Game of Thrones has an alternate ending, according to Tormund Giantsbane

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But we'll probably never see it

(Image credit: HBO)

Kristofer Hivju, who portrayed Tormund Giantsbane in HBO's Game of Thrones, says the series has an alternate ending we'll probably never see. Fans of Game of Thrones and anyone within a hundred-mile radius of pop-culture knows a good chunk of the community would gleefully accept an alternate ending, but it doesn't sound like the Thrones crew filmed a proper alternate ending.

Talking with Metro at a Game of Thrones event, the actor said the scene was shot "mostly for fun," adding that he probably wasn't at liberty to say anymore. Asked which characters appeared in the scene, Hivju declined to share. "I won’t tell you," he laughed. "But it was fun."

Hivju himself said he didn't see the controversial ending coming. And indeed, if there's one thing the Thrones community can agree on about season 8, it's that we didn't see it coming. So many of the established rules and conventions of Thrones-ian storytelling seemed abandoned long before Bran Stark, the last character anyone expected to become king, donned the crown.

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On the same day the Naomi Watts-led Game of Thrones prequel was canceled, HBO ordered a different prequel straight to series. The Targaryen-centric House of the Dragon will focus on the events detailed in the supplementary Fire & Blood novel, which tells the story of Aegon's Conquest all the way through the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.

Prepare your living room for House of the Dragon with a new TV set, and save a bundle in the process by keeping up with GamesRadar's guide to the best Black Friday TV deals. 

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.