Game Of Thrones may have made its triumphant return after a year and a half of silence, but there's still one thing the HBO show is making fans wait for: episode titles. When the season 8 premiere dropped on Sunday night, it was simply called "Game of Thrones 68" until HBO updated the name after the episode aired with "Winterfell."
I mean, yes, this name is fitting, since most of the episode involved long-anticipated reunions at the Stark family home, but there's no reason it shouldn't have been released before the episode aired. In the past, titles were released ahead of time as a way for fans to start theorizing what was to come. Since we've been starved for GOT content until now, it feels almost cruel to deny audiences that similar courtesy — unless the titles don't mean anything this season.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
There have been a lot of changes regarding season 8's episodes. For one, there are only six of them, and they're going to be long as the Night King is dangerous...AKA, very. Because we've got to wrap up centuries worth of history and fighting in just a few months, maybe the creators have decided that this season, the episode titles aren't exactly the priority.
There is another option, and it's that while "Winterfell" was a bit milquetoast, the rest of the episode titles are a bit more revealing — too revealing for fans to see lest they get the ending to one of the most zeitgeisty shows in the world totally spoiled. To prevent such spoilage, maybe HBO will continue to release the names after the episodes air, so there's no chance of any of the fans getting too ahead of the curve.
Titles or no titles, it's great to be back. Let's enjoy this feeling for as long as we can, because the rest of the episodes are probably going to get way more heartbreaking — and they'll probably have the titles to prove it.