According to the scripts for Game of Thrones season 7, Cersei Lannister really is pregnant. Thrones fans have had an extra-long wait for the final season of HBO’s A Song of Ice and Fire adaptation, with 2018 being the first Westeros-free year in the show’s history. Fortunately, Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season has been confirmed to premiere in April 2019 and audiences will finally find out who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne, whether or not the oncoming White Walkers can be defeated and how nauseous Jon Snow will feel when he finds out Daenerys is his aunt.

Another major question left in the wake of Game of Thrones season 7 is whether or not Cersei Lannister was really pregnant. In the episode “Eastwatch”, Cersei told her brother-with-benefits, Jaime, that she was pregnant with the couple’s fourth child and the same revelation later convinced Tyrion, the other Lannister sibling, to strike some sort of deal with his sister for the sake of his future niece or nephew. Cersei isn’t exactly a reliable character however, and she often uses emotional manipulation to achieve her goals. As such, many fans understandably thought Cersei might by lying about her pregnancy to try and buy the loyalty of Jaime and Tyrion.

The series’ official scripts have now proven this theory to be false, confirming that Cersei’s pregnancy is genuine. A number of scripts from past seasons of Game of Thrones are currently open for public viewing at the Writers Guild of America West’s library (via Vanity Fair) and reveal a number of secrets that weren’t explicitly stated or shown on-screen. In the case of Cersei’s pregnancy, the scripts for the scene in “Eastwatch” mentioned above and the moment where Tyrion finds out about the child in the season finale both confirm that Cersei was not lying. This is shown in the direction for the scene where Cersei reveals her pregnancy to Jaime:

Similarly, the script for the scene between Cersei and Tyrion reads:

“She nods, it’s true… Her happiness is contagious. They get another chance at family. This time with no one standing in their way.”

Both pieces of direction demonstrate that Cersei was not trying to manipulate her brothers by lying about being pregnant, and there is genuinely another Lannister child on the way. After all, Cersei wouldn’t feel the genuine happiness described in her scene with Jaime if the baby was a ruse and it can be inferred from the Tyrion scene that Cersei doesn’t expect or intend her brother to find out about the pregnancy at all.

“Tyrion sees what he sees and knows what it means. He can hardly believe it, but knows it to be true… She stays silent for too long, long enough to tell him that he’s right. And once she knows he knows, she can think of nothing else to say.”

It’s perhaps important to remember that while these lines come from the genuine Game of Thrones scripts, and they do prove the intentions of the writers at the time, Cersei’s pregnancy hasn’t been conclusively confirmed on the show itself. As such, it’s theoretically possible that Benioff and Weiss could alter course in season 8 and change Cersei’s story, making the pregnancy fake, however since this was clearly not the original plan, such a radical 180-flip is perhaps unlikely.

Just because Cersei’s pregnancy is real, that also doesn’t necessarily mean she won’t use this new child to her advantage in any way possible. While Cersei may not have intended for Tyrion to find out about it, Jaime’s loyalty to his sister was certainly wavering in season 7 and mentioning the pregnancy may have just helped the Queen keep her brother around for a few extra episodes.

More: Game of Thrones Season 8 Spoilers Roundup

Game of Thrones season 8 premieres in April 2019 on HBO.

Source: Vanity Fair