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‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7 Air Date Postponed, Filming Delayed

By Nicholas Kitonyi
Published on: 11:10 PST, Jul 6, 2016

Popular HBO TV show Game of Thrones is set for a delayed air date after the show’s creators revealed that filming for the next season adapted from The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring novels by George R.R. Martin could be facing delay.

This is due to the fact that Game of Thrones Season 7 carries a winter/snow theme, which means that unlike in the previous seasons, a majority of it will be filmed in winter conditions.

According to The Verge, the show creators will have to wait for winter to arrive in most of the Game of Thrones filming locations around Europe, which could push the air date further down the line. The show creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss confirmed that they “don’t have an air date yet, but this year will likely be a bit later.”

In a UFC Unfiltered podcast, the pair said that they “are starting [filiming] a bit later because, you know, the end of this season, winter is here, and that means sunny weather doesn’t serve our purposes anymore, so we pushed back everything down the line to get some grim, grey weather, even in the sunnier places that we shoot.”

Game of Thrones may be a couple of seasons away from its penultimate end, but it is far from losing its taste as it continues to fill the fans with intense suspense. The recently concluded Season 6 ended on a major cliffhanger and diehard fans cannot stop to anticipate what could happen in Season 7.

However, following the recent revelation that the next season will be delayed due to weather conditions, fans may have to hold on to their anxiety a little bit longer beyond the usual premiere month of April.

For the last five season of Game of Thrones, the show had premiered within the month of April, including April 24, 12, and 6 for Season 6, 5 and 4, and March 31 for Season 3 while Season 2 premiered on April 1.

However, Game of Thrones currently has two seasons left to go, which the showrunners believe could be summed up in about 13 episodes combined. This means that Season 7 of Game of Thrones could have as little as seven episodes, with the remaining six episodes squeezed in the show’s finale season.

It was announced in April that Game of Thrones Season 7 was renewed for an unknown number of episodes. However, the showrunners have maintained that it would be difficult to have two seasons with a similar number of episodes compared to the previous six seasons.

The indication has been pointing towards fewer episodes, which means that there remains a possibility that given the potentially limited number of episodes for Season 7, the delay for the premiere may not be a long as some Game of Thrones enthusiasts would fear.

Given the theme of Game of Thrones Season 7, the setting depicts an unimaginable picture given the fact that fans have been used to seeing most of the scenes under a scorching sun. Only a few places have been characterized by winter conditions throughout the series. And this justifies the decision to delay filming until the conditions are right.

In the last six seasons of Game of Thrones, places like Winterfell and the Wall have been characterized by chilly environments, but when you begin placing the same images on King’s Landing or Highgarden, then the picture becomes interesting. From the show creators’ point of view, it also becomes challenging given the weather conditions of the filming locations.

This is why the air dates are being pushed further down the line. And once again, the weather determines when things can really kick on and set the ball rolling towards the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 7.

[Image via HBO]

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