Game of Thrones: Can the Starks stay as a team for season 8?

One of the actor who plays a member of House Stark seems to think that the family is back in business, but will that last throughout all of Game of Thrones?

Sansa and Arya Stark have to share credit for the death of Petyr Baelish in the season finale of Game of Thrones. Even Arya admits as much later in the episode, and we also see them standing on the walls of Winterfell, musing over their father’s words about uniting in order. In analyzing the fashion of that scene, I pointed out that they were “more together than they have been all season.”

And that kind of teamwork might very well be representative of how season 8 plays out as well.

Speaking to Making Game of Thrones, Isaac Hempstead Wright said this about the Littlefinger death scene (and claims Bran did help, which he did):

"“It was such a nice way of rounding it off with all three of them working together […] It was a proper kind of explosive return for the Starks I think.”"

Note that he says “the Starks” as a collective. By necessity, that practically excludes Jon Snow, but he doesn’t appear to have a claim to the name anyway, judging by his missive to Sansa from the finale. As that’s the same piece of parchment that Bran shows Sam, because even Three-Eyed Ravens get their news from places other than weirwoods sometimes, Hempstead Wright is in a position to speak semi-authoritatively on the matter.

But where does that leave Jon, exactly? Back on the outs? After all, Bran knows that Jon’s not their actual half-sibling, but a cousin instead. That kind of relationship is still important, of course. However, Jon made some serious decisions basically without consulting the three of them. They’ve already shown an ability to resist people meddling in their affairs quite dramatically, and ceding the throne of the North definitely counts as “meddling in their affairs.” (It certainly affects my reading of Jon’s season, linked above.)

Hempstead Wright called the three “underdogs,” and it’s hard not to see how they would be in a slightly similar position if they do have a problem with Jon, since he’s coming north with two dragons, but Littlefinger seemed destined to live to the end of the series just because he was exceptionally good at worming his way through things.

Next: 5 predictions for Game of Thrones season 8

It seems unwise to bet against the Starks going forward in general for Game of Thrones.