HBO to take steps to ensure there’s no danger of leaks of the last ever episode of Game of Thrones

Following in the footsteps of The Sopranos and others.

HBO will film multiple endings of the final episode of Game of Thrones in an effort to ensure that one of the world’s biggest shows isn’t dogged by leaks as it was during Season 7 this summer. A number of episodes from Season 7 were leaked online following a cyber attack on HBO by hackers known as the “Mr Smith Group” in July, with fans all over the world seeing the episode before it was broadcast on HBO and other official broadcasters, such as Sky Atlantic. According to The Morning Call, producers on Game of Thrones plan to film multiple endings to the finale of Season 8, which, like Season 7, will be shorter than usual (just six episodes), with an extended finale to wrap things up at the end. “I know in Game of Thrones, the ending, they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that nobody really knows what happens,” said Casey Bloys, president of programming at HBO. “You have to do that on a long show. Because when you’re shooting something, people know. So they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that there’s no real definitive answer until the end.” The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are just two of the shows in recent years to have shot multiple endings in an effort to avoid leaks to the public and it seems as if the cast of Game of Thrones won’t even know what will happen until the finale goes to air. Even when it does, as Bloys pointed out, it’s still unlikely to meet with universal approval. “Finales are tough,” Bloys said. “If you think about Six Feet Under, well that was a pretty good finale. But if you think about Seinfeld, if you think about The Sopranos, if you think about Breaking Bad, everybody has an opinion about how a show should end.” When exactly Game of Thrones will end remains to be seen as HBO have not yet confirmed a date for Season 8, but speculation suggests that it could be as late as 2019 before it goes to air. That’s going to be a looooooong wait.