It’s official: “Game of Thrones” fans have to wait at least a year for its eighth and final season to find out who will win the Iron Throne.
HBO announced Thursday that new episodes will not be ready until 2019 ? a prospect network brass hinted at when Season 7 concluded last summer. Sophie Turner, who plays the increasingly hardheaded Sansa Stark, let slip that she fully expected the series to return in 2019, but this is the first HBO has affirmed the timeline.
Season 8 will be the shortest yet, consisting of just six episodes, although some could be extra long. Season 7 saw the series’ shortest-ever and longest-ever episodes, at 50 minutes and 80 minutes, respectively.
Although fans waited a couple extra months for the most recent installment ? because the wintry setting required film crews to push production later in the year ? the show usually debuts in the spring. The network has not specified precisely when in 2019 to expect a finale, but there’s a good chance HBO will revert back to a springtime release date for Season 8.
Photo cred: HBO