HBO announces a 'bittersweet' feature-length documentary to cap off Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Season eight might only be six episodes long, but Game of Thrones fans will get a consolation prize.

HBO revealed on Wednesday that it will air a 2-hour documentary about the blockbuster show after it caps an eight-year run in May.

Deadline reported that Game of Thrones: The Last Watch will air on HBO on May 26 at 9 p.m. and will serve as a "bonus" for fans, chronicling the making of the final season. British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay will direct and was reportedly given "unprecedented access" to shoot behind-the-scenes of the notoriously secretive show. Per Esquire, Finlay was embedded with the cast and crew for the past year.

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In a press release, HBO said the film is "so much more than a 'making of' documentary," but instead will be a "funny, heartbreaking story, told with wit and intimacy" about the "bittersweet pleasures of what it means to create a world — and then have to say goodbye to it."

The final six-episode season of Game of Thrones will premiere on April 14 at 8 p.m. on HBO. But with the addition of the documentary, fans will get one extra last look at the Seven Kingdoms, before saying farewell — that is, until HBO brings Westeros back to life a highly-anticipated prequel spin-off series in the not-too-distant future.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.