King’s Landing gets new defenses & Another old location returns in Season 8!

Lannister soldiers defend Casterly Rock from the Unsullied in “The Queen’s Justice”

With filming at Ballintoy having finished without so much as a peep and Itálica still a few days away from hosting any of the cast for the Dragonpit shoot, we turn our attention back to the project that’s taking more than six months to finish: the King’s Landing set. Since production appeared to start, we haven’t heard much (for good reason, we now know), but there’s still progress on set, such as the weapons posted along the city walls.

Titanic Studios has been quiet lately, despite significant movement around the King’s Landing set, on which we reported as recently as a week ago. According to our sources, more recently production has been either very unassuming or non-existent. In other words: the big battle shoot hasn’t begun in earnest yet, or else we would have noticed.

However, that doesn’t mean there are no developments! GOTlikeLocation shows the set is still getting new props, such as more flags (is Cersei compensating for a lack of actual power?) and, posted along the walls, spear racks and arrow-filled ground quivers:

Two Lannister flags now fly over the city gate. Photo: GOTlikeLocation

Notice the ground quivers full of arrows, and the empty weapon racks. Photo: GOTlikeLocation

The Red Keep entrance facade now bears vertical banner flags. Photo: GOTlikeLocation

St Blaise’s dome is recreated with a wind vane instead of a cross on top. Photo: GOTlikeLocation

The green screen on the tower is for set extensions—likely a VFX belfry. Photo: GOTlikeLocation

Arrows will have to do for now, as the anti-dragon scorpions we saw being tested are nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, we still expect them to be mounted on the three wooden platforms built on top of the city gate, which you can see in the first photo.

Additionally, as GOTlikeLocation also reveals, another classic Game of Thrones location may be making a return in season eight: Cairncastle, Northern Ireland. Take a look:

Purple signs in GoT style have appeared near Cairncastle, directing to Linford Barrows car park, in an area where plenty of scenes have been filmed over the years (one of them depicted on the board). I expect no big scenes to be filmed here, probably landscape shots. pic.twitter.com/sCiSQLurHB

— GoTlike Locations (@GoTlikeLocation) April 29, 2018

The green hills of Cairncastle have appeared multiple times in the show, depicting anything and everything, such as the North, for Ned’s execution of the Night’s Watch deserter in the series premiere; the Riverlands, for the scene in which Jaime decides to turn back to Harrenhal and save Brienne in “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”; the hills overlooking the marshes of the Neck, for Sansa’s entrance into the North through Moat Cailin in “High Sparrow”; and the Dothraki Sea, for Dany’s landing after escaping the Harpies’ assassination attempt, only to be captured by the Dothraki, in “Mother’s Mercy.”

Since this location has been used for pretty much anywhere in Westeros (and Essos), it’s difficult to guess what it could be used for this time. Likewise, though Cairncastle has an impressive track record of memorable scenes, we don’t know whether that trend will continue in season eight or if, as suggested in the tweet, it will just be landscape shots.

That’s it for now! Production will heat up once again when the cast arrives in Spain for the Dragonpit scenes and the King’s Landing battle shoot truly begins at Titanic Studios.

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