Winter is here, but there’s a price to be paid. We’ve been promised since the pilot ofGame of Thronesthat “Winter is coming,” and now that it’s finally arrived, it comes with a caveat: you’re gonna have to wait. We heard rumblings recently that production onGame of ThronesSeason 7would begin later than usualas showrunnersDavid BenioffandD.B. Weissneed their locations to be more wintery, and now HBO has confirmed as such, not only revealed that filming won’t begin at the end of July like past seasons, but theGame of ThronesSeason 7 premiere date has been pushed back from its normal March/April debut to Summer 2017. That meansGame of Throneswill not be eligible for the 2017 Emmy Awards, and thus will have to sit next year’s ceremony out before returning in 2018.
But that’s not all! Sorry folks, there’s one more piece of bad news:Game of ThronesSeason 7 will consist of just seven episodes, not 10 like past seasons. We knew that this penultimate season might be shorter given that Benioff and Weiss had previously said theyonly had about 13 episodes of story left to tellandthat it’d be spread across two seasons, so this meansGame of ThronesSeason 8—the final season—will likely only be six episodes long, although I’d be surprised if the series finale wasn’t a supersized two-hour episode.
So yeah, this may not be great news forGame of Thronesfans, but it is the result of the most popular show on television winding down. And you know what? They’re going out on their own terms. While fans would no doubt have eagerly consumed three or four more seasons ofGame of Thronesbefore getting tired, Benioff and Weiss are confident that they only have a handful of episodes’ worth of story left to tell, thusGame of Throneswill avoid the risk of wearing out its welcome like some other wildly popular series (coughThe Walking Deadcough). Good on them.
Production onGame of ThronesSeason 7 will be based in Northern Ireland, with additional filming taking place in Spain and Iceland. Hmm, I wonder what could possibly be shooting in the snow-covered landscapes of Iceland?
As previously announced,Alan Taylor(Thor: The Dark World),Jeremy Podeswa(“Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”),Mark Mylod(“High Sparrow”), andMatt Shakman(FargoSeason 1) will be directing Season 7’s episodes. Look for potentially moreGame of Thronesnews during the show’s Comic-Con panel this Friday.
