Stars and spoiler warnings: We take you inside the 'Game of Thrones' final season premiere

Ethan Alter
·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Photo: HBO
Photo: HBO

It may be springtime according to the calendar, but a wintery wind descended on Radio City Music Hall last night. The New York landmark served as the launchpad for the eighth and final season of HBO’s blockbuster series, Game of Thrones. Crowds started gathering early to catch a glimpse of the red carpet, where Yahoo Entertainment captured all the comings and goings of cast members like Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner and Peter Dinklage.

Daniel Portman stopped to chat with us for a few moments about his fan favorite character, Podrick Payne.

In addition to current cast members, the premiere guest list included a few faces that haven’t been seen in Westeros in some time — like the beloved door-holder, Hodor.

Other returning favorites included Jason Momoa, Natalie Dormer and, best of all, Sean Bean. That’s right: Ned Stark may be gone, but the North fondly remembers Bean’s service.

View this post on Instagram

It’s couples night at the #GoTPremiereNYC! 🙌 #GoT alum #JasonMomoa and current stars #KitHarington and #Sophie Turner all arrived with some familiar +1s. 😉 |📷: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images, Mike Coppola/FilmMagic

A post shared by Yahoo Entertainment (@yahooentertainment) on Apr 3, 2019 at 5:16pm PDT

Inside Radio City, the super-sized auditorium was bathed in fiery reds, and ushers handed out buttons to excited audience members reminding them that even the slightest whisper of spoilers would earn them the wrath of the Master of Whisperers.

And if Varys doesn’t scare you, the sister act of Sansa and Arya Stark definitely will. Right as the lights dimmed, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams jumped on the P.A. system and warned that the punishment for leaking any plot points — or, even worse, using your cell phone during the episode — would result in your face being removed and nailed to Arya’s wall at Winterfell. Once a Faceless Assassin, always a Faceless Assassin.

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss didn’t make any threats in their opening remarks. Instead, they reflected on the show’s extremely humble beginnings. “It wasn’t very good,” Weiss said of their original version of the Thrones pilot, which was famously re-tooled, re-cast and re-shot. Once the show found its creative footing, any behind-the-scenes drama was supplanted by the rich onscreen drama. Weiss and Benioff — who are moving on from Westeros to a galaxy far, far away — praised the dedication of the cast and crew for embracing the demands of adapting George R.R. Martin’s sprawling fantasy novels. The duo didn’t write or direct the season opener; instead that task fell to scribe, Dave Hill, and director, David Nutter, who filmed half of the show’s six-episode final run. But they are in complete creative control of the feature-length finale, which will air on May 19.

The season premiere, in contrast, is only an hour, but it’s an hour that delighted the Radio City audience, who weren’t shy about cheering their favorite characters, and applauding moments die-hard fans had been wanting to see for years. It’s clear that Benioff and Weiss are holding nothing back as Game of Thrones races towards the finish line. All shows must die, but this one is sure to go out in a blaze of glory.

Game of Thrones premieres on April 14 at 9 p.m. on HBO.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle’s newsletter.