As best we could tell, the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones would commence production in October, for the usual five-to-six months of filming until March 2018. Although the first part still holds true, if new reports are accurate, season eight will go through an extended filming schedule, which gives us clues to a possible air date.
In an interview with HBO programming president Casey Bloys and executives from other networks, The Hollywood Reporter cites unnamed sources who claim “the fantasy drama’s eighth season is slated to begin in October and run as late as August 2018.”
THR goes on to warn “HBO would neither confirm nor deny the rumors,” but it’s still worthy of note: it would mean the usual filming schedule would be almost doubled for season eight, going on for as long as 10 months. If this turns out to be accurate, the rumored 2019 air date becomes more understandable. There is also post-production to consider, which will undoubtedly be longer for the explosive final season, especially if the filming schedule proves to be as long as reported. Casey Bloys says as much:
“Our production people are trying to figure out a timeline for the shoot and how much time the special effects take,” Bloys tells THR. “The shooting is complicated enough — on different continents, with all the technical aspects — and the special effects are a whole other production period that we’re trying to figure out. That is a big factor in all of this.”
“As shows get bigger and more complicated, I have to follow the producers’ lead and let go of, ‘It’d be nice to have it every year,'” Bloys continues. “They have to do the best show they can do. With bigger shows like Westworld [whose schedule was also extended] or Game of Thrones, sometimes if you want the big show and the big scope, it takes longer.”
There you have it, folks. While it’s probably true Game of Thrones won’t return to our screens in 2018, there is good reason for it: an extended filming and post-production schedule to deliver us six extra-long episodes of climactic extravaganza.
Where is lieutenant Ripley? Is she still alive?
And also: They mostly come at night. Mostly.
10 months of shooting? OMG.
It will be bigger than ROTK.
2019 it is. 10 month production cycle not including the post production for only 6 episodes is crazy.
Undead Wun-Wun
Didn’t the article say a 10 month **production** schedule. Doesn’t that include post-production?
Wow. If this is true, every episode will be like a big budget movie. The wait will be painful, but worth it! That said, I hope 2019 means January.
One can hope that it will be six two hour long episodes. That would be epic! Pretty sure we won’t be quite that lucky, but hope it is. 🙂
It’s fine. They are basically make 6 movies at once. I’m fine with it. give me a chance to finally finish all the books.
weirwoodtreehugger,
Haha I just thinking the same thing. If it’s January 2019 I’ll feel a little better about everything.
Holy shit! THAT’S INSANE.
I will be ok even with 6 x 90 minutes episode. That is almost a full pre-season 7 season
😱😱 10 months?! The fight to defeat the undead is going to be more epic than any previous battles it seems! Not sure my nerves will stand it…..😳 Sheesh!!
I’m cool with any production schedule.
But PLEASE. no f*cking leaks this time!!!
Avoiding them was a real pain.
I don’t understand how they got til S6 and shit started getting leak left and right after half way through.
I’m going to go ape shit if I read the end of the series on some internet forum post lol. I spoiled myself last season but this time I want to experience the last chapter as a surprise. I won’t be reading them this time.
Jack Bauer 24,
It will be worth the wait if the six episodes are great and long.
And after all these years, you kind of get attached to characters. I’m in no rush to say goodbye to them forever.
I’m okay with the extended filming schedule as long as the majority of the attention is spent on the actual story.
This season had too many sloppy storylines that felt intended to get to a certain endpoint. I’m still disappointed with both the expedition beyond the wall farce and the Arya/Sansa meaningless trope.
And I sincerely hope beyond all hope that S8 doesn’t end up focused on some love-drama between Jon and Dany. Get together, break up (because, ya know, he finds out she’s his aunt, and Dany ain’t too happy to learn she’s no longer the heir), baby on the way, someone almost dies so they decide it doesn’t really matter…it’s too easy to imagine what the showrunners have in mind…and it’s not remotely what I want from a GoT final season.
I really hope this isn’t the last time we see them. I want a new show 15 or so years later where they are older and have kids of their own. I don’t want it to be the end. 🙁
My opinion is April 2019. After football and March Madness is over and Walking Dead is not on. I am sure that HBO looks at the big picture to ensure availability.
Hopefully it wont drag on as long as ROTK did. I swear that movie has about 5 different endings and took about 2 hours to wrap up. Anyway, rant over 🙂
And I agree that Im generally ok with the extended filming schedule as long as it’s not all for CGI at the expense of the story. I enjoyed season 7 overall, but much of it felt like box-checking and cliff-notes dialogue.
I don’t mind all the big budget battle stuff. They are pretty cool. But I hope they also put maybe a little more of the character stuff in next season than we had this season.
Tim of House Deddings,
You wish. Five 57 minute rushed episodes. One feature seventy minute episode. The only reason for 2019 is to fleece the customers because what ever other game of thrones stuff they have planned won’t materialise until 2021 at best.
Bearded Onion,
That ain’t gonna happen… I think they already said the spin-off(s?) won’t have any charachters that appeared on Game of Thrones.
thisgirlhasnoname,
Well too bad the showrunners doesn’t have to do what you want in the story,because it’s not yours .
And now my watch begins…
CGI, Visuals needs alot of time to get done i can understand that. what about the writing ?…i remember last year when Luka reported that the Field of Fear and wight hunt would take 3 weeks apiece with overlapping filming dates. was excited at the possibility of two Harhome. Now season 7 is history, the wight hunt was a poorly written episode. and has the lowest ratings on rotten tomatoes.
I don’t see how we are going to get six two hour episodes or even six 90 min episodes. If they are going to be that long they would just make more episodes. I think five 60-70 min episodes is more realistic with maybe a 90 min finale.
Oh that’s painful…
I’ll just keep telling myself it will be worth the wait. I guess that gives me plenty of time to catch up on other shows I have not watched yet. Yes, stay positive. It’ll be amazing when it gets here!
>_> *starts marking the days*
I kind of agree. I think some people are already setting themselves up for disappointment by assuming that each episode will be 90 minutes to 2 hours. An extended filming schedule doesn’t guarantee anything.
If they are all that long then hell fuckin yea, but let’s not go out of our way to get our hopes up.
Dolorous Methuselah,
6 episodes and monsters on the run,but sure we still have time for scheming and people talking in a room, sure there are going to be character moments but if people are expecting that’s going to be the focus you’re going to be disappointed just like you were this season,i’m pretty sure the pace is going to be similar,there are still going to be jumping from location to location,so i guess the people who didn’t like the pace this season,i don’t know what to say,tough shit ? I doubt D and D look around an say,well shit i guess people didn’t like the pace last season better change it around,nope,besides the scripts were finished before season 7 even aired .
Mr Derp,
Exactly. I certainly wouldn’t complain if they were that long but I’m not going to expect it.
We will have fucking elephants in battle next year! :S
I’m okay with waiting until 2019, because after that it’s officially over. This is our last off-season 🙁 As much as I’d love to have it now, it will be so much better to have them take their time and give us an amazing final season.
Cast and crew are paid per episode, not per minutes of run time. That’s one of the reasons for longer but fewer episodes.
Right? They wouldn’t name-check them if they weren’t going to include them! I hope.
We don’t have a choice. We would wait even if S8 is in 2022. LOL
Still, this is better option than movies that GRRM suggested.
This started as a TV show and this should end as a TV show.
mau,
Look up on the even more brighter side,at least it will come out unlike the books .
It was not poorly written at all. I’ve watched it three times now and the dialogue is great. Even the timeline stuff really isn’t that big of a deal.
People have to understand that A Game of Thrones was the title of the very first book. George Martin has said that A Song of Ice and Fire, which is the total story, ultimately is not about the game of thrones. That part of the story for all intents and purposes is over. Granted at the end of the series we would like to see some sort of competition for the throne assuming the Night King is defeated. But the story overall is firmly about Daenerys and Jon and season 8 is going to be about defeating the Night King, which means big battles.
I don’t want or expect there to be a lot of Pulitzer prize-winning witty dialogue that people seem obsessed with.
Fair point but I hope HBO wouldn’t do that to the cast and crew and everything the “brass” has been saying seems to indicate they would rather have more episodes. Also, more episode means people stay subscribed longer so financially that may be a wash anyway.
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
Yeah,if these people who hate the whole fantasy stuff and think suddenly the show is going to revert back to politics stuff in the end,yeah,i have some bad news for you . Might as well just quit it now and spare us the predictable whinging(to quote the Hound) for the rest of us who still enjoy the show .
Hopefully that goes for Old Nan’s ice spiders as well.
If this news are accurate its a year and a half for the last season, a long wait!
I would be okay with with 70-80 minutes episodes and a 90 minutes finale.
10 months shootings means even bigger budget, how many millions does HBO intend to expend?
Hexonx,
Well to be fair,that’s why The Sopranos’s final season was split in two with fewer episodes each so they wouldn’t have to pay the main actors ridiculous amount of money,it’s Hollywood and this stuff happens all the time unfortunately .
People keep saying we’re getting 6 “extra long” episodes or “movies” but none of that has been confirmed AFAIK. It’s been speculated that some episodes might be long and some might be “feature length” but I think people expecting multiple 80+ minute episodes will be sorely disappointed
I expect 55-65 minute run times for the first 4, and 75-90 for the final 2.
No they won’t do more episodes. the main actors get paid a lot per episode, not per season. more episodes mean there’s more costs. Even the directors of this year stated that 6 2 hour episodes is an option. D&D stated that they knew what will happen per episode, but if you look at season 7, we all know that they got more freedom with runtime. So directors will get more freedom if they want to do an episode with short scenes or long scenes like in the final of season 7.
about the delaying: What if it isn'[t this long because of battle sequences but because of certain scenes that could only be filmed in summertime?
I’m an optimist so I always hope for the best. I’m looking forward to the best paced, best written, best directed and best acted season they can give us. And, yeah, some whiz bang special effects too. If it’s “tough shit” for me, oh well. C’est la vie. I’ll live. 🙂
It is almost inevitable that it is going to happen. There are just too many people who want the information. GoT is hardly alone in having this problem: but, at this point, I suspect that they would need nearly government-level security to avoid leaks. Studios cannot afford that! (And, as we know: government-level security still gets hacked.)
I cannot wait for the scene where Arya scales one, tosses all of the people over the side for Nymmeria’s wolf-pack to eat, then steals the elephant’s face while the Hound and Brienne yell in unison: “That still only counts as one!”
Amen.
Plus if this 10 months of filming stuff is true, I think it’s great news for the cast as well. We know how they love working with each other and how invested in this show they are. Not to mention people like Maisie, Sophie or Isaac, who basically spent half their lives doing it. So let them take their time.
heh, I think that the bad news might be for you! At this point, we can expect the climax to very much involve some real hand-wringing from the main characters. Whether that comes from understanding the actual meaning and purpose of the White Walkers or basically having the sell the kingdom to Cersei to save everyone, I don’t know: but it’s not going to be about tossing a figurative Ring into the fire!
The show actually was a potential crossroads on this in the last episode, and I momentarily feared that they had taken the Tolkien path when Cersei announced that the Lannisters would march north. Fortunately, she promptly double-crossed everyone and put the show back on the Faulkner path.
kevin1989,
I was thinking about the same thing,the final book’s title is A Dream of Spring after all
Excellent! Made me giggle at my desk!
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
Okay. I was wondering, where the chains came from, how did they get it into the water without going in there themselves and bound the dragon. when the white walker was slain, all the wights died except one. gendry manage to run back to eastwatch in a day on foot. it was a great episode mark you. guess i was expecting more. the whole mission didn’t make sense to me, when tyrion suggested it in episode five.
Wimsey,
That’s not what i was saying though,i’m pretty sure the ending won’t be a typical fantasy ending but to those expecting the same type of scheming and plotting of the earlier seasons might be disappointed,please don’t put words that aren’t mine .
hahahahaha
There’s only one queen of the Iron Throne and she doesn’t share power.
Again, “take their time” does not necessarily mean making it better. This is not a case where they now can sit back and ponder: “now, what would be a really good ending to this series?” They’ve had the ending for a while, and what they give us is not going to be much better or worse than it was when GRRM came up with it over 2 decades ago. Sure, the execution might be a little better or worse. However, the poor execution of Episode 6 smacks much more of taking too much time rather than taking too little.
At any rate, a big reason why so many “predictable” things happened this year is that the show (and the books) has been building towards them for years. The thing to keep in mind is: now all 7 years have been building up to the grand finale. Our grand finale has to build on the main characters:
1. Wanting to see a “better” world;
2. Hoping to help the downtrodden;
3. Wanting to break the constraints placed up on them by birth & chance;
4. Wondering what the opposition thinks and feels;
and then having to deal with the fact that sometimes one or two of these things come at the cost of other things on this list. The show has been building towards this for 7 years: and in a very real way, the quality of the conclusion is going to depend on the quality of how well they’ve communicated these things since 2011.
Power, no. But elephants are another matter!
What if the ending battle is one big battle where the good guys are fighting the WW at the north and Cercei to the South, but at the same time?
I hope that we get flashback through Bran where we will see the past of the Night King. He needs to have an human story.
Fuck the elephants! I want to see the Ice Spiders 😀
Black Raven,
We will have that too. We will have everything. 😀
That is a good question, especially for GOT, one of the largest production efforts around. My assumption is the 10 months is their shooting schedule. There is some overlap with post-production because they have so many units working on multiple episodes with different directors. But there will definitely be a period toward the end of the whole process (when all the episodes have been shot) that is strictly post-production and I would guess it is not included in that 10 month estimate. Likewise, they are not including pre-production that is going on now. It is extraordinary how they pull this off, just the scheduling and logistics alone is a herculean effort!
Ten Bears,
Oh, there will be leaks. Lots of them. Thanks to the extended filming schedule, there will be even more than there were for S7 with even more time to analyze them, and as filming reports roll in for nearly an entire year, it’ll eventually be very easy to tell which ones are fake and which ones aren’t. Much like S6 and S7, expect the gist of the story (and most of the many, many deaths undoubtedly coming our way) to be common knowledge on the Internet before the season starts.
The only 100% guaranteed way to avoid them would be to stay away from any GoT-related sites (including this one, which is known for its filming reports) and all forms of “social media” until the premiere in 2019. If you think you’re up for the challenge, you have my greatest respect, and I salute you!
Azor Asshai,
Filming reports and actors’ locations are one thing. I’m talking about stolen scripts and the kind of “leaks” that spoiled S7 for the unwary.
In fact, I’d urge fans to photobomb outdoor location shoots with cardboard cutouts of Ghost. (Just kidding.)
I ‘m with you on this! It is a lot of work and when it is done, I’ll enjoy it. Even if there is a thing or two (or more) I don’t like, so what, there will so much more that I do. I’ll enjoy the wait and the ride when it comes.
The imp in me loves this idea!
Thank you for that. 👏
Wimsey,
Good points. I’m looking forward to see what they do with a new system of picking rulers, if anything.
I’m not a medieval history expert, but I think things kind of usually go something like: tribal -> feudal -> weak monarchy -> strong monarchy -> enlightened monarchy -> some type of parliamentary system -> some form of democracy.
It would be a big stretch to go any advanced kind of democracy. Maybe they institute some type of parliamentary system?
Whoa!! I guess we really are getting feature length episodes in the final season.Sweeeet!! I think I am ok with the long wait, if we will getting the big payoff this monumental story deserves. Besides, i would like the final season to be eligible for the Emmys that very year, unlike this year which honestly feels wrong. But i guess next year we will make up for it though, no new episodes but still Emmy nominations( hopefully).
Really excited to see elephants in the big battle! Out here(India), we had a big budget war epic movie this year which used elephants & they looked simply majestic. GOT has already used mammoths, so the use of elephants isn’t that far off.
Oh screw that. We could all be dead by then.
Ten Bears,
Yes, I was aware that’s what you were referring to, which is why I made a distinction in that post. There will undoubtedly be extensive Reddit-style leaks, both fake and legit–more than ever before considering the show’s sheer popularity and the “cool points” to be gained from doing it for the final season–and having an entire year’s worth of filming reports will confirm or deny every single one of them before the fact.
Of course, the Internet is also filled with people who suck at concealing spoilers and with trolls who will now have more time and information than ever to spoil people, especially once the real leaks become apparent.
Length isn’t everything, The Spoils Of War was my favourite ep this season and that was the shortest IIRC?
Azor Asshai,
I got caught out badly this year with “predictions” from spoiler safe sites which ofc were not predictions but people reciting leaks… So I agree, the only way to avoid anything before S8 starts will be to avoid any GOT sites. Even that might not be enough 😕
Well said. I enjoyed this season and looked forward to watching it every Sunday night and talking about it the rest of the week. And sure, there were things I didn’t care for as much. But overall it has still been a good show and I look forward to the final season.
Yeah, mine too. And it was the shortest episode. Most rewatchable for me. I also quite like Eastwatch – better on subsequent viewings.
Azor Asshai,
Well then, I suggest disseminating Fake Leaks as a smokescreen. (If we have “fake news” and “alternative facts” these days, why not fake leaks?)
Rich Stark,
Oh, could you tell the title of that movie? I love Indian movies, especially good ones.
Im so irritated at the 2019 release date I decided to go ahead and cancel HBO. I was going to keep the subscription going until next season but I’m not doing it until 2019. I might even lose interest and not watch the final season. So they lost at least one viewer over this.
I get the 2019 tho I am disappointed. But the results hopefully will be spectacular! Also that means this site isn’t going to shut down any time soon. This last off season was tons of fun, the mods kept us busy with info and such. Its gonna be longer this time but suspect they’ll find ways to do the same.
And then there is always the chance that this is the worst case scenario, and they end up giving us an earlier start!! Well a girl can dream..
2019 is irritating for six episodes even if a little longer than normal. I feel as if premium services are testing out longer hiatus periods for reasons other than artistic.
I’m 100% fine with 2019.
There was an interview with NCW where he said they’d be shooting S8 for “years”. Now obviously he was joking about it being quite that long however, I did get the sense that the main actors had already been told/warned to expect a much longer shooting schedule.
Leaks … sigh. I don’t know how they can avoid it if S8 isn’t out until 2019 but I’d really like to not know the ending. It got harder and harder to avoid spoilers this year, even when I tried to, because people were pretending to speculate based on the info they’d read.
I want to see the dead Stark kings rise
1. Giants used the exact same sized chains to try and rip the gate off the tunnel at castle black, considering the white walkers have been raising Giants, it’s only logical they had access to their stuff
2. Wights were already stuck on the floor of the lake, they can’t float or swim unless recently dead, no gasses for buoyancy, all one needs to do is simply feed the chains down to the bottom and those unfortunate wights do the rest,
3.who ever said the wights following that walker needed to all have been turned by said walker
4.gendy managed to run back to Eastwatch in one day on foot…..No answer for
The White walkers are a thousands year old super race, of which we know almost nothing about, I’m sure that if they can raise the dead, finding chains and trying to hook them up to a dragon are pretty low on the scale of things they are able to do lol
Make sense. Thanks. I love the episode and the wight bear. Just didn’t understand the things mentioned. Thanks.
For all those people who think the episodes will be 2 hr long – it won’t be. Feature length means, normally, 1 hr long. The episodes will not be any longer than 1 hr 20 mins…maybe the last episode will go 20 mins longer.
The total production time of a 18-20 months will be reasonable given that this is a TV show with a small studio behind it who doesn’t have the man power or the resources like a big movie studio.
Yes, but once Aegon and Daenerys knock the Night King out of the sky and he digs himself out of the snow bank he fell in to rejoin his white walker friends, Arya will come snowboarding down the hill behind them all on a discarded Mormont shield, shooting them with dragonglass arrows as she goes, as the army of the dead collapses in waves.
“100001, 100002, 100003…”
…and Ned will be standing on the hill clapping.
I’m OK with 2019. If the script is done by October, it will probably leak by the end of the year anyway. So we won’t have to wait for the *ending* until 2019. Just the presentation of it. Best of both worlds there!
mau,
See, I am used to TV. And ongoing series. I can’t remember the last time I ever eagerly anticipated a sequel to a movie. Now that those two worlds have collided it’s kind of double edged sword. To be honest the way I’m feeling right now is that almost 2 years is such a downer I’d rather have a less showy but sooner conclusion (I’ve been happy with what we’ve seen thus far in the filming schedule they’ve had) than an epic CGI grand scale hoopla. But I know that if this show is to be faithful to the story they got to have it that way so…it’s just such a loong wait and anything can happen during that time.
Inga,
Yea sure, Its called Baahubali, its a grand war epic made in two parts (Baahubali :The Beginning & Baahubali:The Conclusion). Its historical fiction film with a brilliant story, very high production value & breathtaking CGI (kinda Game of Thrones-esque) . Let me know if you get a chance to see it.
I just hope they polish up those scripts as much as possible between now and October. I have no doubt the final season will be unbelievably epic; I’d just like the dialogue to live up to Martin’s poetic, memorable style, rather than devolving into too many obvious clichés.
Rich Stark,
I checked the trailer (I’m Indian too, but I grew up in Europe). Nice visuals. A pity I don’t understand the language anymore.
Ten Bears,
The longer the better, I love this show so much I don’t want it to end. I also hope I will be able to avoid (and resist) spoilers this time. As for premiere date, my wild guess is the end of winter the beginning of spring as in Winds of Winter Dream of spring
I’m going to stop following this site, won’t be easy since I became a bit addicted. But I really want to be surprised for the last season. I don’t want to read any leaks or spoilers. I love what Sue, Luka, … are doing but the risk is too high. Of course I’ll come back once the last episode is over.
https://rat-dooney.tumblr.com/post/164554262327/how-did-the-white-walkers-get-those-heavy-chains
Doesn’t answer how they got the chains on the dragon. I can’t imagine it’s difficult hooking a big ol’ beast like that, just by throwing the chains in the water.
I probably wouldn’t be so annoyed if I hadn’t gone through this with the British series Sherlock. They waited a stupid length of time for the final season to be released then released three episodes that were crappy just to end the series. I sense this is the sort of thing they will do with Game of Thrones. I’m not bothering to wait for it if this is the case. I don’t enjoy the scenes with the White Walkers anyway and that’s all the season finale will be.
Natasha,
That’s not what certain directors are saying. I don’t remember which director it said but one of this year stated that even if it will be the lowest episode count, season 8 could have the highest runtime of all the seasons.
Lady Lyanna Mormont for the iron throne!,
Season 4 of Sherlock was a downer imo. Episode 2 was amazing. 1 was boring. And 3 had a nice story but a bad execution.
You know that season 5 is currently in writing process? Season 4 wasn’t the last one.
TYT….
I can wait.
Chilli,
Yea the visuals are stunning, especially a waterfall sequence in a song in the first part which was breathtaking. They actually have released versions with proper English subtitles if you’re interested, coz the movie was also released in US among other countries.
Bearded Onion,
You know this was my first season of TOTALLY no spoilers and I have the utmost respect for Dee cause it was FREAKING HARD. But, that being said, there was and IS no way I want to be spoiled for next season for certain. I know it will happen, there will be leaks because some people like to prove something to themselves, but it’s a nice mean-spirited thing to do.
You can do, it will be tough, but if we lurk behind closed doors with Dee bet we will all survive…lol.
May the force be with you…sorry wrong movie.
Lady Lyanna Mormont for the iron throne!,
Yeah, won’t make a difference. Art is art, it bows to no audience.
Okay, you are spot on today with making me laugh, at your previous post AND this one…thanks for the levity in an otherwise long work day.
Okay, you were my inspiration to get through this year…you are going to have to do a lot of forum topics during the “long night” to keep me in line….lol.
I read most of the leaks this spring and was was disappointed with much that they described. They were 90% correct, but in most cases, IMO the finished product was 10 times better, in large part due to the production values and great actors giving flat lines life and meaning. Example: the Wight Hunt leaks sounded daft, but were brilliantly executed, even if the reasoning behind the hunt itself backfired. BUT I will avoid leaks next year because I don’t want to know the final fates of so many beloved characters and the story I’ve lived with for almost 20 years. But, TB, you can go read the books and rediscover most of these friends once more, in all the rich glory that well-written books allos. Sadly, they’re very long and too chock full of characters, but it is indeed a sumptuous feast GRRM has laid out for us.
If they can’t produce 6 episode by the end of 2018, 16 months, then there’s a problem.
I don’t see a problem, they won’t lose any viewers, they won’t lose any momentum, it’s only a problem to impatient viewers, not at all a problem for the people getting paid for putting it on the screen
You lack the choice, only way you’re going to know if it’s going to pull a Sherlock is by waiting the full length of the off season and then watching it lol
I mentioned this in another report as it was being reported on UK radio that Game of Thrones is unlikely to return until 2019. However could it be that the August completion would include post production or filming only? Ten months of pure filming for six episodes surely means some massive and epic battles are coming!
I’m still remaining hopeful for October 2018 or maybe November which means we complete before Christmas.
Cushing Type,
To be fair I think the scripts were completed during S7 airing, I’d need to check but around episode 2 or 3 it was announced in a Watchers article I think.
The scripts are done, they are starting filming in October this year, last year the scripts were released in September and the plot out line leaks came October/November time. However that’s happened only once in seven seasons so unlikely to happen again. I’m sure we’ll get scene specific leaks though with so many extras and this has happened every season.
Also there is no guarantee we will have to wait until 2019, if production finishes in August it could still air in October/November 2018.
I’m okay with the extended production schedule. Just…please tighten the story back up. I understand there were an extreme amount of moving parts/plots to merge this last season, which I feel is 7.5/10.
This last season needed a few small scenes of exposition between characters and a bit of character travel scenes–or could’ve combined them. 🤷🏻♂️ (Let’s not go into things like ice chains and Herculean javelin tosses). And while I say all that, I truly think this past season really only needed 8 strong episodes to do so.
Don’t be afraid to linger in those non-spectacle moments, GoT.
I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.