'Game of Thrones': EW Cover Reveals First Official Photo of Season 8

The end is almost upon us, as HBO is preparing to release the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones in 2019. The filming of the new season in Ireland has been shrouded with complete and utter secrecy, but the new cover of Entertainment Weekly has finally given us the first glimpse of what's to come.

On Friday, EW unveiled the cover of it's newest issue, which puts Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) front and center, standing side by side. This relationship has been, and will likely continue to be, the talk of the town going into the final season, so it's fitting that they would be featured in the first photo.

You can take a look at the photo below!

"It's about all of these disparate characters coming together to face a common enemy, dealing with their own past, and defining the person they want to be in the face of certain death," co-executive producer Bryan Cogman told EW. "It's an incredibly emotional haunting bittersweet final season and I think it honors very much what [author George R.R. Martin] set out to do — which is flipping this kind of story on its head."

The final episode, which will air next year, will consist of a total of six episodes. Despite the lower than normal episode count, the final season still took 10 months to shoot.

"It's relentless; scenes that would have been a one-day shoot five years ago are now a five-day shoot," said Harington. "They want to get it right, they want to shoot everything every single way so they have options."

Clarke agreed with her new on-screen lover, saying that everything about the show's final season was "more intense" than the seven that have come before.

"[Camera] checks take longer, costumes are a bit better, hair and makeup a bit sharper — every choice, every conversation, every attitude, has this air of 'this is it.' Everything feels more intense."

Are you excited for the final season of Game of Thrones to arrive? How do you think it will end for Jon and Daenerys? Let us know your best theories and predictions in the comments below!

Game of Thrones returns for its eighth and final season on HBO in 2019.