Game of Thrones season 8 filmed a fake scene in a literal fortress to cover up one of the show’s biggest deaths

Game of Thrones season 8
Image credit: HBO

There are precautions and then there are Game of Thrones season 8 precautions. Of course, you want to ensure the biggest secrets and spoilers are kept under wraps until each episode airs but, as this ridiculous counter-measure proves, Game of Thrones always goes the extra mile.

Featuring a very real fortress, two of the show’s biggest actors filming a fake scene, and a now-dead character keeping their fate under wraps in the most time-consuming way possible, here’s how to stop spoilers, Game of Thrones-style.

As pointed out by Winter is Coming, a re-surfaced shot of both Cersei and Jon Snow meeting in King’s Landing is proof that Game of Thrones season 8 was partial to a few sneaky fake scenes to throw fans and leakers off the scent.

Of course, Cersei and Jon never do meet during the course of Game of Thrones season 8 – at least not face to face as suggested by this Reddit post. To make things even more surreal, this was all filmed at the Bokar Fortress in Croatia. All that effort – plus costumes – just to trick everybody about Cersei’s death. Amazing.

Even more shots have been uncovered too, with Jon walking down the stone steps of, presumably, part of the Red Keep to try and broker some peace between Dany and Cersei. It goes to show you the lengths the showrunners, cast, and crew have gone to, just to cover up moments as shocking as Cersei’s death-by-bricks in Game of Thrones season 8, episode 5.

Unless, bear with me: This is actually a scene from the Game of Thrones season 8 finale and this is a real plot twist disguised as a fake plot twist to hide the fact that Cersei is still alive. We’re in the endgame now, boys and girls, and my mind is suitably frazzled enough to think they could try and pull something like that. Thanks, Dan and Dave. See you Sunday.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

Latest in Fantasy Shows
Kratos in God of War Ragnarök
God of War TV show writer reveals Amazon has already ordered two seasons, and that he can’t play the video games at all
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Percy Jackson series gets unusually early renewal for season 3 before upcoming season 2 even airs
George R.R. Martin
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has a new update on The Winds of Winter: "I wish it would come faster"
Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg and Peter Claffey as Dunk in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
HBO boss says new Game of Thrones spin-off's battles "match" the mainline series at a "fraction of the price"
Abubakar Salim in House of the Dragon
House of the Dragon season 3's opening battle is "beastly", according to one of the show's stars
Jamie Campbell Bower in Stranger Things
The Rings of Power newcomer Jamie Campbell Bower has 'revealed' his season 3 character – but it could be a Sauron-style misdirect
Latest in News
A screenshot from MindsEye showing a character leaning out of a car, shooting another car with a gun.
GTA veteran says the games industry needs to "get smarter" about what people actually want: "There are so many games, and I think we're starting to feel the effects"
Posing with a rifle in the Fallout 76 Ghoul update
Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says