Why the Game of Thrones season 8 premiere date may not be until 2019

Over the past few weeks, we’ve mentioned here and there that if you love Game of Thrones, you may have to wait until 2019 for the final season. Why is that? Well, there are a number of different reasons — with one of the biggest ones being the size and scope of these final six episodes.

Now, it may be fare to wonder why in the world it’s going to take longer to shoot six episodes than ten in the past, but one of the reasons for that is simply the size of the cast. Back in the past, there were so many characters that you could have different things going at the same time in different parts of the world. That’s harder to do now. Not only are there fewer characters still alive, but you’re going to force them to travel frequently and you have to build enormous sets and hire a ton of extras. This is a huge undertaking — the show’s going to have a huge budget for it, but it’s still not going to be easy.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Game of Thrones filming is starting later this fall and may not conclude until summer 2018. That’s one of the reasons why the premiere date may not be until next winter is here. It’s a long time to wait, but knowing this show, it will probably be worth it. That also allows HBO a chance to actually figure out what their life beyond Game of Thrones is going to be. There will likely be a prequel series for it down the road, but there’s no guarantee that it will generate anywhere near the same ratings that the flagship show will.

In speaking more to the aforementioned website about some of the scheduling issues the show has to work out, programming head Casey Bloys said the following:

“Our production people are trying to figure out a timeline for the shoot and how much time the special effects take … 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.”

Given that there are probably more dragon-related scenes than ever before, we do imagine that the post-production for the final season is long to be longer than usual, as well.

The one thing we fear

For the sake of the show, it’s that we wait this long and it is not able to stick the landing. Whether it’s fair or unfair, series finales tend to be one of the most-anticipated and most-criticized events out there. Everyone has their own feeling about how a show is going to end, and they then try to reinforce this said view on others without really any regard for if they want to hear it.

Did you miss our own premiere-date speculation piece?

If so, be sure to head over to the link here to check that out! Also, share some of your hopes for season 8 now in the comments. (Photo: HBO.)