♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
(SOBS)
The beginning of 804
is-- is a chance for...
the characters in the show
to say goodbye.
We really want to show...
 just how many people fell
 defending Winterfell
 and defending the living.
 Thousands of them are--
 are on these massive pyres.
 The feast scene was
 a very different tone
 than the scene in
the first episode of the series.
 Everyone's thinking about
 what they've just seen,
 and-- and the people
 they've lost.
They've just burnt their--
their comrades' bodies,
so it's-- you know, it-- it has
that kind of appropriate...
dark, somber beginning.
Dany kind of structures
the feast scene, in a way.
I mean, she's really the person
whose emotions
and choices are guiding
the scene.
And things start to shift
a little bit
 when Daenerys
 calls for Gendry
 and-- and names him
 the new Lord of Storm's End.
DAENERYS TARGARYEN: Gendry.
D.B. WEISS: It's almost like,
 as the queen,
 she's giving people...
permission to-- to celebrate
what they've done.
Things start to relax
a little bit,
and these people did survive
and they-- they won,
and they emerged victorious.
And so what started as
a very funereal scene
 gradually starts to shift into
 more of a party atmosphere
 as people get drunker
 and drunker.
That shift does not happen
with Daenerys;
 she's scarred by the events
 that just took place,
but she's also very much
thinking about...
what Jon Snow told her,
 and she's really shaken
 when she sees everyone
 celebrating with him,
and talking about what a mad man
and what a king he is
for getting on a dragon.
He has love and respect
from these people
 that, even with the gesture
 that she just made,
 she can't ever equal.
She realizes that
his true identity
is a real threat to her
if it comes out.
So, she's in a fairly dark place
 and while other people are
 starting to try to celebrate
 their survival
 and their victory,
 Dany's not in
 a celebratory mood.
WEISS: After the feast,
she comes to talk to him and...
 with the intention of-- of...
of making this all work out,
and of bringing things back to
the way they were before.
DAVID BENIOFF: There's a moment
 when they're kissing,
 and-- and it seems like
things are kind of getting back
 to where they were, but...
 it's almost as if he remembers
 all of a sudden
 what she really is.
 It's tense for him.
For her, she grew up
hearing all these stories
about how their ancestors
who were related to each other
were also lovers,
and it doesn't seem
that strange to her.
For him, it is a strange thing.
Once Dany introduces the idea
that everything can be
as it was if...
Jon...
keeps this secret buttoned down
and tells no one,
she's introducing a conflict
that plays forward.
From his standpoint,
he's already declared
his loyalty to her.
He's promised her
and he's a man of his word.
But he's also, you know,
a family man,
and so, the idea that he
wouldn't tell Sansa and Arya
 about his true identity,
it just seems very wrong to him.
I've never been a Stark.
He thinks he can have it
both ways;
that he can tell Arya and Sansa
the truth about
who he really is,
and he can maintain his loyalty
to Dany
and everyone's gonna learn
to live together.
I need to tell you something.
WEISS:  One thing everybody
 who...
 comes into contact with
 this information
 seems to understand is how
 incendiary the information is.
Sansa's left with
a very difficult decision,
 'cause she promises Jon
 that she won't tell anyone,
and yet when she's sitting
up there on that wall
with Tyrion,
she knows...
what will happen if she gives
Tyrion this information.
 She's a student
 of Littlefinger,
 and she knows how
 information travels,
and she can think many steps
ahead into the game,
the way Littlefinger did,
and know that
if she tells Tyrion,
it's almost impossible for
Tyrion not to tell Varys,
and if you tell-- I think
these are all things that
have been occurring to Sansa
 between the time we see her
 get that information
 and the time she passes
 the message on.
Tyrion.
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
What if there's someone else?
 I think the Jaime/Brienne
 relationship
has always been fascinating
to us,
because they're such
dissimilar characters,
and yet there's a real
chemistry between them.
Tyrion kind of calls out
the elephant in the room
and it manages to drive Brienne
out of the room,
 and in-- in doing so,
 drives Jaime out of the room
 as well.
Even as drunk as they both are,
 it's impossible for them to
 confront what they're doing
 with words,
 even as they're doing it,
 until the very end
 of the scene.
 The vulnerability
 that they show
runs very counter
to who they are as people.
 I do believe that when
 Jaime decides to stay behind
 with Brienne,
 it's a choice that he makes
 with every intention of...
 of seeing it through.
When he hears
what Cersei's done...
I think that's
the turning point for him.
 At that point,
 Jaime really has to--
 has to take a really long,
 uncomfortable...
 look at who he really is.
As much as Jaime cares
for Brienne,
and admires her and loves her,
he's got almost
an addiction to Cersei
that he just can't break.
 So, even though he's given
a kind of a chance at happiness,
 and some kind of
 different life for himself,
 he...
 he can't take it.
 He can't-- He-- He--
 He makes the choice
 to go back to Cersei.
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Part of the story here
is that
while we've been concentrating
on Winterfell
and the fight against
the army of the dead,
Dany's other enemies have not
been just sitting still;
they've been planning for--
for the final battle.
 We saw in season seven
 that Qyburn had invented this
 giant dragon-killing scorpion
 and it didn't quite work.
 Qyburn went back
 to the drawing board
and he made even larger,
more powerful scorpions.
 Dozens of them are now
 lining the walls
 of King's Landing,
 and dozens more are mounted
on the decks of the Iron Fleet.
While Dany kind of forgot about
the Iron fleet
and Euron's forces,
they certainly haven't forgotten
about her,
 and they're just waiting
 for her to come back.
 By this point,
 they would have gotten news
 that her army's emerged
 victorious
 and were gonna head south,
 and so they're just waiting
 in ambush for her return.
In some ways, the most important
thing that happens...
to Daenerys in four,
 is the death
 of her second dragon.
 Now she's got one dragon,
 and that dragon presumably
 is just as vulnerable...
 as Rhaegal was.
So, there's this--
the mourning of a child,
which is very real to her,
and then their best friend
is taken.
Missandei!
Dany knows that once
Cersei has Missandei
 that she's not going to see
 Missandei alive again.
-(DOOR OPENS)
-(PANTING)
This is a moment for Cersei
where she has a chance to...
maybe to flee and get away
if she surrenders,
but that's-- I think
anyone who knows Cersei
knows she's not gonna make
that choice.
Her feeling is, "If I give up
the throne, I'm dead,
and so, my only chance now
is to win."
 And that's what she says
 to Ned Stark in season one.
When you play the game
of thrones you win,
or you die.
Dany is this young queen
coming to try to usurp her,
 and Cersei's not gonna
give up the throne that easily.
 She's captured an enemy,
 and this is how Cersei
 deals with enemies.
Tyrion's perspective is--
is, you know,
while we have these various wars
for supremacy and everything,
let's not forget about
the people who are gonna suffer
the most from it.
He can envision what will happen
 to King's Landing
 if these two armies clash
 and dragons are involved,
and it's an obvious catastrophe.
 She feels like the odds
 are actually pretty good
on-- on-- for her at this point,
 and she's willing
 to roll the dice.
(FOOTSTEPS ECHOING)
BENIOFF: I think for Cersei,
 the only good prisoner
 is a dead prisoner.
(SWORD SWIPES)
WEISS: She's really back...
 where she was...
 at the very beginning.
Emotionally,
she's alone in the world,
and she can't really trust
anybody.
People have underestimated
Dany's strength
many times before, and-- and...
no one's really done very well
underestimating her strengths.
Unlike then,
she's extremely powerful,
and unlike then,
she's filled with a rage
that's aimed at one person
specifically.
BENIOFF: I think what's
probably echoing in Dany's head
in those final moments would be
 Missandei's final words.
Dracarys is clearly meant
for Dani.
Missandei knows
that her life is over,
and she is saying, you know,
"Light them up."
♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪
