Game of Thrones cast 'won't be given scripts' for season 8

The cast of Game of Thrones might have to wait as long as the rest of us to find out what happens in its final season.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister in the HBO fantasy drama, has claimed the actors are "not even going to get the script" ahead of filming, in an attempt to clamp down on the the plot leaks that have blighted the show in recent months.

This August, hackers using the name "Mr Smith" leaked the scripts for five episodes from the most recent season online. The attack followed another major leak last November, in which plot details for the season where shared on Reddit.

In recent years, the actors have been sent copies of the scripts in advance by email. But according to Coster-Waldau, for the forthcoming eighth season they will never even see their lines.

In an interview with Norwegian-Swedish TV show Skavlan, the actor claimed the cast would be fitted with concealed earpieces, which will prompt them with their dialogue one line at a time.

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However, Liam Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones, has given an interview which casts doubt on Coster-Waldau's claims. Speaking to IGN, Cunningham said he had already received the scripts for all six episodes in the show's final series – but that he had been unable to read them. "I can't open them, because of all the security," he said.

It is not the first report of unusual tactics designed to keep the show's plot a secret. Last month, HBO chief said the show's producers were planning to film a series of false endings, solely in order to confuse would-be leakers.

"They're going to shoot multiple versions so that nobody really know what happens," Bloys said. "You have to do that on a long show. Because when you're shooting something, people know."

Such heightened security measures are becoming increasingly common in TV.  For this year's Twin Peaks revival, the cast – with the exception of the show's star Kyle MacLachlan – were reportedly given censored scripts showing only their own lines and cues, with all other dialogue blacked out.