Uh ... you forgetting something, HBO?
On Thursday the TV network gifted the citizens of the realm of Twitter with 20 new “Game of Thrones” Season 8 posters, which apparently included Sansa Stark’s (Sophie Turner) new battle gear, the long-awaited return of Melisandre (Carice van Houten) and a Jon Snow (Kit Harington) callback to the original image of Ned Stark (Sean Bean) on the Iron Throne.
But after viewing the posters, we had one question:
Where in the Seven Hells is Gendry?
Here we go a-Gendry ...
Actor Joe Dempsie was already part of a “Game of Thrones” missing person case after he rowed out of our lives in Season 3 as Gendry escaped being sacrificed by Melisandre. An endless stream of jokes and memes about where he could be took over the internet until Gendry finally returned in Season 7. Even Dempsie had some fun with it:
But his exclusion from the Season 8 posters is just odd, especially considering the images are all about who you expect or want to end up on the Iron Throne. As the illegitimate son of murdered King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), Gendry perhaps has a better shot than most. I mean, Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) is in the character posters, for crying out loud. No offense to Grey Worm, but I probably have more of a chance of ruling the Seven Kingdoms than he does. (He already has the Unsullied to worry about and probably isn’t looking for extracurriculars.)
The theory: A diversion is coming?
Perhaps Dempsie just wasn’t available for the photo shoot? Hey, people have busy schedules. But there’s a more convincing theory than thinking our guy could not find a few seconds to strike a pose for the biggest show on the planet.
What if it’s a diversion?
Again, Gendry isn’t just a contender for the Iron Throne. As the son of Robert, he’s one of the main contenders. Excluding him here (and in the other Season 8 photos) seems like a way to make us forget that.
And if the show wants us to forget that, it just lends credence to the theory that his claim to the throne is even stronger than we thought: What if Gendry isn’t a bastard but the legitimate son of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and Robert?
In this clip from Season 1, Episode 2, Cersei talks about how she “lost” her first boy to a “fever”:
For a long time, it has been theorized that Gendry was Cersei’s son, the “black-haired beauty” she said she lost. Dempsie himself is even into the theory. When he returned to Season 7, he told HuffPost, “As far as Gendry is concerned, the big unanswered question is who is his mother, and I think the Cersei theory really blows so much out of the water.”
If anyone knows about water, it’s our favorite little rower, Gendry. Was he left out of the posters on purpose? Is this to intentionally throw us off? We’ll leave you to ponder that question as you check out the characters who got posters below: