John Bradley: Every character is placed “in a completely alien environment” in season 8

Today marks the release of the Game of Thrones season 7 DVD/Blu-ray home boxset, and the cast members are out in force to promote it. For example, John Bradley (Samwell Tarly) talked to TV Guide for the occasion, and dropped some juicy teases in the process.

“The stakes definitely feel ramped up,” Bradley said of the show’s eighth and final season, now in production. “We know that we’ve got a real job to do.”

"This has been a part of people’s lives for so many years. This is our eighth season, and we are kind of feeling the pressure to get it right because we want to satisfy people. We want to give people a payoff that they’re going to be happy with. We know how militantly passionate the fans of this show can be — in a good way — and we just kind of want to give them an ending that they deserve."

By this point in the show’s life cycle, a lot of people have dreamed up a lot of different endings, and pleasing all of them will be no easy task, especially with only six episodes left to wrap up the whole shebang. Bradley is confident that they’ll get the job done, though, given that Game of Thrones “has always been in the hands of two of the greatest helmsmen in TV,” meaning creators and showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. “And nobody cares more about the show than those guys. Nobody feels that fan pressure more than they do. I think people are going to be delighted with the results.”

As for specific teases, Bradley was careful not to reveal too much, but still gave us something to chew on:

"These characters are so detailed and so rich, you can feel that you’ve got a pretty good handle on your character. You can predict how your character will react in any given circumstance, but when you place these characters in a new environment, it’s always putting them under a microscope, and you constantly have to reexamine your character. Each of the characters this year is placed in a completely alien environment at some point in the season that they’ve never been placed in before. The thrill is seeing how they react to it and how they respond… This season, I think, more than any other is stretching these characters."

Sam certainly went on a whirlwind journey over the past three seasons, from the Wall to Horn Hill to the Citadel to Winterfell. What new environment might he end up in next?

Or, more to the point, what dire situation might he face? With the White Walkers coming over the horizon, the possibilities are grim, for him and the rest of the living. Who will rise to the occasion? Who will crack under the pressure? Find out in way too long!

Next: Game of Thrones cast and crew comment on the season 7 finale, kinda-sorta tease season 8

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