This Detail In The New 'GOT' Season 8 Trailer Gives Fans A Major Clue About Bran

Game of Thrones finally announced a release date for the final six episodes of the series, giving fans plenty of time to start planning their lives to accommodate appointment television every Sunday from April 14 - May 19. Sadly, the teaser relaying the date had no actual footage from the upcoming show. Instead, it imitated Season 7's "Long Walk" promo, but this time with Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, and Arya Stark walking through darkened passages in the crypt of Winterfell. But fans were confused. Where's Bran in the Game Of Thrones Season 8 trailer? In a Stark heavy-trailer, shouldn't the only trueborn son of the family be included?

There are several arguments for leaving Bran out. The most obvious one is this trailer echoes the Season 7 trailer, which featured Jon Snow and two female characters (Daenerys and Cersei) walking through underground passages while significant snippets of dialogue play. Jon, Arya, and Sansa are the obvious counter-set for Season 8. Adding in Bran would have thrown it off balance.

Moreover, Bran doesn't have a counterpart in the last generation the way Jon, Sansa, and Arya do. As the trailer suggested, Jon is to Ned as Sansa is to Cat as Arya is to Lyanna. Ned did have an older brother, but the show hasn't emphasized this. One again, Bran is the odd-character out.

But the real reason Bran probably isn't in the trailer is he's no longer a Stark. He said as much upon his arrival back home last season. Arya and Sansa still call him Bran, for lack of a better name, and Jon will probably do the same. But Bran insists the person he once was has been wiped away. The person residing in his body is the Three-Eyed Raven, able to see through time and space.

While fans of the series still haven't had a lot of the mythos around the Three-Eyed Raven defined, one thing is clear: As a greenseer, he lives a very long time, with a lifespan numbering in the hundreds of years.

The apex of this debut date trailer comes when Jon, Sansa, and Arya confront their own statues under the Crypts of Winterfell, to be carved upon their passing. Sansa and Arya stand in front of statues reflecting the way they look now, Jon's looks decades older.

There is no statue of Bran.

Like the lack of a counterpart in the last generation, there's no place for Bran in this generation either. Whatever his fate is, it won't end with him buried in the crypt of Winterfell.

While it's easy to jump to the conclusion this is proof of the theory "Bran is the Night King," in truth, it's actually a clue Bran is not part of the Great Evil the Stark family faces. After all, despite some dire predictions, most assume the Night King will fall by season's end. If this theory were correct, then Bran would die too. Bran's absence from the crypt suggests, whatever happens at the end of the series, Bran will survive.

Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres on April 14, 2019.