While readers of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series by George R.R. Martin have long waited for its last few installments to get officially published, its TV series counterpart “Game of Thrones” will also experience delays in its eighth and final season.
According to Entertainment Weekly, HBO head of programming Casey Bloys confirmed that “Game of Thrones” season 8 could be delayed until 2019. Based on the schedule arranged by the hit fantasy series’ showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the final installment could be released in 2018 or 2019.
“They have to write the episodes and figure out the production schedule. We’ll have a better sense of that once they get further into the writing,” Bloys explained.
Fans of the award-winning series are already waiting a little longer for “Game of Thrones” season 7. While the past six installments made their premiere in April, the new installment will only begin on July 16. Furthermore, the final two seasons have been confirmed to be shorted compared to past seasons. While “Game of Thrones” season 7 will be comprised of seven episodes, season 8 will consist of six. All the previous seasons had 10 episodes each.
One of the show's stars, Emilia Clarke, recently opened up about her character, Daenerys Targaryen, saying: "Right now, I'm sort of feeling - with her - optimistic. She'll probably need some help, though.” She also shared her feelings about the fan-fave Mother of Dragons, saying that she will “definitely be disappointed if she doesn't make it."
While “Game of Thrones” cast and crew members have been dropping spoilers, the show’s director of photography has hinted at “epic” scenes coming to the fantasy series. After working on several hit TV shows, such as HBO series “Westworld,” Robert McLachlan revealed that “Game of Thrones” season 7 will certainly stop audiences with its most extraordinary moments yet.
"Season seven is going to be fantastic. We did a show-stopping, pretty epic scene in Europe just before I came back, and it's really going to be great," McLachlan said.
The Emmy-nominated photography director also revealed that although there are fewer episodes for “Game of Thrones” season 7, the producers' budget remains the same, allowing every individual episode to be more remarkable than ever before. "I think you're going to see - whereas before, we'd have one or two show-stopping, major episodes per season - this season, probably at least half of them are whoppers,” he added.
Aside from the HBO series, fans are looking forward to George R.R. Martin finishing up the sixth installment in the “ASOIAF” book series. Although the fifth book was released six years ago, there remains no announcement for the release of the upcoming “The Winds of Winter.” Such delay has brought on various speculations; while some have guessed that the renowned author will finish the sixth book by 2018, others are predicting that “The Winds of Winter,” which is not the last book in the series, will be released in 2019.
"Game of Thrones" season 7 is set to premiere on HBO on July 16, 2017.
