Entertainment

Hold The Phones, George Lucas Helped Direct The 'GOT' Season 8 Premiere

by Ani Bundel
HBO

With the final two seasons of Game of Thrones far shorter than the first six, HBO has been looking for ways to extend the seasons to keep bringing in viewers. Last season, it introduced "The game Revealed" a series of 15-20 minute behind-the-scenes looks at the making of each episode, which began airing once a week after the finale. This year, the series continues, but instead of waiting until after it ends, HBO is releasing them to YouTube right after the episode airs. In the first installment, fans learn George Lucas helped direct Game Of Thrones' premiere episode, along with a few other tidbits.

There were rumors of Lucas' set visit during filming last year. They came not long after it was announced Benioff and Weiss had been hired by Lucasfilm to create and direct a whole new Star Wars trilogy in the 2020s. Benioff and Weiss have been pretty open about cross the streams between their upcoming trilogy and the end of GoT, even admitting they picked up a few tips for keeping spoilers under wraps from their new employers which were applied to Season 8.

But it's one thing to assume that yes, Lucas visited one of the most locked down sets in HBO history. It's quite another to actually see Lucas head down to Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke and give them some direction advice for the scene they're working on.

All joking aside about whether or not Harington and Clarke actually took his notes or not, hearing Lucas say no one cares about Jon Snow is genuinely hilarious. It's also more accurate than Lucas might realize. As the straight man hero of the tale, Snow's role is, on the whole, a lot less interesting than the characters he's surrounded by. His Stark siblings, for example, have had far more dramatic journeys. (Though to be fair, none of them wound up resurrected on a table in Castle Black.)

There's also more risk Sansa, Arya, or Bran will be sacrificed this season, causing fans to be far more concerned about their fates than Snow's, who's already been there, done that, and got the "R'hllor Saved Me" tee on under his armor to prove it.

But that's not the only segment in the "Game Revealed" series, which also does a deep dive on Maisie Williams and Kit Harington's reunion as Arya and Jon, as well as the big moment, where Sam tells Jon the truth about his heritage. That moment is also explored in the "Inside the Episode" clip, a series the show has been doing since the very first season.

Though hearing the directors talk about it is interesting, both John Bradley (Sam) and Kit Harington (Jon) have interesting takes on it as well. The directors focused on Jon since the audience already knows this information, it's how Jon takes it that matters now. Meanwhile, for Harington, it's about the immediate denial and anger at what he's been told, and how to play that believably in the moment.

Both the "Game Revealed" and Game of Thrones' "Inside The Episode" segments will continue over the rest of the season.