- The final season of "Game of Thrones" will premiere on April 14.
- A new teaser shows Jon Snow, Arya Stark, and Sansa Stark in the Winterfell crypts.
- This eighth season is only six episodes long, which means the finale should be on May 19 if HBO doesn't skip any Sundays.
- HBO announced the date ahead of the premiere for "True Detective" season three.
The eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones" begins April 14. After months of building anticipation among fans, HBO dropped the air date ahead of its third season premiere of "True Detective" with a new teaser video.
In the tease, which was directed by David Nutter (a "Game of Thrones" veteran director, who did the fifth season finale), Jon meets up with Arya and Sansa in the Winterfell crypts. The video is not actual season eight footage — instead it's similar to past teasers HBO has crafted, ones that address coming themes of the season. The crypt teaser begins with heavy overtures of Jon's true Targaryen parentage as he walks past Lyanna Stark's crypt.
The major source of excitement for fans will be seeing Jon and Arya reunited. The two haven't seen each other since the second episode of season one, when Jon gifted Arya her precious sword, Needle. As all three Stark kids stand in front of their own crypt statues, they turn as a frost creeps down the hallway. The signal of the White Walkers causes Jon and Arya to draw their blades, anticipating the coming fight.
Another prominent part of the teaser the the feather in front of Lyanna's crypt. This was placed there by King Robert Baratheon on the very first episode of the series. Later, on the fifth season, Sansa touched the feather when she visited her Aunt's statue.
Jon has yet to find out he's half-Targaryen and half-Stark, but that revelation will surely be a major part of his storyline on the coming season.
This final season of the long-running series will be six episodes long, as opposed to its previous standard 10 episode seasons. Despite having fewer installments, those episodes are reported to all be longer than an hour, with some possibly at "feature" length.
In a brief clip of the new seasons, released last week during the Golden Globes, HBO showed Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow arriving in Winterfell.
Read more: HBO released the new footage of the final season during the Golden Globes
They are greeted by Sansa Stark, who told Dany, "Winterfell is yours, Your Grace." This is a direct callback to the first-ever "Game of Thrones" episode, on which Ned Stark welcomed King Robert Baratheon to the castle and told him Winterfell was his.
With the season premiere coming April 14, that should place the finale episode at May 19 (if HBO doesn't skip any weeks of episodes). In the meantime, you can read INSIDER's key predictions for the final season here.
Watch the full new teaser below:
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- Read more:
- Kit Harington says shooting the final 'Game of Thrones' season was so exhausting that everyone was just 'done' with the show
- Everything we know about the final season of "Game of Thrones" so far
- An actor from the original unaired 'Game of Thrones' pilot is returning for HBO's prequel spin-off
- Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington tease trouble ahead for Daenerys and Jon's romance on 'Game of Thrones'
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