The epic saga that has been Game of Thrones will wrap up in the not-too-distant future. The eighth and final season premieres in April, and while that will mean fans finally getting new episodes for the first time in more than a year, it will also mean the beginning of the end. Only six episodes will make up Season 8, making it the shortest season of them all. Fortunately, HBO has a treat for fans who may need help coming down from the high of the finale: a Thrones documentary.
Airing one week after the series finale, a documentary by the name of Game of Thrones: The Last Watch will chronicle the creation of the last and most complex season of the show. Honestly, if at some point somebody doesn't say "And now your watch has ended" to viewers, what would be the point of it existing at all?
In all seriousness, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch could be just the thing for fans going into withdrawal the week after the final episode airs. The documentary will run for two hours, and it will delve deeply "into the mud and blood to reveal the tears and triumphs involved in the challenge of bringing the fantasy world of Westeros to life," according to HBO.
The documentary will feature footage from the studios as well as outdoor sets and fields. Apparently, parking lots from Northern Ireland will be involved as well. We may have to wait for the documentary to debut to get the answer on how exactly parking lots are relevant to Game of Thrones, unless the saga comes to an end much like Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Unlikely as that is, it wouldn't be a first from Game of Thrones!
British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay was given unprecedented access to Game of Thrones for a year while the final season was in production, and her finished product will show the cast and crew tackling incredible challenges, including "extreme weather." Based on what we know of the filming of Season 8's epic battle sequence, some of the extreme weather footage probably has to do with fighting outside of Winterfell.
The Game of Thrones team was also dealing with challenges like deadlines and a fandom desperate for spoilers. If this results in a shot of the drone killer described by Sophie Turner, I will happily sit through two hours no matter how entertaining it is or is not!
All things considered, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch will show the highs and lows of creating the show and then the need to say goodbye to it. For fans bummed that the Game of Thrones reunion special that was confirmed back in 2018 won't actually air on HBO, news of the Season 8 documentary must be welcome.
Game of Thrones: The Last Watch will debut Sunday, May 26 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Running for two hours will rank it as the network's longest Thrones broadcast, although the run times for the final six episodes indicate that viewers are in for some super-sized installments.
If you need a refresher on what to expect from the next batch of episodes, check out our breakdown of what we know so far about Game of Thrones Season 8, which premieres on Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
