There may be a surprise pregnancy at the center of Game of Thrones‘ upcoming season 8. Little is known about what fans can expect from the popular fantasy series, which is not scheduled to return to HBO until sometime in 2019.

Based on the Song Of Ice And Fire saga by author George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones has proven a surprising hit for HBO since it first premiered in 2011. A rare critical and commercial success for a show set in the sword-and-sorcery genre, the series has won 38 Emmy Awards including two consecutive wins for Outstanding Drama Series in 2015 and 2016. Among other honors, the show has won three Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation and a 2011 Peabody Award.

The rumor was first reported as a Blind Item on TVLine‘s website. Without naming Game of Thrones specifically, the site claimed to have confirmed that “a wildly popular, Emmy-winning series on a premium cable network is plotting a pregnancy twist that promises to be… surprising is an understatement.” The report also said that this series was not planned to return until 2019. Game of Thrones would certainly fit the bill on both counts. The questions remains, however, as to which two characters are involved in the pregnancy and what would constitute this turn of events being so shocking as to render the word “surprising” an understatement?


The smart money lies on Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, who were shown making love in the season 7 finale. This came following the revelation that, unbeknownst to either Jon or Daenerys, Jon Snow is truly Aegon Targaryen – legitimate heir to the throne and Daenerys’ nephew. While an incestuous relationship producing children is hardly shocking by the standards of this show (twins Cersei and Jaime Lannister have famously had several children together at this point), it would complicate the succession issues even further given that Daenerys’ entire campaign for the throne is based on her being the sole remaining heir of the Targaryen dynasty and Jon swore fealty to Daenerys under the belief that he is the eldest male heir of House Stark.

Daenerys being pregnant in itself would be shocking, even if her depicted relations with Jon Snow did not bare fruit. Ever since losing her husband and son, Daenerys has been laboring under the presumption that she is unable to have children. Of course, as Jon Snow pointed out, that declaration came from the same witch woman responsible for killing Daenerys’s husband and child as part of a bid for revenge and she might not have been entirely truthful.

The TVLine hint seems to further tease at this, suggesting that fans will “probably make an immediate assumption about the identity of the baby daddy.” The article also promises that the revelation will be “both dramatic and darkly comedic.” Regardless of whether or not this rumor is true, it will be a long wait until 2019 for fans to find out the truth of things.

Game of Thrones will return sometime in 2019.