More activity on season 8 sets, and another thing

Things have been pretty quiet on the season 8 filming front lately, although we know it’s going on. An enormous new set has been erected near Titanic Studios in Belfast, where the show does the bulk of its filming, and cast members have been spotted all over the place. That part continues apace.

There’s also activity reported on several of the sets, including that massive one:

For the moment, pictures are scarce — are HBO’s advanced security measures paying off?

Time will tell on that front. In the meantime, ever-vigilant watchdog @IrishThrones has spotted activity near Linen Mill Studios at Corbet-Banbridge, where the show has filmed things ranging from the siege of Riverrun to Hodor’s death to certain sequences involving boats.

We should note that parts of the Riverrun set stood throughout the filming of season 7, too, and yet Riverrun never showed up over the course of the past seven episodes. Knowing that, it’d be a mistake to read too heavily into the fact that they remain. On the other hand, there’s got to be some reason the production didn’t tear the the Riverrun set down completely after season 6, right? And the telltale pink signs can only mean there’s production afoot.

Finally, Irish Thrones brings word of some new pink sign sightings near the Odyssey Building near Titanic Studios — might another new set arise?

We’ll keep you posted on that, vague as it is.

Beyond season 8 filming activity, something broke this morning that needs addressing. Yesterday, a five-month-old blog Spanish-language blog called Las Criptas de Invernalia (The Crypts of Winterfell) posted what it purports is an interview with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin. And not just any interview — a lengthy, candid interview where Martin addresses topics he’s typically loathe to discuss, including hints of what will happen in The Winds of Winter, fan theories, whether the ending of the books will differ from the ending of the show, and more.

In other words, this should set off alarm bells in the head of anyone who’s ever read an interview with Martin. On top of the content, you have to ask yourself why Martin, who very rarely gives interviews to major media outlets and avoids discussing what’s coming in his books when he does, would talk to a small blog the proprietor of which had to travel around the world to meet him. On top of that, that proprietor became pretty defensive when asked for authentication on Facebook, and was reportedly behind a phishing attempt at another Song of Ice and Fire fansite, among other issues. As of this writing, Elio M. García Jr. and Linda Antonsson — who co-authored The World of Ice & Fire with Martin and manage Westeros.org — are on the case, but they have their doubts.

So saying that this interview should be taken with a grain of salt doesn’t really cover it. You should go to the store, buy a whole container of salt, swallow itstraight, repeat that a few times, lick the salt out of the inside of a few bags of potato chips, and THEN you can read the interview.

That said, Redditor gandelfs has translated the interview for your reading pleasure. Proceed with caution:

"GRRM Interview: Translated from freefolk"

Okay.

We’ll end with a Where’s Waldo-like game of “Try to find Emilia Clarke trying to remain inconspicuous while eating outdoors in London.”

Found her!

Next: Brienne of Tarth and the role of the Absent Mother on Game of Thrones

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