Countdown to Game of Thrones final season debut
Winter is almost here. On Sunday, the final season of Game of Thrones, the HBO series with an almost cultic worldwide following, makes a debut.
To understand just how big this show is, the New York Times has been counting down days, hours, minutes and seconds to the final season of this popular show.
The newspaper is also offering fans a newsletter containing recaps and explainers of past seasons as well as selected must-watch episodes of Season 7.
In the past few weeks, there have been several thematic events surrounding this show, which is HBO’s most watched and celebrated TV series.
BLOOD DRIVE
For instance, mid-March this year, HBO teamed up with the Red Cross to conduct a worldwide blood drive campaign dubbed ‘Bleed for the Throne’, a term that GOT fans (Diehard fans never call it by its full name) will understand.
In Kenya, the blood drive took place between 14 and 16 March at the National Archives in Nairobi. Donors got a Game of Thrones memorabilia T-shirt and a chance to win a trip to the screening of the season premiere of the final season of the show.
Brands have also been fast to capitalise on the GOT craze. A few weeks ago, for instance, spirit maker, Diageo, partnered with HBO to launch a limited edition of a Scotch whisky, White Walker, by Johnnie Walker.
In the series, White Walkers are ‘walking dead-like’ creatures intent on wiping out mankind. Kenya was the second country in the world to launch the limited edition spirit after South Africa.
FAN CLUBS
There are numerous GOT fan clubs worldwide with thousands of followers. One such club is Tokyo Game of Thrones Meetup, Bangalore Game of Thrones Club, which regularly organises watch parties and others such as the Chicago and Argentina Game of Thrones drinking and meetup clubs.
In London, there’s one that calls itself “The Children of Dragons,” paying homage to one of the main characters, Queen Daenerys Targaryen, who commandeers fire-breathing dragons.
In Frankfurt, Germany, there’s a group that calls itself A Meetup of Ice and Fire, a phrase that needs no explaining to GOT fans.