There was little chance Game of Thrones season eight was going to premiere in 2018. For one thing, there was already a lengthy delay between seasons six and seven, and that’s before the episodes were reportedly upgraded to the length of feature films. Also, filming didn’t begin until October 2017, and the cast is still busy shooting the six-episode season. But HBO never made the premiere date — heck, even the premiere year — official, at least until today. Sort of.
“Game of Thrones will return for its six-episode, eighth and final season in 2019,” HBO announced in a press release. “Directors for the new season are: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, David Nutter, and Miguel Sapochnik. Writers for the new season are: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, and Dave Hill.” (For what it’s worth: that’s 73 episodes of Game of Thrones, only four of which were directed by one woman, Michelle MacLaren.)
Nutter has been with Thrones since season two and directed “The Rains of Castamere,” while Sapochnik was behind the camera for many of the show’s biggest spectacle episodes, including “Hardhome” and “Battle of the Bastards.” Co-showrunners Benioff and Weiss have written numerous episodes, including the season seven finale “The Dragon and the Wolf,” but the series finale will be their first co-directing credit. Seems like a good time to start.
Remember, Jason Momoa promised that season eight is “going to be the greatest thing that’s ever aired on TV,” so if another show wants to do the greatest thing that’s ever aired on TV, it better do it in 2018.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
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