Last week, the Game of Thrones production shut down the Roman ruins of Italica outside Seville, Spain (best known to fans as the Dragonpit). It’ll remain closed until May 18. We still don’t know exactly what the crew will film there during that time, but they’ve slowly been loading in, rebuilding the dais where the characters held their parley in the season 7 finale…

#Itálica A post shared by Carina Nolasco (@carinanolasco1) on Apr 15, 2018 at 6:37am PDT

…and putting up signs warning against drone activity:

So they (finally) arrived this morning. Also drone flights rather expensive in (parts of) Santiponce these days. pic.twitter.com/YyCDNfuZuX — GoTlike Locations (@GoTlikeLocation) May 7, 2018

Up until now, anything the crew has filmed has been of the incidental background variety. However, Spanish-language fansite Los Siete Reinos, which is well-situated to report on things happening in Spain, reports that actors and extras will film material starting today.

We previously thought that the Dragonpit scene wouldn’t involve any extras since we hadn’t seen any casting notices. However, LSR reports that ModExpoR International, the company HBO uses to find extras in the area, is simply putting out calls to extras who have already appeared in Game of Thrones rather than hiring new ones. The presence of extras could help explain why the production will be in Italica for such a long time. For reference, the Dragonpit scene from “The Dragon and the Wolf” took a week to film. Assuming that shooting on the season 8 scene(s) lasts until May 18, that’s twice as long, and that’s not counting what the crew has already shot. Extras, whether they’re used for a fight scene or something else, always make things more complicated.

As for what main actors will take part in the scene, the fans have proven incredibly resourceful. Some noticed that Ollie Jackson, Maisie Williams’ (Arya Stark) boyfriend, posted a picture of her on “holiday” to his Instagram:

Look at the reflection in Williams’ glasses. Eagle-eyed have identified it as the Hotel Alfonso XIII. That hotel is located in Seville, and was where many cast members stayed during the filming of the season 7 Dragonpit scene. There is no hiding from this fanbase.

So Arya will likely appear in King’s Landing, and at the Dragonpit, come season 8. Feel free to speculate as to how and why. As for other cast members, we know that Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) is in New York while Kit Harington (Jon Snow) is reportedly in Wales, but there’s still plenty of time for them and others to show up.

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