--- title: This Is How Game of Thrones Season 8 Begins description: After more than a year of suspense following Game of Thrones season 7 finale, fans are finally getting an idea of how season 8 will begin. canonical: https://time.com/5442068/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-01T18:02:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:54:44.596Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: We Finally Know How Game of Thrones Season 8 Begins og:description: Spoilers ahead og:url: https://time.com/5442068/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd129475dbb155f2c/6988db78e76ad21d5062eebf/game-of-thrones-the-dragon-and-the-wold-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: game-of-thrones-the-dragon-and-the-wolf-the-wall-09 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: We Finally Know How Game of Thrones Season 8 Begins twitter:description: Spoilers ahead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd129475dbb155f2c/6988db78e76ad21d5062eebf/game-of-thrones-the-dragon-and-the-wold-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # We Finally Know How _Game of Thrones_ Season 8 Begins > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Ally. Ally is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: July 2026. ## Ally: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Ally is a digital financial services company offering online-only banking, including checking and savings accounts, through Ally.com and its mobile apps. Launched in 2009 as an original disruptor in financial services, Ally was built to challenge outdated banking norms with a simpler, more convenient way to bank. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 1, 2018 6:02 PM UTC  HBO  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 1, 2018 6:02 PM UTC **Warning** **:** This post contains spoilers for [_Game of Thrones_ season 8](http://time.com/4913247/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere-date/). After more than a year of suspense following the [Night King’s destruction of the Wall](http://time.com/4918048/game-of-thrones-the-wall-viserion-ice-dragon/) in _Game of Thrones_‘ [season 7 finale](http://time.com/4917987/game-of-thrones-finale-review/), fans are finally getting an idea of how season 8 will begin. A cover story published Thursday by [_Entertainment Weekly_](https://ew.com/tv/2018/11/01/game-of-thrones-final-season-ew-cover-story/)reveals that season 8 will not open with an update on the Army of the Dead’s progress, but rather with the convergence of some of _Game of Thrones_‘ biggest stars at Winterfell. To recap, at the end of season 7, Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister and several other of Westeros’ key players were headed North to Winterfell, where Samwell Tarly and the three remaining Stark siblings—Sansa, Arya and Bran—were awaiting their arrival. “Season 8 opens at Winterfell with an episode that contains plenty of callbacks to the show’s pilot,” _EW_ reports. “Instead of King Robert’s procession arriving, it’s Daenerys and her army. What follows is a thrilling and tense intermingling of characters—some of whom have never previously met, many who have messy histories—as they all prepare to face the inevitable invasion of the Army of the Dead.” As we know, Jon left Winterfell as King in the North but later swore allegiance to Daenerys—a development that Sansa, for one, will apparently not be happy about, according to the story. From there, it sounds as though season 8 will explore how the relationships between these characters develop as they prepare to face the Night King and his army. “It’s about all of these disparate characters coming together to face a common enemy, dealing with their own past, and defining the person they want to be in the face of certain death,” co-executive producer Bryan Cogman told _EW_. “It’s an incredibly emotional, haunting, bittersweet final season, and I think it honors very much what \[author George R.R. Martin\] set out to do — which is flipping this kind of story on its head.” _Game of Thrones_ season 8 is set to air in 2019. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5442068/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5442068/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere/"},"headline":"We Finally Know How Game of Thrones Season 8 Begins","datePublished":"2018-11-01T18:02:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:54:44.596Z","description":"Spoilers ahead","url":"https://time.com/5442068/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere/","keywords":["Television","game of thrones","TV"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd129475dbb155f2c/6988db78e76ad21d5062eebf/game-of-thrones-the-dragon-and-the-wold-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd129475dbb155f2c/6988db78e76ad21d5062eebf/game-of-thrones-the-dragon-and-the-wold-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"game-of-thrones-the-dragon-and-the-wolf-the-wall-09","caption":"","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5442068/game-of-thrones-season-8-premiere/","name":"We Finally Know How Game of Thrones Season 8 Begins"}}]}] ```