Game Of Thrones Season 8: Everything We Learned From EW's Cover Story

6. The End Was Initially Pitched As A Movie Trilogy

EW's story goes back to the production of Season 3, a time when Game of Thrones, while big, wasn't quite the all-conquering behemoth it is today, and the idea of pulling off the kind of finale they're aiming for seemed impossible to do on TV.

As David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed, they'd lied to HBO about how contained the story was, and knew the battles were going to become massive. Their plan, then, was to try and do the final 'season' as a series of movies, in a similar way to Lord of the Rings, as it seemed like the only way to make it work, with Weiss saying: "It’s what we’re working towards in a perfect world. We end up with an epic fantasy story but with the level of familiarity and investment in the characters that are normally impossible in a two-hour movie.”

HBO execs shot it down, however: their name might include the words box office, but they're concerned with subscriber numbers, not releasing blockbusters. Ultimately, HBO promised they'd have whatever they needed when the time came, and so it has proved, with the new episodes having budgets of $15m apiece.