*If you wish to continue reading from this point forward, be warned that this review contains spoilers.

For those of you who have stood by idly waiting for the agonizing 596 days, the wait is finally over. Yesterday, March 5, 2019, HBO released a full-length, two-minute trailer for the upcoming eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. It hit #1 on trending on both Youtube and Twitter within the first 15 minutes of its release. It gained eight million views within the first five hours of its upload.

From beginning to end, the audience is able to start to piece together and theorize what is about to happen in the six upcoming episodes. It starts off with a tattered and traumatized Arya Stark running through the corridors of a darkened castle; it is unknown who is trying to attack her during her escape. She opens the trailer with the lines “I know death. He’s got many faces. I look forward to seeing this one”.

To our delight, Tormund, Beric Dondarrion, and the Hound remain alive even after the catastrophe with the Night King and dead Viserion at Eastwatch, though many fans claim that they are being held captive somewhere.  

Euron Greyjoy has also successfully led the Golden Company across the Narrow Sea from Braavos into the hands of Cersei.

The trailer quickly picks up speed and shows the remaining characters in small scenes. Varys appears for a short time in a crowded room in an undisclosed location, Daenerys and Jon are seen taking the Targaryen army to Winterfell, and dragons fly freely over the walls of the castle. From what is displayed in the shortly-cut scenes, most of the main characters now reside in Winterfell — all except for Cersei as she resides safely within the walls of the Red Keep.

Toward the end, the army lines up for the ultimate showdown in the battle scene that is set to break the record for the longest battle scene in film history: the Battle of Winterfell. Fire is ablaze everywhere and the keep is burning down. The trailer concludes with the Night King’s horse stepping into view with the army of the Living looking upon him.

In total, it took 11 weeks to create this perfect battle scene shown in the trailer. According to one source, multiple actors kept fainting and having moderate to severe asthma attacks due to the abundant use of smoke on set for effect. The cast and crew also moved up to 40,000 steps each day while filming. It has been the most grueling filming process since the series began.

The cast of the show came to name the filming of the Battle of Winterfell “The Long Night”.

From what is shown, we now know that the majority of the final season will take place between Winterfell and King’s Landing. But that is just an assumption. The creators have provided just the right amount of information to keep the fans on a cliffhanger in order to make theories on their own.

There is no doubt that this is going to be an emotional rollercoaster for all of the fans of the show. Over the last eight years, it has not disappointed anyone and it is definitely not going to start now.  For now, there are 40 days left standing between the fandom and the final season. In other words, there is still time to binge if you want to get anyone you know hooked for sure.

Winter is Here. The Long Night has arrived and the Dead are coming for the Living.