The Cast Remembers | Game of Thrones: Season 8 (HBO)

Let me give you some advice, bastard. Never forget what you are. Wear it like armor. It can never be used to harm you. When I first heard they were interested in me for a fantasy show, I was like, "Ugh. No." Reading the first book I had a feeling: "Oh my God, this is... this is amazing. This... this could really begin." MAISIE WILLIAMS: He was quite young and had a great imagination. In those scenes when she was younger, she really convinced me that she was there and that it was happening, you know. I had never had acting experience before.

I went to a very theatrical-based theater school. We did three hours of on-camera training in three years, but then my fourth hour in front of a camera was the first day on Game of Thrones. KIT HARRINGTON: My first day on set was Castle Black. I think my first scene was a very quick scene where I was walking along the walls and I was very nervous. EMILIA CLARKE: Yes, I remember my first day on set! Oh my god, I fell off a damn horse! (LAUGHTER) Jesus, this was my first job. This is the first thing I did and then they put me on a horse!

Oh... I was falling off my horse, trying to act, still. -Oh... A Khaleesi... (LAUGHTER) -DIRECTOR: Okay, let's do it again, please. NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU: Well, I remember the first scene we shot from the pilot. And that was, uh, the arrival of the king. You know, the king arrives on horseback and has to get off. And his robe was huge. And the horse enters; he says... (growls) And then, "Stop... everyone." And then they come running in with... like a ladder. They help him down and run off with the ladder and then: "Go on. (GRUNTS)" SOPHIE TURNER: I vaguely remember.

It was Sean Bean, Mark Addy and Lena, and I remember being so overwhelmed and... terrified. LENA HEADEY: I remember everyone clearly. I remember baby Sophie, baby Maisie and baby Isaac. And now, they're... you know, out there, grown up. (CROWD JOKING) The most shocking scene... that I didn't see coming... (SCREAMING) Stop it! Arrest! From then on, I started to distrust the show as to whether they would kill off my favorite character or not. I think the most shocking thing was probably... -(STABBED) -(GRUNTS) ...my death. Hodor couldn't quite believe the moment. MEERA REED: Hold the door!

Hold the door! ISAAC HEMPSTEAD-WRIGHT: That was kind of like, "Oh, my God!" RORY McCANN: I saw The Red Wedding and I didn't really read into the script... what happened. I think I just... did my part and said, "La, la, la." And then when he came out, I remember seeing him in the morning. I'm a big guy, a big tough guy, but guess what, I burst into tears. That was an absolute surprise. I remember just looking and saying, "No, no, no, no! No, no, no, no! What!" (Laughing) It was brilliant! Do I have to call you Lady Stark now?

Yes. My favorite day on set would be the day I met Maisie. WILLIAMS: That day on set, I... I had never laughed so much in my life. It was fun. It was the day with the wheelchair. I still have that video. My God. Sophie and I are playing in, um, (LAUGHTER) Bran's wheelchair. COSTER-WALDAU: I think the funniest scene we shot was... In

season

seven, we shot this great sequence: the loot train attack. And we shot it in Spain. It was such a... beautiful place. And there was something about being outside every day and riding horses; I love riding. (VALYRIO SPEAKING) Season three, getting the Unsullied, was the first time that I, Emilia, got to be, you know, a badass whore. (LAUGHTER) (VALIRIO SPEAKS) (DRAGON CHILDING) Dracarys. -(Screams, gasps) -CLARKE: Uh, it was really great. (LAUGHTER) Favorite day on set was definitely a day in Osuna when we were doing the gladiator sequence.

My little girl was there. You know, she saw her dad work. David said, you know, "Come sit here. You can call him." And she was like... (HIGH VOICE) "Action!" The fight between The Hound and... Brienne of fucking Tarth. We had studied and trained for a long time and everything went well. That was just fantastic. HARRINGTON: Iceland,

season

two, the first day we were there. That was my favorite day on Thrones. I had never been to a more beautiful place in my life and it was special for many reasons. (GASP) It was the scene where I couldn't decapitate Ygritte.

Strike hard and true, Jon Snow. (SWORD CLANKS) HARRINGTON: My favorite actor to work with was Rose Leslie. There was something really special about working with Rose. I really enjoy working with John Bradley. You saw this in... in a vision. HEADEY: I really enjoyed the scene with Mark Addy in the first season, just because it was so intense and there... It was like pages and pages and it was really unexpected for those two characters. Sometimes I don't know what holds it together. Our marriage. (BOTH LAUGHTER) I find it very easy to act with Iain Glen because he's been my friend all the time, he's been my only...

My friend! (LAUGHTER) IAIN GLEN: And the most beautiful thing about Emilia is that she has no idea how good she is. She really has no idea. And she still has no idea. -(INDISTINCT SINGING) -She is always, in a way, vulnerable, what she gives of herself... It's part of her... Part of a great gift. JOHN BRADLEY: I think in terms of my favorite scene partner, it would have to be Kit. Kit was the first person I had an acting relationship with because it was my first job. I think the friendships you form when you're a little scared and a little unsure, and treading on unfamiliar ground, are the ones that tend to last, because you cling to each other for support.

Sansa, come here, little dove. I always loved working with Lena. What are you doing? Praying. You're perfect, aren't you? Pray... Just watching her and learning from her was the best drama lesson I could have ever hoped for. I disobeyed my king, your father, and now I am paying the price. I don't care, you're my friend. LIAM CUNNINGHAM: Shireen Baratheon. I had a couple of scenes with Shireen that I loved doing. To have his level of humanity... uh, and decency, and intelligence, and brilliance. He just treats her as an equal and I really liked that aspect of the relationship they had.

I really miss Charles Dance, who played my father, Tywin Lannister. We had great chemistry and a great friendship... Tyrion. ...despite our on-screen relationship. (ARROW RELEASES) I'm very lucky to work with the best

cast

. Everyone is very professional and incredibly kind and generous to their fellow actors. Everyone involved is... they're... like a family, and it's a family that, surprisingly, still laughs and gets along with each other eight, nine years later. There hasn't been any idiot. There are no people... divas. There has been... nothing. Not even a suggestion. WILLIAMS: When it's all said and done, I'm going to miss the dynamic of the show because there's nothing like it.

I mean, Game of Thrones means being in your twenties. I started this job when I was 22 years old. And I'm not 22 anymore. Game of Thrones is my entire career. I think it will be difficult for me to say goodbye to Sam. It will be very difficult to say goodbye to playing Tyrion. I will miss simple things. Like walking onto set for the first time every year in your new costume and knowing that you're a part of something that's... kind of in the spotlight. Yes, it's going to be very strange without him, it's been eight years. I'll tell you what I won't miss: walking around with half a fucking beard three quarters of the year.

ARYA STARK: That's Jaime Lannister, the queen's twin brother. COSTER-WALDAU: When I arrived I was like a puppy. I was like Bambi on ice. And coming to Belfast... I learned to walk with pride and joy. TURNER: I grew up with these people, I have changed a lot as a person thanks to these people. I have so much confidence. I just got this confidence from the show and from playing Arya. I really feel like I want to inject that into each and every person I know and love, but also any girl who admires the work I do. CLARKE: The journey that I've been on with Danaerys has honed me as an actor, it's shown me the range that I can... that I can do, and... because of the heights that she reaches, it's forced. may she find them within me.

HEMPSTEAD-WRIGHT: Game of Thrones has been a great education for me in everything. Having to be around adults from the age of ten and working on a professional set, getting up and learning my lines and really thinking about a character has also taught me a lot about myself. HEADEY: As an actor, you work, and you work, and you work and you audition and you don't get roles, and you do get roles, and sometimes they're great experiences, and sometimes they're really shit, um, and this has been incredible. Thrones is the holy grail, it's something that's huge and global and massively popular and people think it's cool.

HARRINGTON: People are always trying to copy things or make variations of them. It's rare to get something that's a completely original fantasy. It's the most realistic show I've ever done, and it also has dragons and dead people walking around in it. I think that a lot of fantasy has a lot to do with the dragon and little to do with the character. We are the complete opposite. This spectacle will be discovered by generations to come. It is timeless. Every season, there is something bigger than the last season and better than the last season. And here we are, season eight.

It's cinematic. We make ten-hour movies every year. The fact that this is really a full stop, um, in this story is sad because... I think everyone has been so invested in this story that we never want this to come to an end. But you must do it. And it will be good.