HBO Teases Game of Thrones‘ Biggest Battle Yet in New Photos

Only rarely do we bother you with photos from an upcoming episode of a TV show, but this upcoming Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones, the third of its ongoing eighth and final season, is poised to be one of 2019’s single most jaw-dropping pieces of television, and we all need to start steeling ourselves right the hell now.

HBO has played Game of Thrones’ grand finale extremely close to its breastplate, even going so far as to withhold episode titles until the time of their broadcast. But we’ll hazard a guess that this week’s one-hour, 22-minute episode—the longest remaining in the season—will be called “The Battle of Winterfell.” It’s the climactic confrontation between the human army, led by Daenerys and Aegon Targaryen (née Jon Snow), and the army of the dead, led by the Night King, that both “Winterfell” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” were spent building up to. And if we had to hazard another guess or two, it would be that this is the battle scene so intense, the Game of Thrones crew spent 55 straight nights shooting it, and that a heaping helping of our favorite characters aren’t going to make it out alive.

Brace yourself for the Battle of Winterfell via HBO’s first-look photos from this week’s episode below, and for you Game of Thrones obsessives, join us in taking a look back at a few of our favorite moments in the show’s history here.