It’s a short clip of Jon Snow and Sansa Stark hugging, but Game of Thrones season 8 inspired a new series of questions in its sneak peek.
Game of Thrones fans are so starved for anything relating to the show now that filming has concluded that one single new clip — without any dialogue, mind you — has been enough to set the theories rolling all over the internet.
Rather than clog your brain up with yet more ideas just thrown out there willy-nilly, we’re going to do something a little different: Ask questions. Three of them, in fact.
The trailer will be below, but let’s get right to dissecting that hug.
Is Sansa Stark going to switch sides?
Hugging someone so tightly while keeping your eyes open as you rest your head on their shoulder is a well-recognized shorthand that something’s amiss between the two huggers. A significant portion of the new clip focuses on Sansa’s eyes being open as she hugs Jon.
Conflict between her and Jon seems pretty much like a given in the new season, but we can’t see her flipping back over to Team Cersei. Sansa may have learned a lot from the current queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but she also learned from Littlefinger, and we all know what happened to Littlefinger last season…
Which episode does this take place in?
Just judging by the hug itself, this is probably upon Jon’s returning to Winterfell, but what we don’t know is when exactly this takes place. The smart money will likely fall on episode 1, since there will be a lot of pieces to set before the huge action sequences that we already know about.
But it’s possible that episode 1 will be focused on one area instead, like near the Wall or otherwise down in the Seven Kingdoms. We’re not saying anything certain here. It just doesn’t seem wise in this final season.
How will Daenerys greet Sansa?
We don’t see her in this new clip, but the presence of Daenerys Targaryen looms large over Jon and Sansa here. Sophie Turner has spoken a bit about Sansa’s demeanor in season 8, and while Jon has a hug for his sister, we might see Dany speak to Sansa as a fellow woman in power — if not exactly ruler to ruler, since we’ve seen that Dany prefers people to bend the knee.
But Dany also has plenty of female allies, and the chance for her to ally with someone close to her own age and who’s been through a long journey not dissimilar to her own seems like an excellent thread for Game of Thrones season 8 to follow.
You can see the clip in question below:
Tell us your biggest questions in the comments below!