Looking at ‘Game of Thrones’ season 7 premiere date through lens of ‘The Leftovers,’ ‘Big Little Lies’

We know that “Game of Thrones” will be premiering its upcoming seventh season at some point this summer on HBO, and that is pretty much all we know, unfortunately. The network is not one that is altogether keen to share some details this early, but we feel as though we can start to do a little bit of sleuthing with the network’s official schedule.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that the third and final season of “The Leftovers” (watch the awesome teaser for it over here) is going to premiere on Sunday, April 16. There are only eight episodes coming for Justin Theroux and company, which leaves open two different possible finale dates — June 4 or June 11. The reason why there are two is because the network does sometimes opt against airing a show on the Sunday before Memorial Day, given that it is a holiday weekend and ratings will suffer as a result. Given that there is no hope for a fourth season here, this situation may be a little bit different.

With this information in mind, it’s possible that the seventh season is going to be premiering at the very earliest on June 11, but also possibly either June 18 or the 25th. Depending on how HBO wants to schedule it, they are really the ones in control of the power. The one benefit in going for early June is that they’ll be ready in time to launch another show in August, and then potentially another one in October. If they want to maximize their drama-series output for the entire year, this may be a very effective way in which to do just that.

For those who missed it, the main reason for a later start this season has to do mostly with production starting later than usual. “Winter is coming” is one of the show’s most-popular phrases, and we’re not sure that it would work in conjunction with this show unless it was actually winter that we were talking about.

While you are waiting for more “Game of Thrones,” we suggest that you head over to our archive and see some more updates. Also, you can share some of your thoughts on the story in the comments. (Photo: HBO.)