped” anything or anyone in my life, but good lord, if jaime & brienne don’t end up together… 💘 #braime #GoT #GoTPremiereNYC
— kristine with a “k” (@runawaykat) April 4, 2019
Love them. How do they make this beautiful woman so homely on the show? Jamie and Brienne belong together.
— Cheryl Meyers (@KatnissinJune) April 4, 2019
Fans also relished the reunion of House Lannister and House Stark, especially with their respective patriarchs.
https://twitter.com/JK_Butterfly7/status/1113642243682914307
https://twitter.com/HaruhiBlack/status/1113572055918743552
House Stark 🐺 #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/5REfCzeUKK
— game of thrones archive (@gameofthronesfr) April 3, 2019
Dearly departed Game of Thrones stars return
People were excited to see the stars who played characters that have long passed in the show, like Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo), Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Sean Bean (Ned Stark), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), and even Jack Gleeson (who brilliantly portrayed the despicable Joffrey Baratheon), return for the premiere.
I love how much Jason Momoa loves #GameOfThrones #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/UdMShqorDR
— Avery Thompson (@avery__thompson) April 3, 2019
the lion king ❤️ #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/6P3HPBUO57
— ju (@skarsgrsd) April 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/D4ZAl/status/1113565144074870784
@wondrousdiana and @mischiefl0ki definitely miss Margaery. (We feel you.)
https://twitter.com/wondrousdiana/status/1113571168198459392
I MISS YOU I LOVE YOU YOU WERE THE BEST FEMALE CHARACTER AND THE BEST QUEEN EVER 😭😍 #GOTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/BsFmXpkj92
— ari (@mischiefl0ki) April 3, 2019
@eOhmz called Ned Stark “the best man to ever sit on the Iron Throne.” (Well, he didn’t really, but it would have been awesome.)
https://twitter.com/eOhmz/status/1113588097285906432
https://twitter.com/mxrvelyoongi/status/1113571624446496771
https://twitter.com/foxyjnm/status/1113572722251059200
https://twitter.com/tomszdya/status/1113572071555002369
Seeing Kristian Nairn, the actor behind the beloved Hodor who sacrificed himself for Bran Stark (portrayed by Isaac Hempstead-Wright, also present that day) proved to be too much “too soon” for some.
H-hold the door? #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/7wlWg4fdf4
— nana 🎀 (@xxannasunx) April 3, 2019
😭😭😭😭 IT’S STILL TOO SOON 😭😭😭😭#GoTPremiereNYC #GoT pic.twitter.com/CYembiIOWG
— Binge Mode (@binge_mode) April 3, 2019
Meanwhile, Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish actor Aidan Gillen’s red carpet side-eye got people thinking “he’s already plotting something, everyone exit the building,” as @kithoerington quipped.
Littlefinger is already plotting something #GOTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/HUcNmxngec
— David Marshall ⭐⭐ (@Emikaze_) April 4, 2019
Behind-the-scenes moments
Fans captured some light-hearted moments between the stars and their dates, the photographers, and fans, like when @lawrenstone LOL-ed because she overheard photographers call Joe Jonas “Mister Turner” while being photographed with his fiancee. (Here’s video proof.)
LMAO photographers called him mister turner #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/0aAf0rzsfH
— emma (@lawrenstone) April 3, 2019
Later in the evening, someone also captured Turner “ditching” Jonas for Gleeson. (Of course, we all remember that their characters Sansa and Joffrey were supposed to get married, but that never happened.)
https://twitter.com/GameOfThrxones/status/1113639879974342656
Meanwhile, @fienchen82 noted that photographers called Clarke “Khaleesi” (to jog your memory, that’s the title of the wife of the Dothraki leader Khal, which she was at the beginning of the series).
Emilia or as the dudebro photographers called her “khaleesi!”#GOTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/0OsTcTQb5v
— Fienchen✨ (@fienchen_b) April 3, 2019
@emiliaclrvke captured Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) high-fiving fans and called it “the purest thing ever.”
https://twitter.com/emiliaclrvke/status/1113560468763947015
Game of Thrones red carpet memes
Seeing past and present stars on the season 8 premiere red carpet made it sink in for some: “It really is the end,” @deejayhlb tweeted. (It only kinda is.)
This is the moment I’m actually realizing that this is the last season by seeing actors from previous seasons on the red carpet one last time #GoTPremiereNYC pic.twitter.com/OWzuIOPFmx
— sami (@itizwhatizz) April 3, 2019
Yet some people are in denial about it being the end of the Game of Thrones original series.
Absentees, led by Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark), were not lost on the fans who were doing a mental roll call—not to mention coming up with their own theories and memes to account for the absences.
https://twitter.com/TunaMeltPanini/status/1113581402681954304
Some have theories about Headey’s absence. (On her Instagram, she said she’s missing the premiere because she’s sick.)
She isn’t sick… She isn’t there because Jerome Flynn is there. They both hate each other.
— Kimbula Bunis 🥐 (@PO5IT1VE) April 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/whodathomo/status/1113572937674530816
The most emotional moment at the red carpet premiere capped the night: cast members taking a bow together onstage.
Now take a deep breath, sit back, and hold tight. April 14 is coming.
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