Game of Thrones season 8: Is this production decision going to affect the quality?

This latest Game of Thrones season 8 production detail has us worried about how good the season will be in terms of acting quality.

Game of Thrones‘ eighth and final season has a lot of expectations placed on it. There’s no way of getting around that. So, with every new detail, it’s impossible not to wonder about what the season will look like.

This detail in particular comes to us from Winter is Coming, our sister site, and it’s super concerning. Now, WiC, just as we’ve noted, points out that some form of scripts have to exist.

But now lines are going to actually come through earpieces on set, too, more often than not, according to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. WiC doesn’t seem too concerned, but we have to admit that we are, just a little bit.

Cue cards and assisting actors with lines are nothing new. Marlon Brando used them for films like The Godfather, and although we’re not saying that there’s not a Brando-esque on the set, we’re also saying that it is occasionally difficult to deliver lines when you haven’t had a lot of time to study them and work on them.

Part of what makes Game of Thrones work is that the actors are good at creating suspension of disbelief. It’s such a standard part of drama that we almost don’t think about it, but especially on a show like Game of Thrones, there’s a lot of groundwork of believability that has to be laid before you can do things like this:

See what we mean?

Granted, the cast of Game of Thrones is full of professionals who’ve spent years inhabiting these characters. Even if their preparations might be changed because there are earpieces involved, they still have a pretty good grasp on their characters.

Still, this is a major shift, and after a season that strained credibility, as pointed out by critics, it could mean that we might be having some very long conversations about the quality of Game of Thrones despite its reportedly massive budget for this last season.

Next: Who's directing Game of Thrones season 8?

At the same time, it’s early days, and we could be reading too much into things.