Game of Thrones

After eight years, 67 episodes and thousands of grisly deaths, Game of Thrones all comes down to this — six extra-long final episodes where we’ll find out whether the remaining characters can fight off the undead army marching from the North, or whether we’ll be saying goodbye to them like we did Sean Bean, Richard Madden and countless other cast members before.

Before all that, though, there’s plenty of interpersonal drama to keep the high and mighty of Westeros busy as Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) receive a slightly frosty welcome at Winterfell, and Sam (John Bradley) struggles with the gobsmacking secret he has to reveal to his best friend.

Don’t expect too much big-budget action in this episode — apparently, the series’ feature-length third episode will feature Thrones’ biggest and most impressive battle yet, and that’s a couple of weeks off — but with the end in sight, there probably won’t be much wasted time, either, as the Starks gather their allies for the final battle. Winter is here, at last.