Geez, Lots Of Game Of Thrones Characters Will Apparently Die In The Finale

the Knight King riding the zombie dragon

It's almost hard to believe it, but we're slowly approaching the end of HBO's Game of Thrones. While Season 8 is taking its time to arrive, it'll bring the final set of episodes, and will hopefully wrap up the story of Westeros in a satisfying way. There are currently a ton of balls in the air on Game, with Cersei's continued plotting from King's Landing and the dead finally breaking through The Wall. The beloved series is known for its shocking violence and character deaths, and now it looks like we should expect plenty more in the final episodes. HBO SVP of drama Francesca Orsi recently spoke of the finale, and implied that a ton of characters will perish. When referencing the table reads she said:

It was a really powerful moment in our lives and our careers. None of the cast had received the scripts prior, and one-by-one they started falling down to their deaths.

Does anybody else have the chills? While Game of Thrones fans may be hoping that all the good guys survive, Francesca Orsi seems to paint a much more grim image. It looks like "one by one" we'll see major characters die, meaning that things are going to get bloody-- even for the shows' standards.

Francesca Orsi's comments (via Variety) were from her recent appearance at The Best of HBO panel at the INTV Conference in Israel. While nobody expected all of Game of Thrones' main characters to survive the final season, there is something foreboding about how Orsi frames the experience for the cast. Now the question is: how is it all going to go down?

The series of character deaths would seemingly imply a final epic battle to the death-- perhaps against The Knight King and the army of dead. We've been told time and time again that the dead are the "true enemy", and Game of Thrones' very first episode opened with wights killing North of the wall. So it would stand to reason that a possible final battle would occur, uniting all of the surviving cast and resulting in a handful of grisly death scenes.

If this is the case, then one also has to wonder what Cersei's role in Season 8 will be. She had the chance to be on the right side of history when the characters went through negotiations at the Dragonpit, but she planned all along to betray the agreement in order to keep the Iron Throne. Will she finally come around, or should we expect Cersei's plot (and life) to be wrapped up before the series finale? We'll just have to wait and see.

It's currently unclear when Game of Thrones will return for its eighth and final season on HBO, but keep it with CinemaBlend for all the updates. In the meantime, check out our midseason premiere list to plan your next binge watch. Plus our superhero premiere list and Amazon premiere list to ensure you don't miss a single episode.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.