Game of Thrones season 8: Winterfell battle leaves snow ‘streaked with blood’ and MAJOR characters dead as Starks battle the Night King

Maisie Williams was left 'broken' by the 11 weeks of gruelling night shoots it took to produce the epic battle scenes

By Jessica Gibb, Digital Assistant Showbiz Editor

Published: 19:27, 5 Mar 2019
Updated: 12:33, 13 Mar 2019

WINTERFELL will be the set of the bloodiest battle in Game of Thrones history - killing off several major characters.

More than half of the remaining major characters were in Winterfell as the seventh season closed while the Night King was seen breaching the Wall with his blue-fire breathing dragon and leading his army south.

The Battle of Winterfell will see major characters dieCredit: refer to caption.

So it's no surprise that season eight will feature an almighty battle between our heroes and the White Walkers at Winterfell.

And now it's been officially confirmed that some major characters won't make it out alive.

"The great battle is over. The snowy ground is streaked with blood. Beloved heroes lay dead outside the castle gates," reads Entertainment Weekly as the magazine goes behind the scenes of the epic battle filming.

"Winterfell is quiet."

Daenerys Targaryen has joined the fightCredit: refer to caption.

Confirmed characters in the battle of Winterfell include Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) and The Hound (Rory McCann).

Maisie Williams was left "broken" by the 11 weeks of gruelling night shoots it took to produce the longest consecutive battle sequence ever made.

“I skip the battle every year, which is bizarre since Arya’s the one who’s been training the most,” Williams said.

“This is my first taste of it. And I’ve been thrown in at the deep end.”

Arya Stark will join the gruelling battleCredit: Home Box Office

The Night King is comingCredit: refer to caption.

Everyone at Winterfell will be involved in the fightCredit: HBO

Winter is comingCredit: ©2019 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and all related programs are the p

And Iain Glen, who plays Ser Jorah Mormont, said the intense schedule for the battle left the cast feeling "miserable".

“It was the most unpleasant experience I’ve had on Thrones,” Glen said.

“A real test, really miserable. You get to sleep at seven in the morning and when you wake in the midday you’re still so spent you can’t really do anything, and then you’re back. You have no life outside it. You have an absolute f**ked bunch of actors."