Photos: FilmMagic for HBO through M-Net
The cast and creator along with HBO and show executives came out for the star-studded red carpet premiere in New York on Thursday evening of the upcoming 8th and final season of the fantasy drama series Game of Thrones seen on M-Net (DStv 101).
The first of the final season's 6 last episodes are set to debut on 15 April at 03:00 South African time on M-Net in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa and will also be made available on MultiChoice's Showmax and DStv Now Catch Up services until the 20 May finale, followed by a two-part behind-the-scenes "making of" documentary film feature.
On Thursday evening HBO held a red carpet event for Game of Thrones' final season, followed by a screening of the first season 8 episode for American media (who have to keep reviews under wrap until 15 April), followed by an afterparty inside the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
Game of Thrones TV creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss spoke on stage at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, as did Casey Bloys, HBO's president of programming, and thanking Richard Plepler who is gone as HBO CEO after the AT&T takeover and who also attended.
"Richard greenlit the most expensive pilot in the history of HBO and then he greenlit the most expensive pilot reshoots in the history of HBO because Richard knew the show was not about incest and dragons, it was about family and power and who sits on the throne," said Casey Bloys on stage.
"One of the great legacies of this show will be the institutional knowledge we've gained from doing it. Now, any creator who walks in our door and says, 'I have this insane idea, and this is what I want to do,' we don't say, 'Oh, we don't know how to do that.' We'll say, 'Here are five different ways you can do that.' That's really, really meaningful for us."
Dan Weiss said to Richard Plepler "We don't know why you said yes. We are all here because of the choice you made".
