‘Game of Thrones’ Fans Went Full ‘CSI’ Confirming [SPOILER]’s Season 8 Return
The eighth and final Game of Thrones season hasn’t suffered any major leaks yet, but leave it to dedicated spoiler-hounds to get creative with their sourcing. A key character may yet have a role to play in Season 8, and we’re both impressed and unsettled with how fans figured it out.
You’re warned of light (if inevitable) spoilers from here on out, but it looks like Carice van Houten’s Melisandre will indeed return for the final six Game of Thrones episodes, if only to “die in this strange country” as she prophesied to Varys. We last saw the red priestess headed to Volantis for unknown reasons, and it might not surprise anyone that Season 8 will pick up that thread. What will turn heads, however, is how some Reddit posters figured it out.
It seems van Houten posted (and subsequently deleted) an Instagram video of herself driving, by which fans deduced that her car’s placement on the left side of the road meant a U.K. locale. Crazier still – said fans used Google Maps to identify a road sign that places her near Game of Thrones production. They went full “zoom and enhance,” y’all. (via Winter Is Coming):
This puts Van Houten on the A1 near Dromore, driving southwest from Belfast, where much of the filming for Game of Thrones takes place. Just a few miles down this road, she’ll reach Linen Mill Studios in Corbet-Banbridge, where the production has filmed scenes at locations as diverse as Riverrun, Winterfell, the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave, and more. And while we don’t know exactly what they’ve set up at Linen Mill this year, there’s every indication that filming is going on there.
Now, here’s where things get a little nutty (yes, nuttier than decoding Carice van Houten’s Instagram videos with CSI-like precision). We still don’t know what exactly Melisandre is doing in Volantis, which itself is noted as the most populated of Essos’ cities, and temple home to the Lord of Light religion. Theories range from seeking a more precise interpretation of the “prince that was promised” prophecy, to recruiting the red priests trained under R’hllor (the awesomely-named “Fiery Hand”). The mysterious “Golden Company” was also said to be hanging around Volantis, so we can’t say for sure where Season 8 might pick up with Melisandre.
We’ve plenty of time to string together conspiracy boards before Game of Thrones returns in 2019, but let’s keep the investigation above board, folks.
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