Spoilers Beyond!
The beginning of the end of Game of Thrones has begun. The premiere of Season 8 was filled with reunions between characters who haven’t seen each other in years–some in almost the entire run of the show. People are being thrown back together at Winterfell as the army of the dead marches south, throwing into contrast the long journeys and major developments all of those characters have endured over the last seven seasons.
Throughout the premiere episode, “Winterfell,” Game of Thrones creates contrast by mirroring moments from the very first episode of the series, “Winter is Coming”; the first and last time all of these people were together in the same place at the same time. Imagery, music, characters, and moments are all used to create direct callbacks to the beginning of the story as we approach its end.
There are a huge number of parallels between the first episode of Game of Thrones and the premiere of Season 8–so many, in fact, that you might have missed a few. Here are all the callbacks, Easter eggs, and shoutouts from the pilot that we caught in the premiere. If you’ve caught anything we’ve missed, feel free to share it in the comments below.