The cast is sighted all around Belfast for season 8 & Game of Thrones may go all Lord of the Rings with anti-drone eagles

Filming is about to begin for the eighth and final season! As we witness the starring cast convene in Belfast for the read-through and rehearsals, we keep hearing about the extreme levels of security the Game of Thrones production is willing to go to in order to avoid leaks. So, in a related fun story, we get into just how far the company in charge of security may go; including the use of birds of prey to take down snooping drones!


The season eight read-through has taken all the cast to Belfast, where many of them have been seen — though, curiously, it appears that selfies are not allowed this time. Nevertheless, along with the sightings there are photos as well, with Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, John Bradley, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Kristofer Hivju, Iain Glen, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Jacob Anderson, Ben Crompton (Edd is back!) and, next to Nikolaj, someone who looks very much like Pilou Asbæk:

As for the anti-drone story, Belfast Live once reported on the concerns drones have brought to security companies, such as the one in charge of protecting the Paint Hall, the show’s Belfast studios. Drones have become cheaper and better at such a rate that now almost anyone could fly by the Game of Thrones studios and take revealing photos. That’s why drones have been prohibited from flying over Paint Hall studios since 2015 … but, as one may expect, threatening signs have proven to be insufficient.

Noah Price, who is in charge of solving these challenges at one such company, G4S UK, told Belfast Live they “are trying to keep up with the technology just like everyone else” — but the solution isn’t always to match the drone pilots technologically; creativity may be enough. Reportedly, eagles specifically trained to take down drones have been seriously considered for a while now as a way to thwart fans trying to spy on filming.

Apparently, Dutch and Turkish police are already testing these anti-drone eagles, so they are not a Game of Thrones innovation, as appropriate as that would be. Eagles are not dragons, and The Lord of the Rings isn’t Game of Thrones, but it’s still pretty close!