Season 8 of Game of Thrones is still a ways away, but after cyber attacks and material theft of Season 7, HBO is bringing down the hammer on the show’s spoilers. Actors from the show have revealed that this final season’s scripts are under more security than ever before.
AP reports that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister) has also commented on how this season’s scripts are more locked down now than ever before. When speaking to Scandinavian chat show Skavlan, Coster-Waldau said dialogue is being delivered to the actors through ear pieces line by line. “We’re not even going to get the script,” he said.
In addition, Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth) said to IGN, “I got six of [the scripts], I’ve got them all. I can’t open them because of all the security, and I can’t walk it out. I haven’t opened them.”
This hunkering down on scripts isn’t surprising. In July, HBO was reportedly targeted in a cyber attack that stole 1.5 terabytes of various TV scripts and episodes. During the the most recent season of Game of Thrones, scripts and episodes four and six were leaked online ahead of their premieres.
However, not all of this past season’s leaks were related to said cyber attacks. Four people were arrested in India relation to the leak of episode four, “The Spoils of War.” HBO Spain reportedly leaked episode six.
What we do know right now is that this final season of Game of Thrones will be its shortest yet at just six episodes, but those episodes will be longer than usual. While the show expected to premiere in summer of 2018, it’s starting to look unlikely that we’ll see the show before 2019.