'Game of Thrones' Season 8 News: Filming to Start Next Summer; Series Likely to Return 2019
The wait for "Game of Thrones" season 8 may be much longer than fans had initially expected.
HBO's hit fantasy drama is now approaching its farewell season, and many viewers have high expectations on the show's upcoming installment. Production might spend as much time filming the show as much as the previous seasons, leading fans to believe "Game of Thrones" will return sometime around 2019.
Cast member Liam Cunningham recently caught up with TV Guide and he offered some details about the program's highly anticipated season 8. "[The episodes are] definitely going to be bigger and what I hear is longer," he shared. "We're filming right up until the summer. When you think about it, up until last season we'd have six months to do ten episodes, so we're [doing] way more than that for six episodes."
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The Irish actor added, "So that obviously will translate into longer episodes."
When asked about why the final season is taking much longer than usual, Cunningham's fellow cast member Iain Glen told Radio Times that most of the scenes show main characters in the same territory. Since they are all in the same storylines now, production can no longer use two filming units.
Rumor has it that HBO is pulling all the stops for the show's final season. Each episode will allegedly cost $15 million to produce. Meanwhile, HBO has already made the first casting call for the next installment. The network is currently looking for two actors who could play the mysterious roles of a "northern" boy and girl. Further details about the new characters are being kept under wraps.
The eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones" is expected to premiere 2019 on HBO. An exact release date has yet to be announced.
