Game of Thrones: HBO Releases Final Season Teaser; One Stark Won't Be Part of the Reunion Special

Richard Madden Game of Thrones cast reunion; Game of Thrones TV show on HBO: season 8 (canceled or renewed?)

(HBO)

We’ve got some good news and some bad news. HBO has released “Dragonstone,” a new teaser for the eighth and final season of its Game of Thrones TV show. You can check it out below. Hopefully, that will soften the blow of this next bit. The production has made a reunion special (which won’t be broadcast, but will be on the DVDs). One member of the Stark family won’t be there, though, and it is his alter ego’s fault. The Young Wolf isn’t being sheepish. It’s just that Richard Madden, who played Robb Stark for the first three seasons, had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t attend the filming.

An HBO fantasy drama, Game of Thrones is based on A Song of Ice and Fire — the best-selling George R.R. Martin book series. The cast also includes Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Reportedly, Sean Bean, who starred in the first season, as Eddard, i.e. Ned Stark, is in the reunion feature.

Entertainment Weekly reports:

Richard Madden, who played Robb Stark for three seasons on the HBO hit, confirmed to EW that he didn’t participate in the reunion, which taped earlier this year in Belfast near the end of production on season 8.

The reason? He was working on his upcoming film Rocketman, the fantastical Elton John biopic. “I didn’t do any of that,” Madden says. “I was [filming] Rocketman so I wasn’t able to do that.”

The reunion special includes the fantasy drama’s final season cast and is hosted by Conan O’Brien. Some previous cast members participated as well, but so far only Sean Bean (Ned Stark) has been confirmed. The special won’t air on HBO but instead will be exclusive to a new Game of Thrones Blu-ray box set of the entire series that will be released in the second half of 2019.

To cheer yourself up, check out the Game of Thrones season eight teaser, “Dragonstone.”