Fun behind-the-scenes pics from all 8 seasons of Game of Thrones

Image: Game of Thrones/HBO

Watch the cast of Game of Thrones grow, laugh and rehearse their way through eight seasons of medieval drama. These behind-the-scenes pics are gold!

Game of Thrones ran for eight seasons on HBO, for nine years of TV in all. It was the best of times, and it was the most heartbreaking of times. Behind the scenes, though, it looks like nothing less than a blast, at least based on some of the photos we’ve dug up.

For no reason in particular, we decided to celebrate some scenes from Game of Thrones’ past, starting where it all began, in Winterfell in season 1:

"[No Spoilers] They all look so darn adorable from back in the day from gameofthrones"

The Stark children — Sophie Turner (Sansa), Maisie Williams (Arya), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran) and Rickon (Art Parkinson) look out of this world adorable back when they were little tykes. It’s hard to believe they grew into such accomplished actors by the end of the series.

The Stark sisters enjoy some camera time:

But of course, the Stark family was more than just the kids. Here’s Wright playing at archery with other brothers Robb (Richard Madden) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington):

"[NO SPOILERS] i miss them from gameofthrones"

Alfie Allen gets in on the fun with a game of cards:

"[No Spoilers] Winterfell Party from gameofthrones"

And in my absolute favorite picture, the whole family is all smiles…except Jon:

Papa Ned Stark (Sean Bean) looks a little more used to life on camera:

Behind the scenes of the moment when Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) challenges Ned to a fight on the streets of King’s Landing:

Meanwhile, over in Essos, we got to know the Targaryen siblings, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Viserys (Harry Lloyd):

"[No Spoilers] Behind the scenes Daenerys and Viserys!!❤️ from gameofthrones"

Clarke is smiling in pretty much every photo, even when her onscreen husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) is deadly serious:

"Emilia and Jason season 1 from freefolk"

On to season 2!