https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/arts ... &smtyp=cur
‘Game of Thrones’ Will Shoot Multiple Endings to Prevent Spoilers
By JEREMY EGNERSEPT. 14, 2017
Plagued by leaks during its recently concluded seventh season, “Game of Thrones” is resorting to an old TV trick to preserve secrecy about next season’s series finale.
The producers will shoot several different endings of the final episode, Casey Bloys, HBO’s programming president, said at a recent event.
“You have to do that on a long show. Because when you’re shooting something, people know,” he said, according to a local report. “So they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that there’s no real definitive answer until the end.”
Mr. Bloys, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., made the remarks last week during an interview event at that city’s Moravian College, but they weren’t publicized until the Morning Call newspaper reported them Wednesday.
HBO refused to comment on production details. But David Benioff and D.B. Weiss the creators of “Game of Thrones,” have previously acknowledged they would take steps to keep viewers in the dark about the final season.
The tactic of shooting multiple outcomes to thwart would-be leakers goes back at least to “Dallas,” which filmed several possible resolutions of its infamous “Who Shot J.R.?” mystery in 1980. (Spoiler alert: It was Kristin.) “The Sopranos” and “Breaking Bad” each shot more than one version of their endings.
More recently, “The Walking Dead” filmed death scenes for all 11 possible victims of Negan’s bat after leaving viewers hanging at the end of Season 6.
It’s hard to fault “Game of Thrones” for planning such preventive measures. Multiple scripts and episodes were leaked online during Season 7 as a result of hacks and other skulduggery, as well as gaffes from HBO’s partners. Episode 6 was briefly posted by accident on the HBO Nordic and HBO Espana platforms, and then quickly spread online.
None of this kept the global fantasy hit from reaching new highs in viewing in Season 7. The season finale was its most-watched episode ever.
Production on the six-episode final season of “Game of Thrones” will begin in October and run into the following summer. The season will debut later in 2018 or perhaps even in 2019.