Season 8 filming: New pictures of that gigantic mystery set, complete with trebuchet

Filming on Game of Thrones season 8 is now underway. Not long ago, fans spotted a huge, mysterious new set going up in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the show does much of its shooting. Behold:

Intriguing. Now, Wiki of Thrones has obtained new images that give us a closer look at the set than ever before.

First, let’s take a look at the front of the edifice again:

So the set consists of two discrete sections with a gap in the middle. Odds are that it’s a castle, and that the gap is a gate. But which castle? Winterfell has its own set at Moneyglass, so it’s probably not that. The Red Keep? The Eyrie? Storm’s End? Something else? The set has yet to be finished, so it’s still too early to tell.

But whatever it ends up being, the set is freaking huge, beyond anything the production has built before. It’s the final season, so they might as well go big.

Here’s what it looks like from the other side:

The photographer is really in the weeds now. Get it? In the wee…sorry.

If we were the betting type, we’d say that the production plans to film a large-scale action scene on this set. That’s party because we don’t know why it would go to the trouble of building something this enormous if they didn’t plan to put it through its paces. You don’t need to build a costly set like this just so characters can walk by it — it’s cheaper to use a location or employ some selective CGI for that.

The other reason is because there’s a big siege weapon — a trebuchet, to be specific — on the lot nearby. You can see it on the lower right-side of the screen in this photo…

… and here’s a new, close-up pic from Wiki of Thrones.

The arm of the trebuchet is lowered in the new shot, but that’s it, standing taller than the fence in front of it even in its relaxed position.

So someone is besieging whatever castle the production is building. More as it breaks. And for more photos, head to Wiki of Thrones!

Next: Mark Gatiss (Iron Banker Tycho Nestoris) reveals his idea for a Game of Thrones ending

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