GAME OF THRONES Season 7 Won't Air Until Summer 2017; Shorter Episode Count Confirmed By HBO
Well, this is pretty f***ing depressing. HBO has confirmed today that we won't see Game of Thrones in 2017 until much later than expected, and as if that wasn't bad enough, we're getting less episodes too!
HBO has confirmed that some major changes are coming to Westeros, and those having nothing to do with Dany's impending arrival. The cable network revealed today (via Entertainment Weekly) that season seven of the critically acclaimed series won't return until next summer, meaning we'll be waiting quite a bit longer than the April premiere date we've grown used to in recent years.
To make matters worse, the next season will consist of only seven episodes instead of the usual ten. To be fair though, it's better to have a few less instalments to look forward to that the story being stretched out for the sake of it. Another interesting titbit is that shooting will take place in Northern Ireland, Spain, and Iceland, especially as the latter has always been used for scenes set North of the Wall. That no doubt points to us spending more time there as the battle with the Night King looms.
"Now that winter has arrived on Game of Thrones, executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss felt that the storylines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing," said Casey Bloys, president, HBO programming. "Instead of the show’s traditional spring debut, we’re moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule." This premiere date could take the show out of Emmy consideration next year.