Game of Thrones finale will be the 'finest hour' yet

* This story contains spoilers.

Fans of fantasy drama Game of Thrones can expect the best season finale ever next week, with showrunners promising the "finest hour" of the series so far.

David Benioff and Dan Weiss are sure that The Children will surpass viewers' high expectations when it airs next Monday as the tenth episode of an acclaimed fourth series.

"It's the best finale we've ever done, bar none," the pair said in a statement.

"The performances from our cast, the direction from Alex Graves, the VFX work, the new cues from Ramin Djawadi - all of it came together in perhaps the finest hour we've produced."

Benioff and Weiss added that they are so "immensely proud" of the finale that there are concerns no future episode will better it.

"We're a little intimidated by the episode because now we have to get back to the business of season five and figure out a way to top it," they continued.

This week's show, The Watchers on the Wall, saw Jon Snow show his mettle at the epic battle of Castle Black in season four's most cinematic instalment.

But much more action can be expected in The Children, slightly longer than usual at 66-minutes, which looks set to break from past narrative patterns of quieter finales.

Fans are still waiting for news on the fate of Tyrion Lannister after he was sentenced to death at the end of the eighth episode, while Jon Snow is on a mission to kill Mance Rayder.

Last season's Game of Thrones finale became the most-pirated TV show of 2013 when 5.9 million individuals illegally downloaded it.

If this year's hype is anything to go by, The Children could be the most popular episode to date.

- Independent