Casts have slowly converged in Belfast, Ireland, the studio center for "Game of Thrones," with production of Season 8 nearing. Most of the major casts have been spotted out and about in the city, including Kristofer Hivju, who plays Tormund Giantsbane. This is good news for Tormund fans, since it could mean that he survived the attack on The Wall in the season 7 finale. However, there has been no sighting of Richard Dormer, who plays Beric Dondarrion. Should fans be worried?
Season 7 finale recap
“Game of Thrones” gave an intense cliffhanger at the end of season seven, when the Night King and the resurrected Viserion attacked The Wall, paving way for the White Walkers to march North.
The fates of Tormund and Beric were left up in the air after they witnessed the wall crumble. Did they make it out alive to warn Winterfell about the oncoming threat?
Tormund is alive
Kristofer Hivju has been mum on his character’s fate in past interviews, declining to comment whether Tormund is alive or dead. However, a fan spotted the actor in Belfast recently, which confirms that the fire-maned Wilding is alive in Season 8. Hivju was with fellow “Game of Thrones” cast Ben Crompton, who plays Dolorous Edd, when a fan snapped their photo. The image has since been deleted on the fan’s Instagram account. According to Buzzfeed, the casts are already in Belfast for the read-through of the season 8 script.
NEW: cast members arriving in belfast for game of thrones season eight pic.twitter.com/l91FGwJhiv
— Game Of Thrones News (@gameofupdates) October 9, 2017
However, it remains unknown how Tormund survived the attack. He and Beric were last seen standing on top of The Wall while it slowly crumbled. According to a fan theory, they made it out alive because they ran across The Wall and not down the steps, where the other Night Watchers fell to their death.
Is Beric alive?
With confirmation that Tormund is alive, does this mean that Beric is too? There has been no report or photos of Richard Dormer arriving in Belfast yet. It is likely that fans will not see any photos of the casts in Belfast moving forward, since they leave room for spoilers. This certainly worries fans that Beric did not survive the attack on The Wall.
However, the past seasons of “Game of Thrones” reminded us one thing about Beric and that is he has many lives (hypothetically speaking, that is). He has been killed several times, six times to be exact. The Hound mentioned this in a scene in season seven episode six, when Gendry complained with the Brotherhood about being sold to Melisandre.