Game of Thrones art director outlines season 8 production schedule, calls final episodes “mighty” and “mammoth”

Deborah Riley has been the art director on Game of Thrones since the show’s fourth season, bringing us the designs for everything from the ruins of Valyria to the House of Black and White to Dany’s Dragonstone’s throne room, and much more besides. She has one of the most important jobs on the show, and was recently honored for her work on season 7 at the Art Directors Guild Awards.

While there, Riley teased what’s coming in Game of Thrones season 8 as best she can, which isn’t much at all. Is the knowledge that this is the final season giving her a bittersweet feeling? “It’s gonna be sweet, actually,” she said. “We’re working very hard. [Showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] set the bar very high, and every year we have to keep trying to jump over it. So at the moment we’re so deep inside of that that I think come the end we’re all gonna be sort of so proud and so thrilled and it will be time to move on.”

"The people are incredible. What we’re building’s incredible. You know, the storylines…Bringing this show to an end? I mean, what an amazing sort of opportunity is that? What an experience."

Obviously, season 8 is the final season of the show, and Riley is excited for us to see “the culmination of everything,” as she calls it. “[E]ven though there might only be six episodes, they’re so mighty and mammoth and just monsters of things to bring to the screen, that from a production design point of view we have been incredibly busy,” she said. If you’re going to end the biggest show on TV, might as well make it mighty and mammoth. Also, feel free to add Riley’s comments to the pile of mounting pile of evidence that the episodes of season 8 may be longer than usual.

Finally, Riley gave an indication of what the production schedule is going to be like going forward.

"We have now got, y’know, teams of people working 24 hours a day, trying to get the build ready. Miguel Sapochnik’s just started shooting, so we’ve got sort of his massive sequences that…particularly in March. We’re so busy with massive things in March. It’ll be amazing."

What’s going in March? Hopefully said “massive sequences” occur outdoors in full view. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Miguel Sapochnik, if you’re unaware, is the director behind such iconic Game of Thrones episodes as “Hardhome,” “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter.”  He’ll be directing the third and fifth episodes of season 8, so far as we can tell. Can we expect sequences in those episodes to rival the Battle of the Bastards or the Massacre at Hardhome? For better or worse, we may know more come March.

Next: Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) says the end of Game of Thrones is "pretty surprising"

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