For eight mesmerizing seasons, Game of Thrones captivated us its dragons, direwolves and extensive roster of unforgettable characters. Fans were enraptured each year as the opening note of the theme sound announced that a new season had begun.
Now, years after the series has ended, we tread down memory lane and revisit the first episode of each season, celebrating the birth of every new chapter. We’ve ranked the season finales before. Now it’s time to look at the season premieres.
8. Season 5, “The Wars to Come”
The premiere of Game of Thrones season 5, “The Wars to Come” took a bold forward by opening with a flashback, something the show had never done before and would never do again (we’re not counting Bran’s trips through time since his present consciousness was there). This particular flashback takes us back to a time when a young, defiant Cersei first learned the chilling prophecy that would haunt her future.
Despite this gripping look at Cersei’s past, the episode as a whole fails to match the powerhouse intensity that fans had grown accustomed to in previous season openers. While “The Wars to Come” does set up the board for some interesting moves, it doesn’t execute many itself. Despite a few captivating scenes — like Jon Snow taking it upon himself to execute Mance Rayder at the end of the episode — “The Wars to Come” is at the base of our ranking ladder.
7. Season 7, “Dragonstone”
The seventh season opens with a gripping scene where Arya Stark, the fiercely independent and underestimated daughter of House Stark, delivers a blood-soaked reprisal against House Frey. It’s an unforgettable opening that promises a more eventful episode than we actually get.
There is another pivotal scene at the end of the episode, one that tugged at the heartstrings of viewers who had been waiting to see it for a long time: Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled princess turned powerful queen, set foot on the shores of her ancestral home, Dragonstone. This long-awaited homecoming is depicted with beauty and emotion. It announces that the world of the show was contracted, and that things would never be the same.