'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Air Date News: Filming Schedule for Final Year Set; Premieres 2019?
The current run of "Game of Thrones" on HBO will be over in a week but the cast and crew will soon be back on the set to begin work on season 8. The final season, however, might not premiere on television until 2019 and there's a good reason why.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaimie Lannister) revealed in an interview with Collider that "Game of Thrones" season 8 will begin filming in Belfast in October. So, far he has no idea about how the upcoming season will play out as the scripts have not yet been released. But like the show's millions of fans, he is also curious about what is going to happen.
"[We] get the scripts a month before we start shooting, or six weeks [before], and then you know what's going to happen that season," he said.
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"Game of Thrones" season 8 will consist of six episodes only, as opposed to the usual 10 episodes and seven episodes for season 7. But the filming schedule will still be a long one, with an even longer post-production schedule.
Speculations are that if production will keep its more meticulous pace, then the premiere date for season 8 won't happen until 2019.
Part of the reason for this delay is that HBO bosses do not want to rush the final season of "Game of Thrones" for the sake of putting new episodes out. The most popular series currently on air should get its proper send-off.
Meanwhile, Coster-Waldau's TV brother Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) revealed that he usually reads the last page of the script first as soon as he receives it. Every actor on "Game of Thrones" is always anxious to see who gets killed off on the show.
"Then I work my way back to make sure I've survived another week," Dinklage said.
HBO will air the last episode "Game of Thrones" season 7 on Sunday, Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. EDT.
