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When Will ‘Game Of Thrones’ Be Back? Season 7 Premiere Date Looms — And It’s Later Than Normal

By Effie Orfanides
Published on: 08:11 PST, Jul 18, 2016

When will Game of Thrones be back on HBO?

That’s a question that has been on the minds of millions of fans, many of whom realize that Season 7 wouldn’t be airing until sometime next year. Most Game of Thrones aficionados expected a return date sometime in the spring, which is usually what happens each year. However, according to Variety, Season 7 of Game Of Thrones will premiere much later than expected — in the summer of 2017.

Khaleesi and Tyrion [Image via HBO]

“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. Instead of the show’s traditional spring debut, we’re moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule,” said Casey Bloys, the president of HBO programming.

Game of Thrones fans were very surprised to hear that Season 7 will be much shorter than what they have been used to. According to the New York Post, the final two seasons of Game Of Thrones will be comprised of fewer episodes. Season 7, for example, will air over the course of seven weeks. That’s right, there will only be seven episodes once the show returns to HBO. Game of Thrones Season 8 is also expected to be short, perhaps only six episodes.

That means that fans only have about 14 episodes left of one of the best series to ever air on television!

Of course, these final episodes are going to pack a lot of punch (read: there will be a lot of death) and are sure to be just as epic as the first six seasons.

When Game Of Thrones Season 7 returns, you can expect to see much of the existing cast in just about every episode. Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Khaleesi), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Sophie Turner (Sans Stark), and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) are all on the cast list and will all have pivotal roles in the upcoming season.

As Variety points out, bringing Game of Thrones back to HBO a little later means that the show will “miss the eligibility window for the 2017 Emmys.” This year, Game of Thrones showed up in a major way for the 2016 Emmy nominations.

“Game of Thrones scored 23 Emmy nominations last week, leading the race with nods for stars Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and first-time nominees Kit Harington and Maisie Williams, along with nominations for directing, writing and drama series, among others.”

Game of Thrones spoilers for Season 7 have been posted online since the Season 6 finale. Many people believe that these will be a big twist due to a fan theory proving true on the show’s finale: Jon Snow is actually a Targaryen. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, one pretty important tidbit involves what Jon’s mother, Lyanna Stark, whispered to her brother, Ned Stark, before she died.

Here is what many fans believe was said.

“No, no water. Listen to me, Ned. His name is… if Robert finds out, he’ll kill him. You know he will. You have to protect him. Promise me, Ned. Promise me.”

When Game of Thrones Season 7 returns, you can bet that this “secret” will be flushed out and that Jon Snow will learn who he really is. Or maybe he won’t — it all depends on how the season plays out.

Are you excited for the final two seasons of Game Of Thrones?

[Image via HBO]

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