Liam Cunningham: Season 8 scripts feature “beautiful storytelling” and “huge surprises”

All good things must come to an end, and as Game of Thrones ramps up to its final season, the fans aren’t the only ones eager to see who survives the brutal saga. Speaking to Metro, Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) revealed that he was getting rather antsy before reading the season 8 scripts.

"I was getting excited and nervous. I wanted to see what was going on. One of the main reasons was that as an actor my ambition for this was to get to the last season, and I’ve been waiting on the scripts to see if I can get to the last episodes."

If Ser Davos dies, we riot. Just putting that on the record.

Due to the security measures surrounding the season 8 scripts, Cunningham didn’t get a chance to read them until the cast gathered for a table read in Belfast. (Kit Harington was in the same boat.) But when he read the scripts, he was bowled over.

"So it was all new to us, and it is just, ‘Oohs,’ and, ‘Ahhs’. It is as it was in the past, it is just beautiful storytelling. Huge surprises. Wonderful stuff. I can safely say it will be a fantastic, fantastic finish to this incredible story."

This sounds a little similar to comments made by former cast member (and current drinking buddy) Jason Momoa, who said season 8 will be “the greatest thing that’s ever aired on TV.” And Harington said he cried after he got through reading the scripts. While Cunningham did not admit to the same reaction, he didn’t deny it, either. “It had a bittersweet aspect to it because it was the last time we are going to do it. It was incredibly special and moving. It was nice but slightly sad.”

But although the cast and crew might be sad, Cunningham believes that the story needed to come to an end.

"The reason it is as big as it is and was is it is recognized by the audience that it is extraordinary storytelling and unique. At the end of this, we would be doing the story a disservice if we ran it out beyond its natural finish. It has always had a beginning, middle, and an end, and the guys said, ‘Look this story is going to take 70 hours of storytelling to get to the end of it.’ The meant from the get go it had a beginning, middle, and end. It still feels it is naturally coming to its end with the story that is there."

We’d have to agree with Cunningham here. No one wants to see Thrones turn into The Office or The X-Files and overstay its welcome, even if part of us wishes we’d get another 70 episodes. There’re always the prequels.

Next: Fandom 250: The case for Game of Thrones fans

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