It seems the last season of Game of Thrones was a tough one. Not only did it make Kit Harington cry more than once, but he said it “seemed to be designed to break us.”
“Everyone was broken at the end. I don’t know if we were crying because we were sad it was ending or if we were crying because it was so f–king tiring,” he told GQ Australia. “We were sleep deprived. It was like it was designed to make you think, ‘Right, I’m f–king sick of this.’ I remember everyone walking around towards the end going, ‘I’ve had enough now. I love this, it’s been the best thing in my life, I’ll miss it one day—but I’m done.'”
The final episodes are a beast, according to just about everyone. Co-creator David Benioff explained the delay in getting them on TV was because they’re huge.
“The final season’s taking a long time because it’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” Benioff said backstage at the 2018 Emmys. “It was nearly a full year in Belfast either prepping it or actually shooting it. I think when people see it, they’re going to understand why it took so long. The last season is far beyond what we’ve ever attempted before.”
HBO boss Richard Plepler told Variety that he’s seen rough cuts of every episode of the final season.
“It’s a spectacle. The guys have done six movies. The reaction I had while watching them was, ‘I’m watching a movie,'” Plepler told Variety at a Golden Globes party. “[Benioff and D.B. Weiss] knew the bar was high. They’ve exceeded the bar. I’ve watched them twice without any CGI and I’m in awe. Everybody’s in for an extraordinary treat of storytelling and of magical, magical production.”
Details about what’s ahead are being kept under wraps, naturally, but we do know there’s going to be the biggest battle in Game of Thrones history and many shaky allegiances as the White Walkers march.
The final season is set to debut in April 2019—exact date to be announced—and Harington is ready for the next chapter.
“And that weight is off my shoulders. It’s done now. I can be proud of it. We’ve got eight seasons, and they can sit on a bookshelf at home ’til the end of time,” he said.