The "Game of Thrones" season 7 air date has been confirmed for summer 2017. The upcoming installment of the series will only have seven episodes.
The Wall Street Journal reported that HBO confirmed on Monday that production for the popular series would start later than usual in order to have colder weather conditions for the show. This would mean that the "Game of Thrones" season 7 air date would start later than usual as well.
"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," HBO president of programming Casey Bloys said in a statement. "Instead of the show's traditional spring debut, we're moving the debut to summer to accommodate the shooting schedule."
Production for "GoT" season 7 would begin later this summer. Locations for the filming would be in Northern Ireland as well as Spain and Iceland.
"Game of Thrones" season 7 will not only deviate from its usual air date, in spring, but it will also only have seven episodes. This is three episodes less than the usual 10 episodes per season.
According to Variety, the late "Game of Thrones" season 7 air date would mean that the show would miss the opportunity for the 2017 Emmys. The series would have to wait until 2018.
In a previous report by Variety, "GoT" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed that it is highly likely that there would just be 13 episodes left for the series. Since season 7 has seven episodes, the potential last season, season 8, would have just six episodes.
"I think we're down to our final 13 episodes after this season. We're heading into the final lap," Benioff said. "That's the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone, but that's what we're looking at."
