'Game of Thrones' production designer says final season will be 'raw and honest': It 'nearly killed me'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Game of Thrones" production designer Deborah Riley warned fans about what to expect during the show's final season. (Getty Images/David Livingston)
Deborah Riley is looking forward to the end of “Game of Thrones.”
Riley has served as the hit HBO fantasy series’ production designer for four years, and says its last season “does not pull any punches.”
“The final season nearly killed me,” she admitted to Deadline. “I realized at a certain point that all of the work in previous seasons was just a warm-up for Season 8.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She added, “By the end, I had nothing left to give and finished knowing I had done everything I could. Season 8 ... is raw and honest and important. I can’t wait to see it.”
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The eighth and last season will have just six episodes for fans to devour. Season 7 consisted of seven episodes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This year, Riley submitted the "Dragonstone" episode for Emmys consideration, with the production designer calling the episode “such a pivotal moment" in the series.
“For the art department, it is the episode in which the whole tapestry of sets of Dragonstone island and castle are seen for the first time," she explained.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Speaking about Emilia Clarke's character, Daenerys Targaryen, Riley added, “There is no talking in the last five minutes of the episode when she first lands on the island and makes her way into the castle, through the Audience Chamber to the Map Room. The sets and locations are so beautifully featured in those last five minutes that it was the clear choice of the episode to submit."