Warning: Major Season 7 spoilers.
It’s no secret that Game of Thrones is one of the most popular TV series out there right now. With the final season currently being filmed, fans are keen to keep an eye out for any hints and/or clues that might be dropped leading up to the Season 8 premiere. The show’s cast and crew have been doing a good job keeping tight-lipped about possibly revealing any spoilers…until now. A recent photo showing actor Wilf Scolding standing in front of a hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland , which is where filming for the HBO series primarily takes place, was immediately deleted from the actor’s Instagram. However, fans caught the photo just before it was deleted and it was posted on Twitter. The photo sparked frenzied speculation that the actor could be returning for the final season.
Scolding was introduced in the Season 7 finale in a flashback scene as a young Rhaegar Targaryen. Fans of the show know by now that flashback scenes are crucial as they usually give telling information on a certain character or event, which may be played out in the future. The Season 7 flashback revealed that Rhaegar married Ned Stark’s sister, Lyanna, in a secret wedding and together they had a son. That scene cemented fan’s “R+L=J” theory as it was revealed that that son was none other than “King of the North,” Jon Snow. If Scolding is returning for the final season, that might mean more flashback scenes, which means more insight to the Jon Snow saga.
Rhaegar’s in town?! More flashbacks! #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/q7SUvldHbt
— A Red Priestess (@a_red_priestess) April 30, 2018
The scene foreshadowed what will potentially be one of the key driving forces behind Season 8. As Jon Snow was revealed as being a Targaryen, this means that he is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne and Daenerys Targaryen is not, which is what fans had originally been led to believe. This causes quite the dilemma as Jon Snow did “bend the knee” to the “Mother of Dragons” in Season 7. And remember that steamy love scene the two characters shared in the finale episode? Well, that just took a more sinister turn because the Jon Snow revelation also means that Jon Snow is Daenerys’ nephew . So the two unknowingly committed incest.
So what will happen once the truth comes out? How will Daenerys react? How will the rest of the characters react? More importantly, what in the world is Cersei going to do when she finds out? Fans can only hope that all of these questions will be answered in the final season, which is very likely.
To date, the only tidbit that’s been shared about Season 8 was when one of the assistant directors, Jonathan Quinlan , accidentally (lot of accidents here) shared a thank you card on his Instagram that was given to the entire cast and crew after they finished shooting a battle scene that apparently took “55 nights to film.” That Instagram post was also deleted afterwards.
Game of Thrones Season 8 will premiere on HBO in 2019.