Game of Thrones season 8 trailer: Is Jon Snow going to ride a dragon?

After much anticipation, HBO finally released the official Game of Thrones season 8 trailer, and it’s really everything we’ve been hoping to see. It’s epic. Enormously epic. It’s so epic in fact, that you might feel the need to go out and kick a white walker in the you-know-what yourself! It doesn’t actually show that much in the way of plot, but it gives you so much of what you could possibly want leading into the new season – especially that Cersei smirk we’ve been missing. Even when the world is burning, she’s still has a side of snark – can’t help but love her.

Want rousing speeches? We’ve certainly got one of those in the trailer. Want opportunities to check in on beloved characters? That’s certainly here too. Want dragons? Clearly, they’re going to be playing quite the big role in the closing chapters of this show. As a matter of fact, the sight of Jon Snow and Daenerys near the two (living) ones makes us think that Jon is going to hop on board and take it for a spin.

If you want to compare this trailer to a monster movie, you almost certainly could in that you see so many characters speaking about and preparing for a battle with a mysterious entity, only you don’t actually see it in the trailer itself. The White Walkers are the monsters hiding on the other side of the wall and now that it’s broken down they are going to be everywhere (HBO is clearly waiting until the show premieres to better showcase them). Obviously, we’ve seen them in various trailers and teasers over the years, but it’s clear that this trailer is more about buildup and not so much about giving away anything of substance. If hype was a fog machine, every rooms in America would be blinded.

The Game of Thrones final season is going to be premiering on HBO come April 14 and all signs point to this being an unfathomably huge television event. Think in terms of the most-watched premium cable programs ever. We don’t expect we’re going to see Seinfeld finale numbers or anything (not everyone’s going to shell out the money for HBO), but it could blow minds just how big the Game of Thrones army is going to be. HBO’s managed to find a way to keep viewers invested in this series despite it being over a year and a half since season 7 aired, and that season was only seven episodes. Remember when we were actually getting ten new episodes a year? That now feels like a life time ago, as did any concerns that this show was not going to work or that there wouldn’t be room in the TV landscape for some sort of adult fantasy show.

At this point, most of those concerns are buried deep in the ground and forgotten … almost as much as the High Sparrow storyline should be. Seriously, the less we think of that the better.

If you missed it…

Check out some more scoop here about the Battle of Winterfell, which is gearing up to be one of the biggest and boldest battles within the history of all television. It apparently exhausted the cast, and one series regular fainted in the middle of it.

How are you feeling about the Game of Thrones season 8 trailer after sitting down to watch it? Be sure to share now in the comments! (Photo: HBO.)