Game of Thrones final season to open with Daenerys's arrival in Winterfell

The eighth and last season of the series is scheduled to premiere in the first half of 2019

Details have started to emerge about what's in store for the eighth season of Game of Thrones – including specific details of the scene that will open the series's final chapter.

While HBO has yet to release a trailer for the upcoming episodes, Entertainment Weekly, which has dedicated the cover of its latest issue to the show, has revealed just what will happen in the first seconds of the new season.

Daenerys Targaryen, Emilia Clarke's beloved dragon-ruling character, will be seen arriving at Winterfell with her army. The sequence serves as a callback to the show's pilot, in which King Robert Baratheon made his way to the castle with his own procession.

"What follows is a thrilling and tense intermingling of characters – some of whom have never previously met, many who have messy histories – as they all prepare to face the inevitable invasion of the Army of the Dead," Entertainment Weekly noted.

Viewers can also brace themselves for some tension between Sansa Stark and Jon Snow, since the former "isn’t thrilled that Jon bent the knee to his fancy new Targaryen girlfriend, at least not at first".

Jon and Daenerys had sex at the end of season seven, unaware – as far as viewers are concerned – of their shared Targaryen ancestry.

Season eight will also feature "a confrontation with the Army of the Dead that's expected to be the most sustained action sequence ever made for television or film", according to Entertainment Weekly.

Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss tried their hardest to keep details of the final season secret during filming. One actor recount being given the instruction: "Don’t even take a photo of your boots on the ground of the set."

While his castmates Clarke and Sophie Turner quickly read the final season's scripts after receiving them, Harington didn't want to read anything ahead of time. He ended up getting emotional during the last table read, shedding tears twice.