If you were one of those hyperbolic fans concerned that we would have to wait until the latter half of the 21st century to enjoy season 8 (and there’s no shame if you were – I may have been one of them too), you can now put your spiraling fears to rest. HBO has confirmed that Game of Thrones will, indeed, conclude in 2019.
HBO released a PR statement earlier today clarifying once and for all that:
[T]he hit HBO series GAME OF THRONES will return for its six-episode, eighth and final season in 2019
The statement went on to confirm that season 8’s directors will be David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik and that the writers will be David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill.
This isn’t exactly news, of course. We’ve known that 2019 was the tentatively provided and most likely year for season 8’s release. Still, it’s a relief to have an concrete statement inching us a little closer to a release date.
How do you feel about this confirmation? Is 2019 still too far away for your comfort? Or are you just happy to have a year of release?
I really want to know when in 2019
We will have a Long Long Long…Night until S8 aired in 2019
EW confirmed that the episodes won’t be super long.
I just want them to take their time with it and do it right.
The expectations are so sky high, and I hope they can exceed them.
mau,
” While some episodes may be longer than usual, once again we’re hearing not to expect feature-length episodes throughout the season.”
I still expect multiple episodes to be in the 70-90 minute range tbh
mau,
Not feature length. Which is understandable. Anyway, EW said season seven episodes wouldn’t be significantly longer either. I guess “significantly” is subjective, because season seven episodes WERE much longer in average.
It comes out when it comes out ::shrug:: I will watch it whenever. My anticipation for ‘The Winds of Winter’ is much more keenly felt. Meanwhile, speculation games are fun, and there are plenty of other things to do and read and think about.
Not much we can do but wait until ’19 then I guess. If it’s sometime between January and March… well, from right now we’ve done that length of wait before and managed. 🙂 It may be asking for too much, but what I would like THIS year at some point is confirmation of the followup series and a predicted time for production to begin on that.
There is no correlation between “taking their time” and “doing it right.” If anything, then overworking things tends to lead things to go awry. At any rate, the ending is as good now as it was years ago: they can work on the icing a little, but the cake is (to badly mix metaphors!) carved into stone by now.
We should be getting our annual “It’s not done yet, but hopefully later this year…” message, shouldn’t we!
Semi-joking aside, I really doubt that Martin will finish the book before the TV series is done at this point. We can speculate until dire wolves return about how/why he supposedly felt 2.5 years ago that he’d get the manuscript to the publishers 2 years ago, and yet has been unable to actually do it in the subsequent 24 months. I suspect that most of the likely and/or probable explanations would suggest as corollaries that it might be a while longer.
Still, who knows: maybe George can surprise us!
I was one of those who was still holding out hope for a Christmas-time 2018 release, so a likely April or May, 2019 debut is a bit of a bummer. That said, the wait won’t matter if the material is great. If it’s not (like much of Season 7), it will go down as a huge disappointment. It’s as simple as that. No pressure, D&D!
I’m glad, personally. I am one of those masochists that enjoys the anticipation, especially as it’s the last season. I was always the weirdo who liked it when there was a 2 week break between episodes due to holidays or whatnot.
Wimsey,
I want the next book to come out once the show is over tbh.
I’d rather not juggle the two in my head at once.
I’d rather like to close the door on the HBO show before diving back into Martin’s world.
I am hoping they get the pacing worked out properly this time. I loved last season except that it felt way less nuanced than previous seasons. This is probably a naive hope, but it’s the only real criticism I have of last season besides the WF plotline.
I just don’t want it to feel rushed. Am I crazy for thinking that? Maybe I am.
When?? Hopefully, it’s at the beginning of the year.
I have no idea if this is any reflection on your sanity. However, we are nearing the dramatic conclusion. The pacing in the final parts of a story should be more rapid and more intense than earlier in the story. Moreover, the time for nuance is over. Nuance gives us character development. Nuance gives us hints and suggestions of things lurking just under the surface. That was fine: but now is the time to see the things at which we got hints and suggestions actualized.
Put another way, nuance and slower pacing is good for building potential energy: and in a lot of ways it’s the potential energy that gets some people hooked on this sort of story. But now is the time to see the kinetic energy like the grand finale of a fireworks show.
And, man, I am just mixing metaphors like a 5 year old let loose in a spice drawer……
At this point, I probably will not read it until the show is over regardless, but that has more to do with lack of time for “pleasure” reading these days. (For the first time in several years, I have no trans-Pacific flights lined up until Summer 2019: and that’s my best time for leisure reading!)
ManderlyPieCompany,
Well, there won’t be that much traveling in the last season I think, but it is naive to expect that S8 won’t be fast paced. It’s the climax after all.
Hopefully the hype doesnt die down by then after last years meh season.Even casual fans complained about downgrade in quality (writing) hopefully this was all they needed to breathe and finished on a high note. Most films and even now shows like west world take 2 years to finish so if thats worth anything i think GOT final season will be top level
And so it prolongs 🙂
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
It could air around Februart I guess. Any earlier than that and it clashes with some sporting season on the US TV doesn’t it?
Waiting until summer 2019 is taking the absolute piss though and it should be okay to say that without people telling you to be ‘patient’ and ‘it’ll air when it airs’. I know!, but that doesn’t mean you can’t question why the biggest show on TV can’t film six episodes – even on this scale -without the need for 24 months. In truth, we all know that the episodes will be done and dusted well before May but they’ll be shelving it for the summer because that’s when they’ve chosen to air it.
The audience approval marks were just as high as ever last year. What people you know rarely is representative of what the masses actually think!
And there will not be a “breath” this year: if last year was running, then next year will be sprinting. But that is always the way of it in storytelling.
The vast majority of films are completed in much less than a year. When there is more than a year or so between the end of principal photography and release, then it’s usually not about finishing it, but instead about either distribution or realizing that there is some fundamental flaw in the film.
Similarly, most TV series end the year after their penultimate series, too. When we do get breaks, then it usually is for other reasons, and usually not at the end of the series.
The NBA is on, but it also goes deep into the summer, and obviously are not really a ratings rival for these sorts of shows, even during the playoffs. The Superbowl would be: but that’s one game in January. The show has been going up against Sunday night baseball its entire duration, but, again, it’s not a big issue: people who need to see that game just watch DVR’ed Thrones afterwards.
The possible appeal of doing it in Winter is that much of the plot will be set in Winter. On the other hand, if they get too fussy (which rarely is a good idea!), then they might up for pickup shots and reshoots next Winter in real winter weather. However, whether you actually get any winter weather anymore is pretty damn unpredictable: and when it does turn up, it’s been getting nastier!
Who were the casual fans that complained about a downgrade in quality? I have yet to meet them.
Wimsey,
It’s my understanding Book 1, “A Game of Thrones”, was published in 1996, after GRRM had been working on it off and on for about five years.
Isn’t it possible he just can’t muster the enthusiasm anymore? It seems like he’s excited about other projects, the NY Jets, other TV shows in development, and other authors’ works – but not finishing ASOIAF.
Who could blame him? It’s been over 25 years of his life. [I know I’m being redundant]. At this point, when he tries to write, maybe he hears the ghost of B.B. King singing to him:
🎶
The thrill is gone
It’s gone away from me
The thrill is gone,
The thrill is gone away from me.
****
The thrill is gone
It’s gone away for good
The thrill is gone
It’s gone away for good. 🎶
and even a trailer i think its jus in 2019. or maybe december 2018.
i hope all episodes have at least more than 65 minutes. less than that is just…
So very sorry to hear this news. Hoped beyond reason that it would be back before then. Going through GOT withdrawal!
Oh I have no doubt that he’s sick of it. But if he’d taken the final volumes to editors ages ago who couled help him get rid of useless stuff, all would have been done. He wrote so much that it got to be so much and no one dared edit.
That’s just the newest excuse from his apologists, and from GRRM himself. Yeah, he had the first idea about ASOIAF in 1991 (only the scene with direwolfs) , but he himself said many times in the past that he really started working on the story in 1993.
His famous outline is from 1993 and we know how different that was from the final version, so his real work on the first book maybe started even later than 1993.
When he really cared about the story he was quick, when you consider how complicated and nuanced the first 3 books are.
But 18 years ago he lost the plot and everything went to shit.
Seems it’s the books that may make the later half of the 21st century!
Ten Bears,
If he was more realistic about his abilities and more self aware, the books would already be finished.
But to choose to work on the story this big without real outline is insane.
I’m willing to bet Sunday February 10th 2019.
After NFL/Super Bowl. Winter into Spring.
It’s worse than that. In September 2015 Martin was pretty positive that the book would be finished by the end of that year! He said as much to his publishers. Despite everything that can be said of Martin’s writing speed, that kind of (wishful) thinking on his part does seem to indicate that he really was very close to finishing the damn thing. What happened in the meantime is anyone’s guess.
Mr Fixit,
As far as I can tell George has said very little about Winds of Winter in the last year. I mean I think he said he was still working on it, but then he has always said that.
He did not come to world fantasy con because of work on the book, but , well….
It’s just kind of mysterious.
ManderlyPieCompany,
Agreed I loved Season 7 too, it was insanely entertaining but it wasn’t as nuanced as previous seasons. That’s definitely a good way to put it. I think season 8 will easily be better simply because D&D have said from the beginning they want to go out on a peak and everyone in the cast and crew will be putting their all into it for one final bow. Plus Sapochnik and Nutter are back and they’re the best directors of the show imo. Though Nutter does make me a bit nervous…some big characters are going to be meeting some super tragic deaths no doubt with him being involved.
Awwww bloody hell this sucks ass! 😒😣😥
I’m not willing to bet but I think season 8 will start May 2019
Season 8 hopefully premiers months before May 2019 but if if doesn’t Sunday May 12th 2019 is my guess.
HBO should be showing season 8 previews in about 365 days…. 1/4/2019 if not sooner
“2019” is still vague-ish…
Could be Oct/Nov 2019 rather than Mar/Apr 2019…
Damn, I am not sure if i will live that long with this cancer. I hoped I will at least see the conclusion of the story from the TV show. Now GRRM not going to release Winds of Winter till after the show ends in 2019.
My guess: februari March. Or going back to April.
About martin: what if wow is already done. But he is holding of for some reason.
About the last season: why do people have the impression that the pacing of a last season needs to be faster, in fact it needs to slow down. I’m not saying stop the plot. But if you look at other shows and movies where people praise the end. It’s always that it wasnt rushed through the story but that everything was fleshed out more. Breaking bad s5 is slower than s4, lord of the rings 3 it has maybe the bigger battle but much slower and more character building than the first 2. Harry Potter 7.1 and 7.2 are much slower than movie 3 to 6. Much more fleshed out. Sopranos. And I can continue the list. Everything needs to finish right. Especially the characters.
A show that did in fact did what got is doing is lost. S5 and s6 were much faster paced and somehow it lost the greatness of the first 3 seasons.
So I hope they give us a lot of character tension and not only action tension. Yes a lot need to happen but I hope they have a better pacing than s7. And I hope they end the character arcs the right way with a lot of emotion.
Kevin1989,
I think it may be a repeat of season six. That’s why DnD is directing episode six, with the big battles in episode 3 and 5.
There are many possible reasons why Martin is so tardy with this last book. However, I do think that loss of enthusiasm is a very viable hypothesis. The fact that the TV series has so eclipsed the books might leave him actually envious of his own work! Basically, Game of Thrones is going to go down as one of the great television series in history. As TV & film move more and more to series with over-arching stories, this series will become an object of analysis, study, etc. And that’s cool. However, his books will never be considered great works of literature. And although he emphasizes over and over that the story is the same in both media, it might well bother him that his particular presentation of the story is not going to be the one remembered.
Of course, that is not the only viable hypothesis. Another is that, given that Series 6 already gave us the story, he needs to provide something “new” for the readers. So, we might get a lot more world-building that was not going to be there originally. And although some of us do not care for it, there certainly is a contingent of fans that loves that stuff.
Yet another possibility stems from Martin’s statement a few years ago that he was toying with a new plotline for a character that the show would not be able to do because the show already had gone a different direction consistent with what Martin originally planned. That might sound like no big deal: but given that the character lines are amalgamating, it could well be that this required fairly major surgeries in one or more of the other character lines.
Or it could just be that Martin gotten content and lazy, or that the written story just does not enthrall him anymore. Or perhaps he’s been smitten by the anti-Voltaire bug, and is trying to go for “perfect” at the cost of generating something good.
Ultimately, we probably will never know. In this sort of situation, someone like Martin probably is not being honest with himself: as the Doctor once noted, the human tendency for self-deception is exceeded only by the human tendency for self-destruction! 😀
What reason would he have? It is a much simpler explanation that he does not have it done yet. Unless you can suggest a mechanism that provides an even simpler explanation for “he’s done but holding on to it,” there really is no reason to entertain that idea.
Almost every one of the examples you cite cranked up the pace towards the end: and the exceptions were ones that were not telling over-arching stories. Those series with over-arching stories basically followed the old Chekhovian adage of hanging guns early, and then firing them all late: and gun firings always maximize pace.
Truer words rarely have been typed!
Now I’ll have to eat every f*cling chicken in the room. Grrr.
Haha…this is fine. Everything is fine. It’s all to give time for TWOW. Right? Right? Anybody?
rzwan,
I’m sorry to hear of your illness. I’m hopeful the conclusion will commence winter 2019 as opposed to the usual air date.
mau,
As much as I love the books (the first three, anyway–the fourth and fifth I merely like), I couldn’t agree more.
rzwan,
Anything I try to say will sound trite, so I apologize in advance. Here’s wishing for many more orbits around the sun, and seeing a satisfying end to GoT long, long before your own.
All the big official news sites in Belgium write ‘Game of Thrones is taking a sabbatical year’, as if they aren’t doing anything for a year. One must have written that and all the rest literally copied it. No-one checks their sources anymore. That’s what I love about this site that you really check things before writing them.
Kevin1989,
How is Breaking Bad S5 slower than S4? And DH part 2 is the fastest paced HP movie.
What’s the definition of “feature lenght”? 2h? 2h.30?
If so, I can understand.
But if ALL the episodes won’t be long at least 70/90 minutes (Wolf and Dragon size), I will be super-disappointed!
I’m disappointed it won’t air this year but I’m pleased that it will be (very likely at the start of 2019) and that spoilers have been kept well under wraps so far – with three months of filming complete it’s a great achievement.
The only thing to wonder now is which month in 2019, the UK radio where I first heard the news reported January as most likely however Kim Renfro and James Hibberd (two of the most reliable GOT journalists) suggest March is most likely. So we are still looking at 12-14 month wait:-(
Not sure I follow your logic. Based on prior seasons we tend to get teaser trailers when filming is wrapping up so we should get our first teaser this summer, then our first trailer with footage from October onwards given we know the show will air in early 2019. As I stated above at this time the most likely air date is March 2019 so that means a traier at Christmas time.
Feature length is essentially movie length so ninety minutes plus, I suspect that will really be only one or two episodes and the rest will be around the hour mark like S7.
Jon Snowed,
I think last season’s 80 min. episode was the longest?
Westworld wound up with a 90min. final.
Could see more than one 90 min for season 8.
Actually would hope with only 6 episodes each would run longer than the usual.
Jon Snowed,
I think se will get the lonest episode ever in S8. So at least one episode will be 80+ minutes. I think the last episode will be 90 minutes long.
The rest something between 60 and 70 minutes. Maybe one more with 70+ running time.
Agree, I’m certain that at least episode 5 or 6 will be feature length. If we assume the final battle is in episode 5 as some speculate then making that feature length would perfect. The finale I suspect will be shorter if the fighting is wrapped up but again I’m expecting a dragon and the wolf length.
Wimsey,
Oh this was nice to read first thing in the morning! (curtseys, stumbles, breaks leg again, sigh} 🙂
a yup
firstone,
mmm, perhaps start on mothers day ends on fathers? need to check if that fits the calendar
ash,
He/she’s been guessing that the last 3 seasons would start on either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day and hasn’t been right yet, though I suppose you never know. May 2019 seems a tad late to me, but who really knows at this point.
Wimsey,
About martin: maybe the publisher think that there’s more money to make of they wait till after got is finished. Or maybe he will wait till he finished a part of dos that’s what he did in the past.
About pacing: yes somehow more happened in the end with those shows and movies but still it takes it time. Look for instance at Harry Potter. 7.1 and 7.2 more is happening but still there’s more character devolopment than previous movies. 7.2 even have around 20 minutes flashbacks Snape till we know Harry is alive. Till the action continued. Those 20 minutes they took their time. Same as lotr. There are many very slow scenes between the action. The scenes people really remember. What I mean is that I’m afraid that season 8 will all be about the action and they will left out the character moments.
S5.1 the story they told, was 8 episodes. In season 4 it would have contained maybe 5 max. Yes a lot more happened, but that is because every single part in 5 is more fleshed out. They had a couple slow episodes in season 5. The framing hank episode. The episode just before the final was one of the slowest of the show. And one of the best Imo. About Harry Potter. Even the makers said they will slow down the last 2 movies. I think the problem is that I’m not clearly what I mean with slower. Maybe the word fleshed out is more precise.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I’m didn’t really mean that the story need to slow down. I meant that in the past the story could jumble from scene to scene. Having a lot of 2 minutes scenes. The scenes need to be a lot longer in season 8. A la season 7 final.
So short what I mean is: Im afraid they will jump from scene to scene in the last season. Giving 2 minutes to that and 2 minutes to that and that they forget the emotion behind everything. For instance I. Afraid the reunion between Arya and Jon will ever just a 20 sec scenes and the reunion is done, that could be done in the middle seasons. But not the last. A lot need to happen but it mustn’t be rushed.
OMG
soooooo long!
I am thinking after the Superbowl! So probably March the latest but not before February
But that was only the case with E5. In every other episode the scenes were really long. I mean look at E3. We start with 20 minutes at Dragonstone, than 20 minutes at KL.
That’s true, I hope they stay with that. But it’s more that I hope season 8 have a lot of “character-scenes” instead of battle scenes. I love the battle scenes but for me character scenes win always. And I hope they don’t focus too much on the WW invasion. they need to balance it.
Don’t think I have no faith in D&D I have, but I’m such a huge fan and it’s such a difficult story, with all the storylines etc, it’s enormous. And I just hope they do it right. When the show is over I won’t remember the battles, I will remember the characters. If I think about season 7 I don’t think about episode 6, or even 4. I see scenes like Cercei had with Ellaria or even the beginning of winter in KL.
But I think I’m worrying to much.
ps. Just give GoT another fan. I recommended the show and in 1,5 day he already watched the first 8 episodes. Maybe even the whole season, haven’t heard of him in a couple of hours.
I’ve said it before 2019 was announced, but thought I’d say it again. I really think the premiere will take place on February 10, 2019.
The week after the Super Bowl, and it gives 6 weeks before the men’s NCAA tournament begins.
The last month will go by fast. So we are basically a year out.
His readers.
Quite the opposite: the publishers know that interest in the books will decline markedly after the TV series ends. Interest in the series in general is going to decline markedly after Series 8: and a lot of people who would have been interested in picking it up last year or this will have moved on to other things by 2020.
There really was not any character development in Deathly Hallows: that relied heavily on the development (static and dynamic) from the prior 6 films.
Pacing isn’t action: pacing is payoff. The Quidditch season in the first two films had lots of “action” but killed the pacing because there was 10 minutes of meaningless action: what little payoff there was could have been accomplished in a fraction of the time! (One of the big reasons they did so little Quidditch afterwards is that they found that non-Harry Potter fans hated it: and they were the vast majority of the audience.
A Prince’s Tale, on the other hand, was not really an example of the filmmakers (or Rowling) “taking their time”: there were at least three big bullet points towards which the series had been heading (plus 2-3 minor ones) delivered in that <5 minute scene / single chapter. Basically, Rowling hung several pistols on the wall early and then took down an AK-47 and let it rip. If anything, then one could say that it was rushed: it was a lot for an audience to absorb!
(It also probably caused more "unfanning" of the series than anything else: a lot of the hardcore fans hated the idea that Harry's scar was a Horcrux or that Snape had been in love with Lily or that Dumbledore had basically ordered Snape to euthanize him; however, all of those points were well-setup in the prior books.)
Ash, Ash, Ash: will we ever teach you a lady’s graces? Catelyn Stark would be rolling in her grave if she had one…..
Seriously, don’t break your legs anymore. (And that has to be one of the most obvious statements ever typed!)
Hee, yeah, the staff who work with me are always on the look out for ways Ash can trip/fall/slip/drop and manage to remove them by the time I show up. Good to go so far (actually to be fair, one of those broken legs was actually a hip replacement, but still, yeah, I wanna be done with that!)
Wimsey,
About the books: is not what i read. I read many comments on the internet and Facebook etc that when the show took over the books. That people will wait till the show is over till they will read the books even when the books came out this year. People don’t wanna be confused with such an enormous story, some things are different and you don’t wanna confused the show with the books.
About hp 7.1 and 7.2: that’s what I meant. Unnecessary action. I’m afraid we get a lot of that. I want to see the conclusion of the characters. That mustn’t be rushed. About character development. Movie and book 7 had more character development than previous movies. Look for instance at Ron throughout the 2 movies. How he changed from insecure to knowing who he is. Neville, Dumbledore background. Snape etc. Yes it was hanging around in previous books and movies. But they evolve more in those 2 books than in previous books.so what I’m afraid of is that 75% of season 8 will be action packed scenes instead of giving the characters the conclusion they deserve. Just like you said with the prince’s tale it was put in 8 minutes with lot of information. It needed more time. And I hope season 8 will give us that time.
Wimsey,
Maybe pacing wasn’t the right word what I looked for. Just as I said before, fleshed out. Things don’t need to be put of a list, as in: 2 minutes of that and 2 of that. 30 minutes of unnecessary action, 2 minutes of that.
For instance the reunion of Arya and Jon need to be perfect, and not rushed. And I’m Afraid they will do that. For instance, Jon sees Arya: short scene of 30 seconds. Jon: Arya you back? Arya: Yes I’m back, still got needle. Little smile of Jon. End scene of Arya Jon reunion. Going back to the Dany/Jon storyline forget all about the rest.
I’m afraid they will handle that that way. Short and striping it off a list they need to do. That it won’t flow right. And I’m hoping they give us a lot of Ghost instead of 5 minutes in the whole season.
But it seems we’re on the same line with that, that action is not the same as pacing. And that in most time it slows down the pacing.
Sounds as if you’ve been in upper management for some time now…