Usually, the premiere date for a new season of Game of Thrones isn’t a coveted secret. Whether it was late March or some time in April, the difference was trivial, a matter of weeks. Not this time: The seventh season’s winter filming schedule means production wrapped up a few months later than usual, and the premiere was pushed back accordingly. Because of the two months lag, an estimate would point to a June premiere, but HBO may have other considerations, so we didn’t have any real idea… Until now.
Liam Cunningham has narrowed down our search for a premiere date by apparently giving away the month. The actor’s tentative date is later than you may have hoped!
In an interview with the Independent, Cunningham discussed how he has had to dash the hopes of fervent Game of Thrones fans who expected the new season to be released in its usual time frame. This is what Ser Davos had to say to the Irish newspaper:
“I’ve been disappointing various people around the world because it was meant to come out in April. It’s July now, I think. There’s going to be a launch and something special happening this year for the premiere. The bad news is, there will only be seven episodes and the [filming for the] final season starts again as far as I know in September.”
The end is nigh for the show, and the cast and crew must feel it more than anyone else! Cunningham claims he “thinks” the premiere is in July, so we must take it with a grain of salt, but it’s still nice to have a rough date coming from a proper source.
The King in the North !
July ? Gonna die, that’s so far away.
July?!? ?
Oh, c’mon…!!! This is a nightmare.
I just want to live long enough to see the final episode of season 8.
It’s about when I’ve been expecting with the thought that it won’t premiere until after The Leftovers finale. Their finale will be June 18th UNLESS they skip the US Memorial Day weekend, which GoT did a couple of times. If they do they’d have the finale on June 25th and the next Sunday is then July…
What about this tweet by Liam?
https://twitter.com/liamcunningham1/status/836251019667451904
“Davos don’t know date. Mongo only pawn in Game Of Thrones. #gameofthronesseason7”
You won’t know if you didn’t so… not like it is worth worrying about.
Winter is Coming…in July. ? Gods, this 13 month wait is brutal, and then to only get 7 episodes? It’s downright cruel. Only Mad Men and The Sopranos ever made me wait this long between seasons. But I wasn’t as obsessed with them as I am with GOT. Please, D&D, at least give us a teaser. ?
Given HBO’s current show schedule, this would fit pretty nicely in between mid July and Labor day – so this doesn’t seem so shocking. Just an agonizing wait.
Gravemaster,
Saw it. But I think at this point, you can’t ignore it when a cast member slips and specifically mentions July. He may have realized he slipped, or who knows.
July 2nd sounds about right. Sigh. 4 more months.
Gravemaster,
Wish he could have squeezed a “Doby is a free elf” reference in there somewhere.
I don’t get why an official premier date for GoT has not been released yet. What are they waiting for exactly? The season 3 premiere for Outlander has already been released and it’s not starting until September.
Sigh! So the waiting continues for at least four more months.
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
I think you shall my annointed friend.
GOT promotion has always started later than many other shows. If previous years are any indication, now that filming is done we should get a teaser poster soon enough, perhaps with a premiere date. But who knows. This season’s filming schedule has thrown convention out the window.
A trailer with any real footage is usually released a few months after the end of filming. That was February or March before; This year it’d be April or May.
BunBunStark,
On the positive side, its already been 8 months or so since the last episode in season 6 aired, so 4 months left isn’t really all that bad!
And I echo your sentiments regarding Sopranos. I had to wait a year and a half between seasons 3 and 4, and then another year and a half between seasons 4 and 5. At least we don’t have to wait THAT long 🙂
GOT in July?!!! ??
Luka Nieto,
Thanks for the scoop
Strange, I had July in mind all the time, so it doesn’t surprise me. Thought it was mentioned somewhere, but maybe it was just summer mentioned and my mind made July of it.
But this year feels so different, the beginning of spring always had the growing hype in last years, with episode titles, interviews, press coverage, teasers and trailers on a regular basis. Last years “I choose violence” Trailer aired on march 8, how long will we have to wait for a full trailer this year?
Some people are saying a trailer/teaser will be released at SXSW even though there was an article that specifically stated nothing of the sort will be released at the event. Liam’s tweet is the reason why I’m not changing the date on my poster that I had to make since HBO got nothing. Enjoy:
http://i.picasion.com/resize85/deb5b2f123d1c427dfe0ee5d1ad23ae5.jpg
I’m not that optimistic, my guess is june for a trailer and a mid/late July premiere date, the season run could end early September.
Yay July is my birthday month. Best. Birthday. Ever. So excited!!!!!
Interesting that he said anything about when the last season of the show would start production. if he wasn’t going to be in the last season he wouldnt know or care 😀
I always said July.. not june. so this doesn’t surprise me hahaha
Plus I need more time to do my seasons 1-6 rewatch!
I was supposed to start in January but I was with busy with Vikings and black sails… then I went away for two weeks… and now im back but haven’t been finding time! I need to start soon I am dying to rewatch season 6.. I haven’t done that yet!
July is fine. I’m not a fan of summer, so this will help! ?
Well, at least my exams will be over when GoT starts. I’m not really sad about that. It will give me more time to finish my GoT rewatch. I actually started watching it at the end of January but so far, I managed to watch only 6 episodes so far. And I’m deep in my (third) LOST watch, which has been going on since November, writing Memory Lanes for each episode (114 in total) and having about 50 episodes left, watching them strictly one a day… so I’m quite busy overall and my GoT watch is pretty slow. Not to mention that I restarted my GoT “character apperiances” list again… (Dee would know what I’m talking about).
We will wait. We always do.
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
Remember you have 100 % of your life left.
“There’s going to be a launch and something special happening this year for the premiere. “
Wonder what this is.
Luka Nieto,
I should have specified that I meant a “teaser” poster; like the Jon one released in November 2015. I’m so starved for official content, at this point a poster will be go a long way in whetting my appetite. If the S7 premiere is truly in July, I don’t actually expect a trailer until sometime in May.
Pretty much as expected – season six concluded filming in December 2015, around a week before Christmas and the premiere was April 24th 2016. If we look at that as any sort of guide, the first/possibly second Sunday in July would be a reasonable match for season seven concluding filming at the end of this month. Although there are fewer episodes compared to season six, filming time was around the same; likely this will be reflected in post-production.
A teaser – or even a poster – would be amazing about now. I think at this stage in filming for season six, we’d already had the Jon Snow teaser poster and a teaser trailer with no new footage, but a voiceover from Bran/Three-Eyed Raven?
I think Davos dies in S7. Liam is being very forthcoming with GoT info.
Lord Parramandas,
Is there a place where we can follow your LOST memory lane posts? Been wanting to start a re-watch of that for a while …
Lord Parramandas,
Man I was actually relieved it’s July for the same reason: exams.
OT: Since I know you’re an avid LOST fan, a very funny and clever man named Jimmy Macram is uploading LOST reactions on YouTube, if you’re interested. He is around S01E10.
I’m glad it will be in july cause it means they will not rush the special effects. I want the dragons, direwolves and etc looking great!
I never found the teaser poster to be anything worth looking forward to. I dunno, perhaps it’s just me. It’s…just a poster. Last year we got the Jon Snow teaser poster which I suppose had more interest because of the whole “Jon Snow is dead/isn’t dead” stuff. But still, it was just a picture of Jon Snow with blood on his face. It didn’t clarify anything. I’ll start getting excited when new footage is available with trailers and such.
I predict that it will THE pop culture event of SUMMER 2017!!
More people will be talking and tweeting about GoT more than any of the other movies or shows …
I’m going to the live concert experience this Saturday in Toronto – I can’t wait!!
ghost of winterfell,
I am hoping and praying an announcement by GRRM of the book release date- guess I’m not holding my breath for it though.
Rhaenys Stark,
Maybe I’ll check it out. Apart from LFU, I generally avoid LOST sites as they are usually full with “Great series, the finale s*cked”, “They were dead all along!” misconception… thankfully, that doesn’t happen in LFU. All are genuine fans there.
I’m still holding out hope it’s June and he’s just a cast member shooting from the hip based on a general mid-summer time period of events he’s heard being bounced around. July would leave a fairly significant gap in Sunday night programming after the Leftovers finale episode at the beginning of June.
Then again, it’s not unheard of for HBO to have lull in programming, and I could see them perhaps not wanting to premiere directly before the July 4th holiday, which like Memorial Day weekend, is never a good ratings week for them or any program. That’s a stretch though, since I don’t think HBO cares much about overnight Nielsen TV ratings.
Either way, I don’t think the difference between June and July would have any thing to do with them still editing episodes and refining the SFX. We’re talking about a 2-3 week difference in when we thought it would premiere after the Leftovers premiere date was announced.
Based on the filming schedule for season 7 it really shouldn’t be surprising that new episodes will not air until July. It’s been lining up this way for months. Still though, doesn’t make the wait any easier.
I think to make the time go faster, I’ll do like many others here, and watch seasons 1-6 again. I might even come up with some sort of grading system so I can come up with a top 10 favorite episodes list. Any suggestions on grading criteria would be welcome 🙂
I agree with the fact that expecting a trailer is way too soon (March 8th last year with the end of filming in December) but many seem to forget that promo pictures are always released too, and they are released way before the trailer (February 12th last year) and that’s not nothing, I mean it’s like 20 pictures
Maybe the premiere will be during San Diego Comic Con? Better yet, July 2 at Con of Thrones! (We can dream.)
I’m honestly starting to lose interest because of all this waiting. Don’t they have some teaser in the pipeline?
I will be very surprised if Season 7 episode #1 is not Sunday June 18th 2017
Happy Father’s Day…
One season ends and another begins…
July?
I officially hate my life -_-
Where are you writing those LOST memory lanes? I’d like to read them, I enjoy your GoT review very much.
Flayed Potatoes,
Once I realized that S7 was going to begin ultra-late (and have only 7 episodes to boot), I deliberately began to untangle myself from my GoT obsession. I decided to avoid as much S7 spoilers and speculation (including visiting this site) as I could. Pretty much the only thing I know about S7 is that there will be another epic battle (which, duh). And possibly some Arya speculation might be confirmed. That’s it.
I found that by deliberately distancing myself from GoT during this off-season, it’s made the long wait a bit more bearable. I’ve been distracting myself with a whole bunch of other TV shows.
Josh L,
A good idea. I think anyone who’s feeling the frustration right now should do the same. I come here for GoT related news, but mostly I come here just to have conversations about GoT with other fans of the show.
For those that only come here for the most up-to-date news or spoilers, it would be a good idea to get away from GoT for a bit and take a break. Looking for constant updates and news will only lead to getting yourself frustrated.
Probably has to do with George RR Martin book release
Oooo, good point! I forgot all about the promo pics, and those don’t require any CGI so we do could get those maybe by March or April.
Last year’s batch of promo pics were pretty good and there was that Melisandre pic at Castle Black that had the corner of Sansa’s cloak (which we didn’t know was Sansa for sure) that kept many of us speculating for weeks, lol. Since I was denied any Jon promo pics last year, I hope this year they make up for it and we get lots of photos of the KitN in all his glory.
Clob,
Oops – I have to correct myself. I’m not an avid fan of The Leftovers and hadn’t seen that their final season is just 8 episodes. So yeah, that will end on the 4th or 11th…
It’s not unheard of for HBO to have breaks between their ‘big’ Sunday night series, but I’m sure they’d prefer to keep them as short as possible. A schedule for their dramas like 2014 is probably their goal:
True Detective: 12 Jan – 9 Mar
4 weeks to
Game of Thrones: 6 Apr – 15 Jun
1 week
True Blood: 22 Jun – 24 Aug
overlap
The Leftovers: 29 Jun – 7 Sep
0 weeks
Boardwalk Empire: 7 Sep – 26 Oct
2 weeks
The Newsroom: 9 Nov – 14 Dec
Call me delusional but I say they delayed it so much because they want the premiere date to line up with the one when GRRM releases TWOW.
No, we can do this. Trudge on with me, my friends. Let not fickle time trifle with your sanity. This is doable. Trudge on, trudge on …
Oh hell, who am I kidding? I’m a muttering mess: just gotta keep busy, gotta keep busy … time will pass it will pass …
I wish The Expanse had about 20 more weeks !
I just discovered this science fiction show on SyFy and it is dynamite!
Never quite been anything like this on TV.
It is salving my GoT longings right now.
I too find the posters boring … while last years had every1 speculating Jon’s fate the season 5 poster was Tyrion from season 4 at his trial with Drogon from season 4 rising up before goat boy (that’s what I’ve named that character in my head) … season 4 was the 3eyed Raven blades poster… I doubt any1 remembers season 3’s poster and season 2 (which is still my favourite) was the hand clutching a crown with the awesome Tagline War is coming
It has to be Sunday June 25 th, no other day makes sense.
I definitely think his right about July, I saw a small EW article that talked about GOT wrapping up filming about a week ago it originally said GOT will premiere somewhere in July but then the edited it saying it will premiere somewhere in summer. So it seems EW knows the score as well.
Starting filming in September, I think that’s slightly earlier than this season, I think S7 started filming in October so maybe we’ll get the final season a little earlier in the year.
Liam seems really up to date with everything, I wonder what this surprise they have planned for the premiere is.
Sansa’s Knight,
The alone posters aren’t always as exciting but I like seeing the cast ones, like last season with the hall of faces cast photo that was pretty cool. I imagine S3 was a shadow of drogon flying, it was okay but I preferred the character face posters of S3 with half their faces clouded with a blue light. So I hope we get character ones again
Josh L,
Yes I’ve been busy watching the Oscar nominated movies this year and it’s been so entertaining.
I want to live long enough to see the TV conclusion AND the book conclusion, however many volumes that might take.
The corollary, of course, is that the author lives long enough, and his interest in writing ASoIaF lives long enough, to complete the saga.
Oh my… we have to wait until July?!?
LOL, my sweet summer children… most of us have been waiting FOR YEARS for that damned “Winds of Winter” book. A few extra months for a new season feels like blinking.
I must say, with all the leaks, I haven’t been craving a trailer as much as I have last year, when already in January I became very very itchy. It was a very relaxed winter. But now it’s March and I wouldn’t mind some sort of teaser like the Bran one we got in december 2015…
In order to pass the time, I’m gonna watch the second series of FORTITUDE. The first one was really good! Beric is in it and aparently Catlyn is in the second too. Oh, and Balin, you know, from this other fantasy trilogy that shall not be named 🙂
To everyone who finds the wait too long:
1: Realise that a day will come when the final episode of Game of Thrones will have aired ten years ago, by which time everyone will have moved on to other things.
2: It’s just a tv-show. Yes, I know, it’s a great one. But it’s still just a tv-show. It’s okay to look forward to and be passionate about it, but not if it ruins your enjoyment of other things.
3: Life is short. Wishing for season 7 to start now is the same as wishing for your life to be four months shorter.
If this sounds too preachy, I apologise, but I think this is important.
GW,
LOL
Flayed Potatoes,
Hahahahaha
Lord Parramandas,
Oh you’re updating that! Cool!!
My guess? We’re looking at a July 16 premiere date. If HBO takes a week off for Memorial Day, The Leftovers will air its final episode on June 25. July 2nd will be for all intents and purposes part of a 4-day holiday weekend in the U.S., so I don’t see Thrones premiering on that date, and I wouldn’t be stunned to see HBO run an original movie or something else on July 9 so that a 7-episode Season 7.1 can run all the way to the end of August. Just a guess; I could obviously be wrong here.
stefan666,
You’re delusional.
July is just perfect…to anyone from a hot part of the world. All that snow will be better than air conditioning. Maisie was shooting in Canada just two weeks ago. If thats the end of filming, the guys still have have a shitload of processing and editing and CGIing to do. That stuff takes time, so July sounds cool and realistic.
Clob,
Given HBO’s schedule, this makes sense, specially given what Cunningham said…
Pigeon,
July is still summer
Yes, yes it is?
Not a surprise at all. Makes the most sense. I’m more intrigued by Liam’s comment that “There’s going to be a launch and something special happening this year for the premiere.” What can it be?? That’s exciting! Hope it comes to Chicago.
Can’t D&D at least treat us to some finished still shots of our favorite characters? A teaser? Anything…
This wait is unbearable!!!
I don’t really understand why people are so surprised, they said summer right? Summer starts June 21, so June 25 would have been the earliest option.
Hello everyone
I am new to the posts but a long time visitor but thought this may be a clue to the start of series 7. Here in UK GoT is shown on Sky Atlantic (we don’t get HBO) and they are showing the whole 6 series’ again, at the moment we are onto series 2. They show full series’ of any show before the new one starts. By my reckoning series 6 should finish about June 11th which means series 7 would start either Monday 19th June or Monday 26th June (in UK it is shown on Mondays unless you want to get up at 2am in morning).
Yesterday I was too sad to write a comment. If GOT is in August I will have to give up something that gives me much joy: GOT or my holiday travel. In August I might go to the same place I was last year, a real paradise with very nice people… but no tv and very slow internet – one can barely check the emails. My friends are organizing this trip, so I can’t change the date. If GOT began on 25th of June, it would finish before my travel. But if it covers August… it pains me to watch several episodes, then leave and not be able to watch the rest. I don’t even have the chance to read articles and comments on WOTW. What am I suppose to do? Either way it would be frustrating.
I saw this and the EW article which mentioned a July start. To be honest I was fairly convinced it would be June so another month of waiting is frustrating especially as I have recently started watching S1-S6 again to build up and had already completed the first two seasons.
I guess from here we can expect some sort of teaser with an official start date in the coming weeks and a full trailer probably in May, maybe some pictures in April and a second trailer in June so it’s not all bad.
Also I guess S7 will need to finish by mid-August realistically as they start filming of the final season in September and will need some breathing space.
Shy Lady Dragon,
Go on that holiday and have a good time. I know it will be hard to bear the suspense about what happens in the final episodes, but they will still be there when you come back 🙂 . You can always watch it once you are back.
ghost of winterfell,
Thank you for your kind reply! I suppose I will go, but I couldn’t relax as one should. I imagine myself swimming in the sea and wondering who is still alive in GOT 🙁
Dee Stark,
What’s so funny?
Carole H,
Of course we’ll get up at 2 AM (or 3 AM in Belgium). It’s a good thing the new season will air during the holidays, that way I won’t have to go to work without having slept and being completely in shock about who just died.
Chilli,
I usually Sky+ and watch it before I go to work then watch again with the other half in the evening.
I have finished sherlock,Vikings and Bones and blacklist ..
I have finished cormoran strike and Robin and can’t wait for the next one ..
Now I have to find other series to spend the time and kill the waiting .
Maybe I should give walking dead another chance from season 3 or start rewatching Lost again
Yeah and S8 probably not gonna premiere till 2019 thanks to the writer’s strike (a story which I so valiantly broke in the other thread and got zero credit for).
dragonbringer,
I know the feeling. Sherlock watched when it went out (not as good as it used to be) waiting for the box sets of Vikings last series and Black Sails last series. However we have some very good dramas on BBC and ITV so they are keeping me going and SKY Atlantic have very good series from US such as Billions etc.
Let’s be strong !
Anyone going to concert in DC tonight? I will be the guy in the wotw shirt 🙂
The odds of S7 premiering at the same time that “Winds of Winter” is released is 0%, unless they’re planning on holding S7 off until 2018 or beyond.
in order for TWOW to be released in July, GRRM would have to be done with his final draft of the book … right now. That’s how long it’ll take to edit the manuscript and get it ready for publication. And since there hasn’t been any announcement from GRRM on that front, it ain’t happening.
TWOW isn’t coming until 2018 at the very earliest. The TV version of “Game of Thrones” will be done before we even see “The Winds of Winter.”
I don’t understand how GRRM was hopeful he could publish the book before S6 and it take him two years later. I know after Feast he thought ADWD would come out the following year and it took two years but he must surely be close now and it must surely come out this year.
Not that it has much relevance to season 7 though as I guess we are now in ADOS territory and past most of the events planned for Winds.
Try The Man in the High Castle or Black sails, both in my top 5 favorite shows.
It actually took six years to finish ADWD.
Will still be here sooner than Rick and Morty season 3 premier!
Red Viper,
oierem,
My LOST memory lanes and all related posts are in LOST FANS UNITE! which is a FB group, a community that counts over 5500 members.
This is the correct way to think about it, but the Leftovers premieres on April 16th and is only 8 episodes. So with that line of thinking, it will either end on June 4th or June 11th depending on what they do with Memorial Day. It’s conceivable GoT could come on right after Leftovers finishes, or it could come on after Silicon Valley finishes and the entire Spring slate is done. If it came on after Silicon Valley, it would be June 25th or the week after (doubtful since it’s 4th of July weekend), so maybe even the week after that.
Edit: I see you already found your mistake.
Lol, ok – what’s your favorite strength-stoker? Chocolate? Ice-cream? Wine – fine wine or boxed wine, as long as it works? Medicinal enhancements? Reading stirring speeches and participating in rallies of whatever sort? Re-reading the list, I’m likely to choose “all of the above.” Let me know.
Last year a there were a lot of “Outlander” fans enthusiastic about the series, but I didn’t start watching until last month. It’s wonderful, and I can’t wait until September when Season 3 starts.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Ok, I will give you credit and say thank you for warning us this might happen so we can prepare!
Lonely Cat,
ty
Example #1 that GoT fans DO have a life…
We can also keep an eye open for US premiere dates of The Deuce and Cormoran Strike that are suppose to begin airing sometime this year. Those dates may be released simultaneously with GoT’s, but if not it may leave a very clear window. 😉
There is no way the premiere is July 2nd. That’s the 4th of July weekend here in the U.S. They might run a regular episode on that date if they had to but no way a season premiere airs when so many people will be out of town.
Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,
LOL! Me too!
Rhaenys Stark,
Yeah I have watched bkacksails too thanks ..
But I don’t know about man in high castle will check out that ..
Carole H,
Yeah its been very helpful ..iam personally looking forward to the start of the new series on cormoran strike series by JK Rowling… I think HBO brought the rights for US
Can we hope for a mass premiere viewing alongside the actors at Con of Thrones on July 2????
BunBunStark,
Too long in between seasons. Lost interest, I have. Almost feel as if S6 WAS the ending. Sure was climactic enough. I think what carried me in between S5 to 6 was my love for Jon Snow character but he isn’t nearly as interesting now.
Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder. Summer, Fall and Winter I obsessed about GOT season 7, now The Winds of Winter, KITN, Daenerys sailing her fleet seems like something that happened a long, long time ago. My mad love has faded… June or July or August, eh, it’s fine.
I’d started to think July in the back of my mind, especially since its March and we’ve not seen a respectable teaser. At least it’ll be winter somewhere :(.
Jon Snowed,
We’re not still talking about GRRM finishing the books, are we? I think that ship has sailed.
Well, July is perfect for me….I´m from Argentina and we are in the middle of winter at that time of the year, it is the perfect match!! XD
I agree. I fully expect Winds to be the last book published – at least by GRRM. I was more referring to the content which is being covered in Season 7 mostly being from the outline GRRM provided D&D whereas I think Season 6 was based on firmer material as some of it had already been written in draft.
On this date SIX YEARS ago, the publishing date for ADWD was finally announced! Back then I felt like I had waited a long time for that news. Now, I don’t even know what to hope for anymore, if anything.
Thronetender,
Definitely chocolate and champagne ! (French girl here).
I have yet to watch Outlander, I will sooner or later.
I just watched Stranger Things and liked it, long is going to be the wait for season 2 as well.
In November 2015, they released a teaser poster with the premier month of April. So surely we’ll see a poster any time now?
http://watchersonthewall.com/game-of-thrones-unveils-first-season-6-teaser-poster/
And the first teaser video was December.
http://watchersonthewall.com/the-first-teaser-of-game-of-thrones-season-6-is-here/
That poster with Snow = Jesus on the cross, who died and rose again on the third day, clarified everything! Such a spoiler. And it did give a definitive month for the premiere.
As is most of September.